<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday, through urgent legal means, the announced Royal Decree-Law prohibiting the purchase and sale of defense materials to Israel and preventing the transit through Spain of fuels suitable for military use destined for that same country. The text includes an additional provision allowing "exceptions to safeguard the general national interest," which has seriously concerned the minority partner of the coalition government, Sumar.</strong></h4> On September 8, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced nine measures to stop Israel's "genocide" in Gaza, including the "urgent" adoption of a Royal Decree-Law legally consolidating the arms embargo on Israel. At the press conference following the Council of Ministers, Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo reported this Tuesday that the Royal Decree-Law prohibits the purchase and sale of defense materials, as well as other dual-use products and technologies, to Israel. Likewise, the regulation will deny transit through Spanish ports and airspace of any type of fuel destined for Israel that may have a military end-use. It also prohibits the importation of products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and advertising for the sale of such goods in Spain. The measures set forth in the regulation apply to commercial transactions with Israel with authorizations that have been requested or are already in force. According to the Ministry of Economy, the Royal Decree-Law "legally strengthens the arms embargo that Spain has implemented since October 2023, when the Israeli government launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has resulted in more than 63,000 deaths, 159,000 injuries, and the forced displacement of almost two million civilians." However, the Royal Decree-Law provides that "the Council of Ministers may apply exceptions to safeguard the general national interest, as well as the total or partial withdrawal of the measures," and reflects "the Government's determination to act with transparency, establishing a commitment to report on the implementation of the Royal Decree-Law to the Congress of Deputies on a quarterly basis." The objective of this exception clause, according to Cuerpo, is to preserve the Government's ability to "authorize an operation in exceptional circumstances that affect the general interest," specifically referring to "elements associated with national security or foreign policy" and always "for exceptional situations that may not have been initially foreseen or that arise during its implementation." In this regard, Sumar, led by Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz, has requested that the Royal Decree-Law be processed as a bill in Congress in order to introduce amendments that prevent this exception, according to the party's spokesperson and Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun. Sources from the plurinational party have assured the Europa Press agency that, as long as this clause is not modified, Sumar will oppose any operation proposed as an exception to the embargo in the Council of Ministers. For her part, the spokesperson for the Popular Party (PP) in Congress, Ester Muñoz, stated this Tuesday that her party wants to see the text of the decree before announcing its position during the debate and vote in the Lower House, because "they normally announce some things and then invent half of them or they don't arrive." She also pointed out that the Armed Forces use "many components of Israeli origin" and, therefore, asked that "nothing be done with the defense" and the security of military personnel who "risk their lives on missions abroad." For his part, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares assured this Tuesday, in statements to La Sexta, that the arms embargo will not weaken Spain's security and that this measure represents "strict compliance with the common position of the European Union." "No one in the EU, if they comply with the law, can sell weapons to Israel," he declared.
