Spain terminates Israeli ammo contract after uproar threatened to topple coalition

Spain will back out of a contract to purchase Israeli arms, a government official said Thursday, in a bid to quell the backlash that nearly split the country’s coalition government.

After the Spanish press revealed that Madrid had ordered 15 million bullets from an Israeli military firm last fall, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the €6.6 million contract would be nixed. Spain is one of the most outspoken European critics of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and has maintained an embargo on the purchase or sale of weapons from and to the country since 2023.

But on Wednesday the Cadena Ser radio network revealed that the controversial contract to acquire millions of rounds of 9 mm ammunition had not been canceled after all. Although Spain’s Ministry of Interior, which is purchasing the bullets to outfit the country’s Civil Guard police force, moved to cancel the order, its legal experts ultimately concluded that the deal could not be annulled without causing substantial legal and financial strife.

The news set off a firestorm of criticism within Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government, with Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz, who heads junior coalition partner Sumar, demanding the situation be “rectified immediately.” Antonio Maíllo, general coordinator of the United Left party within the Sumar group, called it the “biggest crisis” the executive had faced since taking office in 2023.

Faced with the threat that Sumar could abandon the five seats it controls within the Council of Ministers, Sánchez moved to settle the issue quickly. A Spanish government official granted anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive issue told POLITICO on Thursday that after trying all other avenues to get out of the deal, the contract would be “unilaterally” terminated.