Madrid – like Colombia and South Africa – has realized that despite its strong verbal opposition to the genocide in Gaza, it is unable to carry out actions that match its rhetoric.
As criticism of the Israeli genocide in Gaza continues, and American and European governments remain largely silent, Spain has filled the void and become one of the most vocal critics in the Western world.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for multilateral measures to end arms trade with Israel, including suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Spain is the only EU country to formally recall its ambassador and announced a halt to arms sales to the country in October 2023.
However, according to a report by the Barcelona-based Delas Peace Research Center, military imports from Israel continued after October 2023, reaching €36.7 million ($41.9 million) by February 2025 under HS codes 93 (weapons and ammunition) and 8710 (tanks and other armored fighting vehicles). The report states that „Spain has never imported as much as it did after October 7, 2023.”.
This situation changed on September 23, 2025, when Sánchez approved a law that imposed an arms embargo on Israel and banned imports from the occupied Palestinian territories.
„It is now not just a matter of withholding new permits, but of introducing a general legal ban,” explained Eirene de Prada, a professor of international law and member of Juristas por Palestina (Lawyers for Palestine).
But because of previous treaties, explicit exceptions and loopholes, the law is only as strong as its weakest point. „In other words, the government is engaging in doublespeak,” De Prada told Middle East Eye. „It sends a strong message about the arms embargo on a rhetorical, discursive and symbolic level, while in practice it exploits loopholes in the royal decree to continue doing business with Israel.”
Feasible option
In Spain, a Royal Decree-Law is an emergency legislative measure intended to address „extraordinary and urgent emergencies” and must be approved by Parliament within 30 days. Decree 10/2025, adopted on 8 October 2025, states that „given the exceptional nature of the situation described in Gaza, the government considers it urgent and necessary to adopt extraordinary measures to prohibit the transfer of defence and dual-use materials that Israel uses against the civilian population”.
„This initiative is a great success in itself, just because it happened,” said Alejandro Pozo, a researcher at the Delas Center for Peace Studies. „It sets a precedent and sends the message that with enough will, an arms embargo on Israel is a feasible option.”
However, he added that „the contracts already concluded have not been changed” and that „the law allows for exceptions in certain cases when the Spanish authorities consider it justified.” Indeed, just three months after the law was passed, an exception was applied: according to a recent report, the government „authorized the transfer of certain defense and dual-use materials” to four aeronautical projects led by Airbus, citing their „significant industrial and export potential.”.
This included a missile defense system manufactured by Elbit Systems—an Israeli arms manufacturer complicit in the Gaza genocide. After all, „Israel doesn’t need weapons from Spain,” Pozo said. „They need markets to make their domestic purchases cheaper and their military occupation more sustainable.”
Spain can legally import and export defense equipment through other EU member states, and can also buy equipment from Israeli companies operating within the EU. Although these are called acquisitions and sales, the law does not yet apply to these cases, even though significant amounts of Israeli weapons are entering Spain. According to Pozo, these are often manufactured by Spanish companies under Israeli license, or by Spanish subsidiaries of Israeli companies.
„The target should not be how the weapons get to Spain or Israel, but the money that directly or indirectly feeds the Israeli war machine,” he said. „The sanctions should be more similar to the European sanctions against Russia, in that they comprehensively target Israeli interests.”
The „economy of genocide”
Of course, Spain is not the only Israel-critical country embroiled in what UN special envoy Francesca Albanese has called an „economy of genocide.”.
Since Colombia’s ban on Israeli coal exports took effect in August 2025, South Africa – Israel’s alleged opponent at the International Court of Justice – has become the country’s main supplier. South African Trade Minister Parks Tau even argued that sanctioning Israel without multilateral UN sanctions „would violate the World Trade Organization (WTO) principle of non-discrimination and expose the country to legal challenges.”.
„It would be logical to assume that he is right, but he is not,” said Professor Patrick Bond, director of the Centre for Social Change in Johannesburg. He pointed to a July 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice, which was upheld by the UN General Assembly and which specifically obliges all nations to end their complicity in fuelling the illegal occupation of Palestine. „This is a very strong, official UN signal that discrimination [against Israel] is possible. Indeed, it is necessary.”
The South African government has every ability to end its complicity in the Israeli genocide through the „dangerous exports” category, and it would not require any new laws, Bond said. „The coal shipments could be stopped immediately.”
Even in Colombia, where the coal export ban was key, halting long-standing imports is a more complicated undertaking. Although President Gustavo Petro announced in February 2024 that his government would halt purchases of Israeli weapons and reduce military cooperation, Colombian Defense Minister Iván Velasquez acknowledged before Congress that existing contracts, including the maintenance of Israeli-made Kfir fighter jets, would be fulfilled.
Symbolic gesture
In both Spain and Colombia, the future of anti-Israel policy is vulnerable to possible changes in direction by future administrations.
In Colombia, President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has already proposed „increased cooperation” with the Israeli defense industry after taking office in August 2026. In Spain, a future government with a parliamentary majority could significantly reform or repeal the regulation altogether. Alternatively, the government could „weaken it in practice by giving a broad interpretation to the »general national interest« clause or by implementing it with less strict administrative enforcement,” De Prada explained.
In other words, if the right-wing Partido Popular or the far-right Vox form a government in 2027, „they could easily lift the embargo,” Pozo confirmed. „Not necessarily because they need Israeli weapons, but mostly as a symbolic political act.”
The fact that a newly elected right-wing leader in Colombia is already preparing to quickly restore relations could be a warning sign for Spain's current leadership.
Ultimately, „if there is real political will to maintain a policy of containment in the long term, more robust measures should be adopted,” De Prada told MEE. „Ultimately, the next step would be to move from a limited and reversible embargo policy to a comprehensive and stable policy of non-cooperation, assistance and recognition, subject to effective parliamentary oversight, administrative transparency and traceability mechanisms.”
In the meantime, the gap between symbolic gestures and concrete actions, rhetoric and practice, is staggering.
