Above photo: US Air Force.
Thousands of weapon shipments have been arriving in Tel Aviv via Spain for over a year.
Despite a ban on arms exports imposed by Madrid last year.
Over 60,000 weapon parts have been transported to Israel via Zaragoza airport in northern Spain since the start of the US–Israeli genocide of Palestinians in October 2023, according to an investigation by Progressive International (PI), the Palestinian Youth Movement, and the American Friends Service Committee.
“The evidence indicates that these flights continue to this day,” investigators told elDiario.es, adding that the shipments include “parts and accessories for artillery, rifles, rocket/grenade launchers and machine guns” and “parts and accessories for revolvers and pistols.”
The shipments have continued unimpeded despite a ban on arms exports to Israel imposed by Madrid four months ago.
The arms route was detected using information from Israeli customs and flight tracking data. Investigators identified six airlines operating these flights: Israeli–Belgian airliner Challenge Air Cargo, Poland’s SkyTaxi, Iceland’s Air Atlanta Icelandic, Uzbekistan’s MyFreighter, and US carriers National Air Cargo and Atlas Air.
“Three of them, Challenge Air Cargo, National Air Cargo, and Atlas Air, had already been reported to be used to transport military cargo to Israel, chartered by the United States. Such flights have been documented from multiple US air bases, including Sigonella in Italy and Al-Udeid in Qatar,” the report highlights.
Challenge Air Cargo also provided “military logistics” for the US Air Force during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Despite the damning evidence provided by investigators, the Spanish Foreign Ministry told local outlets that officials “[have] not authorized any transit through Spanish airports of defense material destined for Israel,” adding that “no arms sales operations to Israel have been authorized either.”
In response to the revelations, the left-wing Podemos Party said, “After the lie with the ports, we now have this with Zaragoza airport. We demand that the government stop lying and act coherently: a total arms embargo and an end to relations with the genocidal State of Israel.”
“I implore the Spanish government, who has been an increasingly visible champion in defense of international law, to stop any military flights to Israel. Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people must not be enabled by Spanish land and labor,” UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said on Thursday.
In December, The Intercept revealed that Washington sent over a thousand tons of ammunition to Israel on a ship that docked at a US naval base in Spain, despite Madrid’s embargo on vessels carrying military cargo bound for Israel.
“Shipments through American military bases in Spain of military materials, which may be used in the commission of international crimes, are harder to detect,” Spanish lawmaker Enrique Santiago told The Intercept.
In June, Spain submitted a Declaration of Intervention to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case brought by South Africa against Israel regarding the application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip.
