The Spanish authorities permitted Tuesday a “whole” arms embargo on Israel, a part of a bundle of measures aimed toward halting what Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez referred to as “the genocide in Gaza”.
The decree prohibits all exports to Israel of defence materials and dual-use merchandise or applied sciences, and the import of such tools to Spain, Financial system Minister Carlos Cuerpo mentioned at a information convention.
It additionally blocks requests for the transit of plane gasoline with potential navy purposes and bans imports of merchandise originating from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, together with their promoting, Cuerpo mentioned.
“This decree is an enormous step ahead and is pioneering on the worldwide degree in the case of a complete arms embargo on Israel,” Cuerpo informed a information convention after the cupboard permitted the measure.
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The federal government says the decree “consolidates in regulation” a ban on navy tools gross sales or purchases with Israel that it had utilized because the begin of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
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The decree will come into drive instantly, nevertheless it should nonetheless be permitted at a later date by parliament, the place Sánchez’s left-wing authorities lacks a majority and has struggled to go laws.
Sánchez introduced the arms embargo this month as a part of a bundle of 9 measures aimed toward stopping what he referred to as “the genocide in Gaza”.
He has been probably the most vocal critics in Europe of the offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the October 7, 2023 assaults by Hamas.
“I do imagine that we’re witnessing one of many darkest and most horrible occasions of the twenty first century unfold proper earlier than our eyes,” he mentioned Monday at an occasion at Columbia College in New York, because the UN Common Meeting kicked off.
“And easily, the worldwide neighborhood can’t stay silent and paralysed,” he mentioned.
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