The Ministry of the Interior of Spain will purchase Israeli ammunition despite having announced six months ago that it was renouncing this acquisition due to the Gaza war. In this way, the Economic Affairs Department of the Civil Guard has tendered the purchase of ammunition, a contract valued at 6,642,900 euros for the purchase of 15,300,000 9mm caliber bullets.
This change is due, as sources from the Interior clarify to this newspaper, to a legal issue: the contract was already very advanced and did not contemplate a "unilateral decision" to break it. They even state that the State Attorney's Office "advised against" it.
The same sources have clarified that on October 29, 2024, the study on the possible termination of the contract was initiated. After this study, the Ministry decided to follow the recommendation included in a communication from the State Attorney's Office, which advised against termination at the stage reached in the processing, so the contract has finally been formalized.
According to Cadena Ser, the department led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska considered different options, but in the end chose not to cancel the contract awarded to the Israeli company Guardian Defense & Homeland Security S.A, a subsidiary of the international group Guardian LTD Israel.
The contract was finalized during the past Easter week. Specifically, on April 16, the Economic Affairs Department of the Civil Guard formalized the purchase with the Israeli company IMI SYSTEMS LTD - listed as the awardee - and with the Israeli company Guardian Homeland Security S.A. - listed as the representative - although both Israeli companies share the same tax identification number.
This company has managed to secure two out of the three lots offered. The first, for 4,464,900 euros for the supply of 9x19 mm PB bullets and the second, another 2,178,000 euros for semi-armored 9x19 mm cartridges.
On October 29, 2024, the Ministry of the Interior issued a press release to inform that it was "initiating the process to rescind the contract for the purchase of ammunition from an Israeli company".
At that time, Interior reaffirmed its commitment to "not sell or buy weapons from the Israeli State since the armed conflict in the Gaza territory erupted". The Minister Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, also supported the decision.