Sumar asks the Government if the military confidentiality agreement with Israel is still in force

Eduardo González The Sumar Parliamentary Group, a minority partner in the current coalition cabinet, has asked the Government if the current confidentiality agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, adopted during the presidency of Mariano Rajoy "with a guarantee of perpetuity" and which establishes that neither party can abandon the agreement without the consent of the other, remains in force. In a written parliamentary question registered on October 10, the spokesperson for IU in the Congress of Deputies and member of the Sumar Parliamentary Group, Enrique Santiago, recalls that, in 2014, the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) launched a confidentiality agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, “with a guarantee of perpetuity and which remains today in the offices of the CNI as a comprehensive insurance” in the military agreements between the Governments of Spain and Israel. The pact with the Israeli Ministry of Defense that was formalised in 2014 “further toughened the terms of a previous agreement that had been signed by the Government of Felipe González in 1995”, since, “in that first text, it was established that the agreement would have an initial period of validity of five years, while in the modification that came into force under the Government of Mariano Rajoy, this validity was extended for an ‘indefinite period of time’”, continues the formation led by the second vice-president, Yolanda Díaz. The current text also establishes that, “even if one of the parties wishes to abandon the agreement, this abandonment must be by mutual agreement between all parties.” It also establishes that the agreement “will be applicable to each and every one of the activities, contracts or exchange of Classified Information that have taken place prior to the termination” of the agreement. This Classified Information includes “contracts or any other relationship between governmental, public or private entities of the parties in military or defense matters.” In addition, it establishes that both the Israeli and Spanish governments “will take the appropriate measures for the protection of Classified Information in accordance with their national laws, regulations and practices,” Sumar continues. The text also provides that, in the event of conflicts between the parties due to non-compliance with the established terms, the parties will submit the controversy to the Secretary of State, Director of the CNI and the Director of Security of the Ministry of Defense of Israel, “who will have the last word and whose decisions will be ‘definitive’ and ‘binding,’” warns the coalition. For all these reasons, Sumar asks the Government “what is its opinion of the aforementioned agreement, which came into force in 2014 during the mandate of Mariano Rajoy”, and if “the Government considers the fact that the Israeli Government has the capacity to decide on what is considered ‘Confidential Information’ to be interference in National Security”. The leftist party also asks for clarification of “what authority or democratically elected body approved granting ‘definitive and binding’ decisions on this issue to the director of the CNI and the director of Security of the Ministry of Defense of Israel” and asks the Government if “this agreement has already been annulled”, taking into account “what has been stated above regarding this issue, and given the continuous violations of human rights by the State of Israel and the perpetration of genocidal acts, State terrorism, war of aggression and crimes against peace”. In its response, signed on November 13 and published this past Monday by the Official Gazette of Congress (BOCG), the Government limits itself to explaining that “the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the State of Israel/the Israeli Ministry of Defense regarding the protection of classified information, made in Madrid on February 7, 2011, was authorized by the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies on June 22, 2011 (…), subsequently authorized by the plenary session of the Senate on September 15, 2011 (…) and published in the Official Gazette of State No. 240 dated October 3, 2014.”

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