Video still: Greenpeace Spain peace and disarmament campaigner Valentina Carvajal speaks in support of an arms embargo against Israel.
Europa Press reports: “More than 1,200 cultural professionals … presented a letter to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on Monday [July 14], demanding that Spain ‘immediately’ decree a comprehensive embargo on arms and defence material to Israel by means of a Royal Decree Law.”
That article adds: “The event organized by the Campaign to End the Arms Trade with Israel, which brings together more than 600 civil society organizations…”
The letter states: “Spain cannot continue to export and import military equipment or allow the transit of weapons or fuel to a state that has been committing war crimes and crimes against humanity for decades.” It further highlights: “Maintaining arms deals with Israel is active complicity in genocide”.
The reading of this letter took place at the Teatro del Barrio in Madrid.
The Madrid-based Solidarity Network Against the Occupation in Palestine notes on Instagram: “Just minutes [after the letter was read at the theatre], the government announced that it plans to move forward in September with legislation—filed a year ago—that would establish an arms embargo on Israel This is an important step, the result of months of grassroots organising and relentless pressure.”
LaSexta further explains: “The government wants to end the arms trade with Israel, which has been killing Palestinian civilians for 20 months under the pretext of pursuing Hamas terrorist targets. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz agreed on Monday to push forward with the bill that will incorporate the concept of embargo into Spanish law and thus enable its effective application in the case of Israel.”
And Publimetro reports: “The government explains that this initiative will allow the concept of embargo to be incorporated into Spanish legislation, thereby consolidating the embargo on the Israeli military industry and extending it to all defense-related materials and technical assistance provided by arms companies in that country.”
But RESCOP highlights: “Announcements don’t stop a genocide. Action does. The urgency couldn’t be clearer: Israel is killing an average of 100 Palestinians every day. If the political will is there, why wait another two months? Tomorrow [July 15], like every Tuesday, the Council of Ministers meets. That’s where the embargo can—and must—be enacted immediately through a Royal Decree Law.”
Palestinian human rights defenders killed
The Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders (the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) has documented the killing of 31 Palestinian human rights defenders in 2023 and 2024.
The numbers are undoubtedly higher. Front Line Defenders notes: “In some regions and countries, including Palestine, the documentation of cases is highly challenging, if not virtually impossible.” They clearly state, however, that “those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
The calls for an arms embargo continue in Canada
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has stated: “Since January 8th, 2024, the Government of Canada has not approved new arms export permits to Israel, and this remains the Government’s approach.”
Montreal-based journalist Lital Khaikin has noted in Canadian Dimension: “The stated commitment has not held up in practice. Canadian peace research institute Project Ploughshares reported that a Canadian factory was the sole source provider of an explosive fuel for US-made 155mm calibre artillery shells. Last September, Québec-based General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems-Canada (GD-OTS-Canada) was contracted to produce approximately $78.8 million worth of M31A2 triple base propellant for the United States Department of Defense, destined for Ukraine and Israel.”
Notably, The Maple also reports: “Since [January 2024] GAC [has] changed its messaging in response to other media requests from The Maple to specify that the pause on new export permits applies to goods that ‘could be used in the current conflict in Gaza’.”
The Maple adds: “Dozens of existing military export permits authorized before Jan. 8, 2024, continued to be utilized last year, with $18.9 million worth of Canadian military goods shipped directly to Israel in 2024. That figure does not include largely unaccounted for exports — including components found in the F-35 fighter jet [including components manufactured by Gastops in Ottawa] — that are shipped to the United States and could end up being transferred by the U.S. government to Israel.”
On July 4, 2025, The Maple further highlighted: “Data from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) shows that in February [2025] the Liberal government authorized two new military export permits to Israel worth a combined total of $37.2 million. …The newly authorized goods fall under an export category that includes ‘bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges and related equipment and accessories,’ and another category that concerns military ‘technology’.”
Khaikin adds: “GAC redacted other details about the permits, including the names of the companies that obtained them, as well as information about the exact nature of the goods and how they are intended to be used — and by whom — in Israel.”
Research by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Action Center for Corporate Accountability has noted that the transnational corporations arming the Israeli military include BAE Systems (artillery cannons and electronic missile launching systems), Boeing (attack helicopters and bombs), Colt (assault rifles), Elbit (drones, bombs and artillery shells), General Dynamics (F-16 fighter jets, bomb casings and artillery shells), Google (cloud services and AI technologies), Lockheed Martin (F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, Hellfire missiles), Rheinmetall (tank ammunition), and RTX/Raytheon (air-to-surface missiles).
Peace Brigades International
Peace Brigades International called for a ceasefire in November 2023 and in March 2024 asked the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel. In May 2024, PBI-Canada joined the Canadian civil society call for an arms embargo on Israel.
We continue to follow this.
