The route for transporting military material from the US to Israel transits not only in Algeciras, but also in the ports of Valencia and Barcelona. The ImportGenius, Census, ImportInfo and Lighthouse tool databases, as well as the Port of Barcelona and Valencia Port’s own websites, contain information on the transit of military material destined for Israel that stops at Spanish ports.
Researcher Alejandro Pozo, from the Dèlas Center for Peace Studies, has analyzed this documentation, with which he concludes that the transit of weapons material to Israeli territory through Spanish ports “is the norm and not the exception.” This is stated in an article published today in elDiario.es, in which he details the routes of several vessels that have stopped in Valencia, Barcelona and Algeciras. With this, it adds new data to what is known until now, and provides the name of several ships of the Israeli shipping company ZIM that make the mentioned journey.
This new information is added to the data published this Monday by elDiario.es on the transit of military cargo through Algeciras to Israeli territory. An investigation by Progressive International and Solidarity Youth Movement indicates that between May and September of this year, 1,185 shipments of US military supplies for the Israeli Ministry of Defense passed through that Cadiz port, through the transport and logistics company Maersk.
This Thursday the arrival of another ship to Algeciras was known, scheduled for this Friday at eight in the morning
This occurred despite the suspension announced by the Government in May. Furthermore, this investigation indicated that on November 9 and 15, two ships destined for Israel would stop in Spain with this type of cargo. This Thursday the arrival of another similar ship, scheduled at eight in the morning to Algeciras, was known.
In response to questions from this medium, an official source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that they are in contact with the ports so that they “extend controls on this shipowner’s ships.” The same source adds that “no ship carrying military material to Israel will be authorized to stop in Spain.”
In May of this year, faced with several alerts about ships suspected of carrying weapons to Israeli territory, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José María Albares, stated that the Executive “would not allow” ships with military material destined for Israel to stop in territory. Spanish. The United Nations rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, and organizations such as Human Rights Watch asked Spain to inspect those ships to ensure that they were not transporting military material. Finally, the route of one of those two ships was diverted to prevent it from docking in Spanish territory.
Despite that announcement from the Spanish Government, the ships continued to arrive. As Progressive International’s research indicates, “a weekly trip has rarely been lost” between May and September 2024 on this shipping line from the US to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, with transit through Algeciras.
Added to this complaint are the new findings of the Center Dèlas researcher, who points out several vessels from the Israeli shipping company ZIM – the largest cargo company in the country – that follow a route from the US to Israel passing through Valencia and Barcelona, before reaching the Israeli ports of Haifa or Ashdod, the two most important in the country. The second of them, Ashdod, is the closest to the Gaza Strip, just 30 kilometers away.
“This is not clandestine trafficking that requires complex inspections or investigations, but rather public and available information,” says researcher Alejandro Pozo, in reference to the easily accessible databases with these contents.
The route that passes through Valencia and Barcelona ends in the Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod, the latter 30 kilometers from Gaza.
“Foreign Affairs has not authorized any stopover of ships with military material destined for Israel,” the Ministry insists. They add that, “if they had occurred in this period, they would have done so without informing the Spanish authorities and, therefore, they would be fraudulent actions against which measures will be adopted.”
Several groups, integrated into the End Arms Trade with Israel campaign, have long demanded a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel to install supervision mechanisms on this type of routes, as well as on sales. “We ask that an urgent systematic inspection protocol be put in place for all ships destined for Israel,” they tell elDiario.es from the Solidarity Network against the Occupation of Palestine (RESCOP). “These are not isolated cases and we have been saying for a long time that we cannot go ship to ship,” they add.
The Dèlas Center for Peace Studies has spoken along the same lines, through its report “Business as usual”. Recently 300 personalities from the world of culture signed a letter in which they ask President Pedro Sánchez for a comprehensive embargo, including “the transit of weapons and military fuel through our territory.”
Spanish Law 53/2007 establishes full commitment to the International Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits transfers – which includes transit – of military material to recipients who may use it to commit war crimes such as attacks on civilians, crimes against humanity or genocide, which places Israel in a destiny not compatible with said Treaty.
In addition, the UN Assembly resolution approved in September – with 124 votes in favor, including that of Spain – orders the suspension of investments, trade and transfers – which includes transit – that could contribute to the occupation. illegal Israeli or used as military material in the Palestinian territories.
Several ships from the Israeli shipping company ZIM make a stopover in Valencia and Barcelona from the US, with their final destination Israel
Routes to Israel with a stopover in Spain
The US is the largest arms exporter to Israel and this last year has considerably increased its shipments, within the framework of its policies to support the Israeli Government in its offensive against Gaza. These US transfers, if they are maritime, have the Strait of Gibraltar as their main route, as is also the case with transport from northern Europe. The only alternative to this route is to circumvent Africa and access through the Red Sea, a longer, more expensive and dangerous route, due to Houthi attacks.
“Statistics from the International Monetary Fund or State Ports clearly record the change in routes and the increase in traffic in Spanish ports. In Algeciras, but to a greater extent in Barcelona, Las Palmas and Valencia,” says Pozo.
The analysis carried out by the Center Dèlas researcher adds new data. For example, the ZIM Container Atlantic route passes “first through Valencia and then through Barcelona when [los barcos] “They go to Israel from the US, and in the reverse order when they go in the opposite direction.”
Several groups request a systematic inspection protocol for all ships destined for Israel.
Although ZIM is an Israeli shipping company, the ships it uses on that line usually fly the flag of convenience of Liberia or the Marshall Islands. The ZIM Virginia freighter, flying the Israeli flag, transited Valencia and Barcelona twelve times in the last year.
“On September 15, 2024, it passed through Valencia (the day before, through Barcelona) with three shipments of FMTV (Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles) military vehicles loaded in Savannah on August 13,” says the Center Dèlas researcher. That journey was destined for the Israeli port of Haifa. Another ship, the ZIM China, has docked in Barcelona and Valencia ten times in the last year. On two occasions (December and April), with 27 shipments managed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
The ZIM Eagle, according to Port de Barcelona, has also stopped there four times in the last year, the last one on August 6. On July 2, it carried military products to Israel: more than 263 tons of “steel armor plates” in five shipments and another 231 tons in eleven shipments of unidentified products, destined for the Israeli port of Ashdod, after stopping in Valencia and Barcelona.
The Center Dèlas researcher indicates that, “due to the sensitivity of these transfers and who or what they involve, the lack of identification can be attributed more to a deliberate intention than to error or indifference.”
Another ship, the ZIM Asia, has called in Barcelona and Valencia eleven times in the last year. On at least three of those occasions, he carried material from New York bound for Haifa or Ashdod commissioned by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The container ship Navios Indigo, flying the Marshall Islands flag, has stopped seven times in Barcelona and Valencia this last year.
Adding all the ships mentioned in Pozo’s article with those “GOI/MOD” agents -Israeli Ministry of Defense- in the twelve months following October 7, 2023, “that material reaches a whopping amount of at least 8,618 tons that have passed through Valencia and Barcelona on their transit to Israel”, with at least 295 shipments.
The Center Dèlas researcher points out that today we know a part of what happens in Algeciras, Valencia or Barcelona, “but it is possible that other evidence arrives, also from other ports, from Las Palmas to Cartagena, and, above all, from that well without background or transparency that seems to be Rota.”
“This is not clandestine trafficking that requires complex inspections or investigations, but rather public and available information,” says Pozo.
Submissions and awards
In February of this year elDiario.es revealed that, despite the announced suspension, Spain had indeed shipped weapons to Israel in October, November and December 2023. In the case of December, that shipment had the final destination of the Philippines, after passing through Israeli territory. Spain also sent military material in January and February 2024, to be re-exported to the Philippines.
In July elDiario.es reported on a new investigation by the Dèlas Center for Peace Studies which showed that, since October 7, 2023, Spain allocated 1,027 million euros to acquire Israeli military material from companies that profit from the massacres in Gaza and the illegal occupation.
On October 22, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, in response to a letter from the Ministry of Social Rights, stated for the first time that all awards to Israeli arms companies are paralyzed, but did not clear up doubts about the purchase contracts of Israeli military material that was continuing until a few weeks ago.
After this, Cadena SER reported a purchase of 15 million Israeli bullets for more than six million euros, awarded on October 21, as can be verified through public data. The dissemination of this information provoked the reaction of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, which announced the start of a process “to cancel said purchase”, without giving details about the conditions of the contract cancellation clause.
According to official figures, there are already more than 43,000 dead and 101,000 people injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023. To these numbers we must add an undetermined number of missing people under the rubble, as well as the deaths caused by the intentional blockade of aid humanitarian action by Israel, which is causing hunger and disease.
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