Spanish artists, academics call on Madrid to halt arms trade with Israel

Hundreds of Spanish intellectuals and artists have penned a letter to Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, calling for an arms embargo on Israel amid the regime’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon.

Over 300 key figures from the media and entertainment industry, as well as academic circles, expressed deep concern over Spain’s ongoing trade in arms and military equipment with Israel, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported.

They “urged the government to completely suspend all kinds of trade in arms and military equipment with Israel, and “expressed deep concern about Spain’s ongoing military relations with Israel.”

Among the key figures include directors Pedro Almodovar and Isabel Coixet, musicians Rozalen and Mikel Izar, actors Aitana Sanchez Gijon and Alba Flores, and comedian Andreu Buenafuente.

“As long as Spain maintains military relations with Israel, it will continue to be complicit in this massacre,” the letter read, calling for “urgent measures

They said as long as Madrid maintains its military ties with the regime, it is complicit in Israel’s massacres.

They called on the Sanchez administration to do more to protect civilians.

The signatories condemned “the massacres carried out by Israel daily for months,” demanding that Spain’s government take bolder steps to support the Palestinian and Lebanese people.

Spain announced last October it halted arms trade with Israel over the genocide in Gaza.

However, new investigations show Madrid has continued weapons transfers to the regime since then.

Since October 2023, the US-Israeli genocide across the besieged Gaza Strip has killed over 42,700 Palestinians and injured nearly 100,000 others.

Earlier this year, the United Nations’ top court ordered the Israeli regime to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza. Till now, however, all international efforts to stop the US-backed genocidal war on Gaza have been to no avail.