Defense cancels one of its major contracts with Israel
This contract, valued at around 285 million euros, was authorized by the Council of Ministers shortly before the Hamas attack.
MadridThe Ministry of Defense has ordered the revocation of the purchase of SPIKE LR2 missiles from the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense System, according to SER radio. This contract, valued at approximately €285 million, was authorized by the Council of Ministers on October 3, 2023, a few days before the Hamas attack on Israel. This was one of three major contracts that Spain held with the Israeli military industry.
Initially, the Ministry of Defense decided not to terminate the contract, arguing that Pap Tecnos is a "Spanish company," although they acknowledged that "its technology supplier is the Israeli company Rafael" and that the problem is that it supplied a product that "is not replaceable." But now, in a complete about-face, the Ministry of Defense has also decided to suspend that contract. This decision comes within the framework of the work Margarita Robles' department is carrying out to implement a "disconnection" of Spain from the Israeli state in matters of security, as announced last week by the Secretary of State for Defense, Amparo Valcarce.
Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría insisted this Tuesday at a press conference following the Council of Ministers: "The objective here is clear [...], which is a total disconnection from Israeli technology." The ministry assures that the program will be "reoriented" and that they will seek "a new formula" to equip the ground army. Despite denying that it trades with "a genocidal state," the Spanish government has not yet confirmed whether other contracts with the company remain in effect, such as the one for the purchase of "POD designators for air combat systems," as reported by the Delàs Center for Peace Studies.
In any case, this is not the first contract that the Moncloa has rescinded. In April, it also halted the purchase of 15 million bullets for the Civil Guard from an Israeli company after Sumar, its partner in the government, urged Pedro Sánchez to do so. backed down and tore theInterior Ministry contract with the Israeli company. It was quite a corrective for Fernando Grande-Marlaska and the Civil Guard, who closed the purchase of 15 million rounds of ammunition for 6.6 million from a company from the country presided over by Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the commitment to cut all commercial relations while the war in Gaza lasts.
"The dual-use material investment board will deny the company permission to import this material into our country for reasons of general interest and, then, the Ministry of the Interior will terminate the contract," reported the Moncloa in a joint statement with Sumar. The Interior Ministry's argument for formalizing the award was that giving up the ammunition would mean having to pay the money anyway, but less than 24 hours later the Spanish government changed its mind. 6.6 million was an anecdotal figure compared to the10.471 billion agreed for the security and defense planthat Pedro Sánchez announced and that Sumar did not view favorably either.
