Madrid: Spain has refused to allow a ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at a Spanish port, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced on Thursday.
“This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port,” Albares told reporters in Brussels. “This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The foreign ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason: the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace.”
Albares did not disclose specific details about the ship, but Transport Minister Óscar Puente identified it as the Marianne Danica, which had requested permission to dock at the south-eastern port of Cartagena on May 21. According to El País, the Danish-flagged ship was carrying 27 tonnes of explosive material from Chennai in India to the port of Haifa in Israel.
The announcement occurs amidst a controversy between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists and their coalition partners, the leftwing Sumar alliance, over another vessel, the Borkum, scheduled to dock in Cartagena on Friday.
Pro-Palestinian groups claim the Borkum is transporting arms to Israel, prompting Sumar to demand that it be turned away. However, Puente clarified that the Borkum was transporting military material to the Czech Republic, not Israel.
Spain has been notably critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza and is attempting to gather support from other European capitals for the recognition of a Palestinian state. Following Israel's military actions against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Spain halted arms sales to Israel.
The conflict in Gaza intensified on October 7 when Hamas militants entered southern Israel, resulting in over 1,170 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel’s military retaliation has led to more than 35,000 deaths, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza.