Moncloa's inconsistencies with Israel
Pedro Sánchez has stood out, at the European level, as one of the most forceful leaders when it comes to condemning the genocide Israel is carrying out in Gaza and recognizing a future Palestinian state. The increasingly extreme facts are proving him right. Faced with this evidence, France and Germany have begun to change their position. But Sánchez's international political positioning in this area does not fully correspond with domestic events.
If in April it was his government partners who forced him to cancel contracts for military equipment produced by Israeli companies, Now the ARA has found that, in practice, various orders and transactions have continued to be made by the central administration of the State, and by other administrations.. Furthermore, despite Sánchez's promise to reverse the largest award—that of ammunition for the Civil Guard, which was ultimately worth 5.4 million euros, according to the Official State Gazette (BOE)—no further news has emerged about the outcome of this episode. Has it really been reversed?
In any case, while we wait to see whether the Spanish government has effectively backed out of that purchase, the most recent breach of the Moncloa's commitment not to make further purchases from companies that trade in Israeli military and defense equipment has involved two contracts signed by the Port Authority of Ferrol, in charge of which it formalized just two weeks ago, on August 2.
This contract, admittedly minor, like the rest of those that Spanish administrations have made and continue to make, is channeled through Guardian Homeland Security, a company founded by former Israeli special agents and distributor within Spain of the main manufacturers of Israeli security and defense equipment. It is based in Madrid and is part of the Guardian Holdings group, headquartered near Tel Aviv. Guardian Homeland Security does not act as a neutral commercial company, but rather, through its social media accounts, it issues explicit messages supporting the Israeli army's actions in Gaza and endorses the Islamophobic theories of the global far right.
Among the various state administrations that have had dealings is the Generalitat of Catalonia. Between 2019 and 2024, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) purchased various materials from this firm, ranging from replacement helmet padding to items officers use for target practice. ARA has had access to the files and figures: a total of six contracts worth €57,818, during the terms of the governments of Quim Torra, first, and Pere Aragonès, later. Only one contract was formalized after October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attacks that unleashed Israel's offensive and the beginning of the massacre in Gaza. The Ministry of the Interior maintains that these are executed and paid purchases and, therefore, non-reversible, and pledges not to make any more. We must demand that Pedro Sánchez's government also act accordingly, without exceptions or delays, with a real embargo on the purchase of military equipment.