US disregards Spain’s arms embargo on shipments destined for Israel

The United States has violated an arms embargo imposed by Spain against Israel by shipping weapons to the occupying regime.

The US Department of Defense transported more than a thousand tons of ammunition to Israel aboard a ship that docked at a US naval base in Spain, the US-based website Intercept reported on Tuesday, citing the Palestinian Youth Movement and Progressive International.

It added that such a move by the US ship, owned by Sealift Inc., would potentially breach Spain’s embargo on military shipments destined for the Tel Aviv regime, as Naval Station Rota, while partially operated by the US Navy, is situated on Spanish soil and is technically subject to Spanish law.

“Shipments through American military bases in Spain of military materials, which may be used in the commission of international crimes, are harder to detect,” the report quoted Enrique Santiago as saying.

However, Santiago, who is a lawyer and a Spanish legislator belonging to a party in the ruling coalition, added that “in practice, American bases are beyond the reach of Spanish sovereignty.”

Spanish officials imposed the embargo last May to halt Spain's participation in arms sales to Israel, which has imposed a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip since October last year, killing more than 45,000 people so far.

Since the imposition of the embargo, Madrid has blocked more than five vessels from docking at its ports under this policy.

UN relief chief: Gaza ‘apocalyptic’; almost impossible to deliver aid amid Israeli siege

The UN warns about the “apocalyptic” situation in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli regime’s 14-month aggression and tightened siege.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the onset of the current war on Gaza.

The US president, whose term ends in January, now stands accused of complicity in this genocide since he never stopped pouring weapons into the Israeli regime's war machine.

According to US law, military assistance to a country or entity should be halted if they use American-supplied arms to commit war crimes. However, despite evidence showing that the Tel Aviv regime has used US munitions in war crimes, military support to Israel has increased since the Gaza war began.

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