The government coalition in Spain is experiencing a crisis this week, after the Socialist Party (PSOE) Minister of Interior reversed its decision to cancel the purchase of ammunition from an Israeli company, in a contract worth about six million euros. Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska had promised in October that he had initiated a process to terminate the contract for the purchase of 15.3 million 9mm bullets for the Civil Guard, but the deal was published on the official public procurement portal during the Good Friday holiday.

“It is a flagrant violation of the agreements, we demand rectification and the minister’s appearance. It is a violation of the agreements when we are witnessing a genocide live,” said the Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Employment, Sumar leader Yolanda Díaz, in statements to the media in Barcelona.

The parliamentary leader of Izquierda Unida also said that he does not exclude the scenario of leaving the executive. Enrique Santiago says he will confront the PSOE about the path it is taking and that it “opens the most important Government crisis of this legislature.”

The Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego, who represents IU in the executive, announced she has sent a letter to her Interior colleague demanding the cancellation of the contract and the opening of an audit on other possible relationships with Israeli companies by that Ministry. “It is unacceptable to allocate a single euro for the purchase of armaments from a genocidal State,” said Sira Rego.

The expression “government crisis” had already been used hours earlier by the leader of this party, Antonio Maíllo, to refer to the Council of Ministers’ announcement to increase the Defence budget by 10.5 billion euros without consulting the coalition partners, considering it “an act of irresponsibility” by Premier Pedro Sánchez.
More measured in their criticism were the partners of the Sumar coalition in the Government, with the Minister of Health and representative of Más Madrid, Monica Garcia, speaking of a “healthy difference of opinion” with the PSOE, and Yolanda Díaz saying that the government is not at risk, emphasising her opposition to the purchase of weapons but also stressing that that the increased spending will not impact social spending and 80% of the expenditure is intended for the increase of military salaries and cybersecurity infrastructure.

IMI Systems not the only Israeli arms company supplying Madrid

The company in question in the ammunition purchase contract is IMI Systems, which since 2018 belongs to Elbit Systems, one of the largest suppliers of military equipment to the Israeli army. The Spanish government argues that it maintained the contract after receiving legal advice stating that “cancellation would mean paying the company without receiving the contracted material, which is necessary for the Civil Guard to provide the services it has been commissioned to do.”

On Thursday, it was revealed that this month the Ministry of the Interior awarded another contract, this time for the purchase of 463 bulletproof vests for about 320,000 euros from another Israeli company, Guardian Homeland. The company presents itself as one of the main Israeli manufacturers of military and police equipment and is managed by businessman and former Israeli intelligence services agent Ilan Arzooan. This company represents IMI Systems in Spain.

Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, the Spanish government has made at least 31 contracts to purchase armaments from Israeli companies. Ten of these contracts were formalised after October 2024, when the Government announced that such purchases would be suspended.

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