Spain cancels purchase of Israeli anti-tank missiles

Spain, which has strongly criticized Israel's offensive in Gaza, has cancelled a contract to buy 168 firing posts and 1,680 anti-tank missiles from Israeli defense company Rafael, Spanish media reported Wednesday.

The deal was worth 287.5 million euros ($327 million), according to top-selling daily Spanish newspaper El País, which cited unnamed government sources.

The equipment was to be manufactured in Spain under license from Rafael.

Spanish defense ministry sources told AFP that the government "has begun a process to revoke licenses of Israeli origin" and was working to redirect its procurement programs "with the goal of achieving greater technological independence and autonomy".

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's criticisms of the offensive in Gaza infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government last year by recognizing a Palestinian state.

In late April, Spain cancelled a contract to buy bullets from another Israeli company, IMI Systems, following pressure from the Socialist-led government's far-left coalition partner Sumar -- a move swiftly condemned by Israel.

Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, the founder of Sumar, said at the time that Spain could not engage in "business with a genocidal government... that is massacring the Palestinian people".

Sanchez's government said it halted weapons transactions with Israel after the start of the war following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

But according to Centre Delas, a Barcelona-based think tank specializing in security and defence, the government has granted 46 contracts worth more than 1 billion euros to Israeli companies based on data published on a public tenders platform.