Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares speaks to the press before a meeting of the European Commission in Brussels, May 16, 2024. Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP.
Spain will not authorize ships carrying weapons for Israel to call at its ports, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on May 17, adding that Spain does not “want to contribute to war” in Gaza.
Albares said that the refusal was consistent with the Spanish government’s decision not to grant weapon export licenses to Israel since October 7, 2023.
The announcement came after Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente confirmed in a social media post his country’s refusal to allow a ship carrying weapons to Israel to dock at the port of Cartagena in southeast Spain.
The Marian Daniča, which was carrying approximately 27 tons of explosive materials from the Indian city of Madras to Israel, requested permission to dock at Cartagena on May 21, Spanish newspaper El País reported.
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The Spanish government has announced that it does not wish to contribute to Israel’s ongoing war and siege on Gaza, which is widely viewed as a genocide, in part due to pressure from the left parliamentary block, Sumar, a minority partner in Spain’s ruling center-left coalition.
Israeli political leaders have expressed their desire to eradicate Gaza and its population of 2.3 million people to make way for Jewish settlement of the enclave.
“There are no half measures,” Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich said on April 30. “Rafah, Deir Al-Balah, Nuseirat—total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’—there’s no place under heaven.”
Rafah is a city in southern Gaza on the Egypt border, which Israel is currently invading and bombing, further displacing hundreds of thousands already living in tents. Deir Al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp are areas in central Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the war, Israeli military operations have killed more than 35,000 people and injured some 79,000, according to the latest report by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
