Spain announces nine measures against Israel, including full arms embargo

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday announced nine measures against Israel to "stop the genocide in Gaza, pursue its perpetrators and support the Palestinian population" as the anniversary of the war approaches the two-year mark.

At the heart of the package is a royal decree law to formalise and make permanent Spain’s embargo on the purchase and sale of weapons, ammunition and military equipment to Israel.

Although the embargo has been applied de facto since October 2023, Sanchez said the decree would remove any ambiguity after months of controversy and doubt.

Additional measures include banning ships carrying fuel for the Israeli army from docking in Spanish ports, and denying access to Spanish airspace for state aircraft transporting defence material bound for Israel. 

Spain will also bar entry to individuals “directly involved in genocide, human rights violations and war crimes” in Gaza, a prohibition that could apply to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government.

Madrid will also prohibit imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, while restricting consular services to Spanish citizens living in those settlements to a bare minimum.

On the humanitarian front, Sanchez pledged enhanced support for the Palestinian Authority, including a larger Spanish presence in the EU mission in Rafah and new cooperative projects.

Spain will also contribute an additional €10 million to Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and increase its overall humanitarian aid to Gaza to €150 million by 2026.

'I want Spanish society to know that, faced with one of the most infamous episodes of the 21st century, your country, Spain, was on the right side of history'

- Pedro Sanchez, Spanish PM

“These nine measures will be implemented immediately,” Sanchez said.

In response to Spain's announcement, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticised the measures as "antisemitic", while his government said it would bar left-wing Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz and Youth Minister Sira Rego from entering Israel.

The Spanish government immediately hit back at Saar's comments.

"The Spanish government strongly rejects the false and slanderous accusations of anti-Semitism made by the Israeli government against Spain and the Spanish people, as well as the unacceptable ban on two members of the Spanish government entering Israel," an official statement read.

"The measures relating to the inhumane situation in Gaza and the West Bank, announced today by the President of the Spanish Government, reflect the majority opinion of Spanish society and are adopted within the framework of its sovereignty and in line with its defence of peace, human rights and international law."

'Indifference' and 'complicity'

The prime minister opened his address on Monday by recalling the “countless persecutions and injustices” endured by the Jewish people throughout history, including the Holocaust.

He expressed Spain’s support for Israel’s existence and condemned the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. But he drew a distinction between legitimate defence and Israel’s current actions: “One thing is to protect your country and your society, and another very different thing is to bomb hospitals and starve innocent children.”

Exclusive: Spain and Ireland to join more than 30 states to declare ‘concrete measures’ against Israel

Read More »

He argued that what Netanyahu’s government claims is a military response to terrorism “has ended up becoming a new wave of illegal occupations” and “an unjustifiable attack on the Palestinian civilian population”.

Sanchez said the campaign is now widely recognised as genocide, citing the opinion of the UN special rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese and other legal experts. 

Sanchez has been among the most outspoken European leaders in criticising Israel's onslaught on Gaza and was the first EU diplomat to call it out as genocidal.

“63,000 dead, 159,000 wounded, 250,000 people at risk of acute malnutrition and nearly two million displaced, half of them children,” he said. “This is not self-defence; it is extermination of a defenceless people and a flagrant breach of humanitarian law.”

Sanchez criticised the international community for failing to halt the war, accusing major powers of being mired between “indifference” and “complicity” with Netanyahu. While acknowledging that Spain cannot stop the offensive on its own, he insisted it would not give up trying.

The prime minister recalled Spain’s recognition of the State of Palestine last year as part of earlier efforts and said the new measures were designed to “take another step forward to stop the genocide in Gaza, pursue its perpetrators and support the Palestinian people”.

Although he admitted the measures would not be enough to halt Israel’s invasion or its alleged war crimes, Sanchez said they were intended both to increase pressure on Netanyahu’s government and to ease some of the suffering in Gaza.

He concluded: “I want Spanish society to know that, faced with one of the most infamous episodes of the 21st century, your country, Spain, was on the right side of history.”

Sanchez has repeatedly accused the EU of double standards for failing to apply sanctions to Israel. 

“It makes absolutely no sense that we’ve passed 18 sanction packages on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine and Europe but, with double standards, haven’t even been able to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel when they are flagrantly violating Article 2 in terms of human rights,” he said in June.

'This is not self-defence; it is extermination of a defenceless people and a flagrant breach of humanitarian law'

- Pedro Sanchez, prime minister of Spain

Madrid has been among a minority of EU states, including Slovenia, Ireland and the Netherlands, that have led efforts calling for the EU to review the controversial Association Agreement since February 2024.

In their meeting in mid-July, the EU’s 27 foreign ministers failed to agree on the suspension of the controversial EU-Israel Association Agreement, which covers both trade and political relations. They also failed to agree on nine other possible measures against Israel put forward after it was found to have breached the human rights provisions of the trade agreement.

The measures that would have been agreed included full suspension of the agreement, suspension of its preferential trade provisions, an arms embargo, sanctions on Israeli ministers, and imposing a ban on trade with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine.

Slovenia last month became the first EU country to take action independently, imposing a full arms embargo on Israel. Later in August, Germany announced the suspension of military exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza, in response to Israel’s plan to fully occupy the Palestinian enclave.

Sweden and the Netherlands have also called on the EU to suspend the agreement with Israel over the continued Gaza siege and its ban on the UN's humanitarian aid operations.

But Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned last month citing his government's failure to impose additional sanctions on Israel.