The Government arrives, one more week, without the supports tied to take its measures in Congress. The embargo of Armas to Israel approved by the Council of Ministers depends on the four deputies of Podemos. 175 votes in favor and 171 against waiting for the game of Ione Belarra to decide. If they reject the text, the vote will tie and decline if the tables are repeated three times, but an abstention is enough for the text to be validated. The tone of the formation is increasingly hard, but in the Executive they trust that it ends by facilitating its approval.
The vote comes in a context of social ignition against the state of Israel. After the protests against the return, this weekend the streets of the main cities of Spain were filled with protesters who cried out for the end of the genocide. The citizen pressure has coincided this weekend with the arrest by the Israeli Armed Forces of the Global Sumud Flotilla, the expedition of activists from several countries of the world, including several Spaniards, who tried without success to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The Government of Pedro Sánchez has tried to respond to the growing social clamor against Israel. He did it when he promoted the recognition of the state of Palestine and also two weeks ago with the approval of this embargo, which establishes a legal framework for the prohibition of exports and imports of military material to the country leading Benjamín Netanyahu. The text contains a series of measures that, however, the proportive organizations see insufficient.
In addition to the prohibition of exporting and importing weapons, the Decree establishes the denial of traffic authorization requests to Israel Armament and Fuels that may have a military final use, but does not establish inspection protocols to avoid ship scales that participate in armament supply routes to Israel. It also reserves some exceptions when a “impairment for national interests” is alleged.
These aspects are those that have led organizations such as Solidarity network against the occupation of Palestine (Rescop) To criticize the initiative as a merely “symbolic.” In a statement, this platform censures those exceptions of general interest, it also criticizes the absence of inspection protocols for ships and airplanes that make transit in Spain with military material towards Israel and denounces that it does not affect “contracts awarded to the Israeli military industry or its subsidiaries”. “Nor is it prohibited that Israeli companies hire with the Spanish public administration,” they complain. The researcher of Center Beyond of studies by La Paz Eduardo Melero also criticized the decree in a recent article for considering it “a strainer.”
Podemos has used similar arguments to criticize the text since the Government approved it in the Council of Ministers, on September 23. Party sources speak of a 'fake' embargo, false, which they understand does not serve to end “with the purchase and traffic of armament to Israel”.
After analyzing the text, the purple party considers that we are facing a “deception” of the government and before a “authentic layer to maintain complicity and relations with the genocides,” sources from the Ione Belarra party transferred, which since then has been raising the tone against the decree, although at no time until now has wanted to clarify what will finally vote this Tuesday.
The party indicates the “numerous omissions and exceptions” of the norm, also criticizes, such as the rescop, which does not prevent trade with the subsidiaries and indicates the exceptions contemplated when the contracts affect the “general interest” of the country, “which allows authorizing any operation in a completely arbitrary way, as it had happened.”
“What we demand and demand that the Government listen to citizens, we have seen a real clamor with thousands of people going out to the streets, demanding the breakdown of relations and demanding a real and effective embargo,” insisted on Monday the spokesman and secretary of the party's organization, Pablo Fernández, at the meeting after the executive. “We want a real and effective embargo, which does not have any subterfuge, that has no holes and that prevents traffic through our country of ships with weapons for Israel.”
We can, in any case, have not wanted to reveal the meaning of his vote, even after Juns confirmed last week he would vote in favor. Esquerra Republicana, who also showed his doubts during the last days, confirmed on Monday that he would endorse the measure. “In principle we will endorse it. The feeling we have is that we are late, but it is better late than ever,” said the Republican spokesman Isaac Albert.
The Government trusts the abstention of Podemos
Despite the harsh criticism shown in public, the government is confident that we can allow the decree to move forward at least with its abstention. Already last week in Moncloa they assumed that the embargo would achieve the endorsement of Congress. Once Junts, which was a more complicated piece for its warm and equidistant position with respect to Israel, has announced their support they do not see wicker so that those of Ione Belarra can justify the initiative before their electorate.
In Moncloa they argue that “Spain is the country of the world” that has done the most for the Palestinian population, although the negotiation of the Decree of Arms extended until the last moment because the initial version prepared by the Ministries of Economy and Foreign did not include the express prohibition of the scales of ships that transported armament to Tel Aviv, despite the fact that it is one of the specific clauses of the treaty of the treaty of the trading of weapons. Add complained and, finally, a specific section was included.
In the Executive they also try to minimize tension with the partners. “Every week I read holders that laws are going to be lying down and then they go ahead,” says a government source.
From the Sumar Movement, the Second Vice President, Yolanda Díaz, launched a veiled message to those of Ione Belarra. “We hope that your lordships are up to the vote and the historical moment we are living. Vote against the embargo is to support the genocides, there is no possible space to put out in profile,” the general coordinator of the formation, Lara Hernández, said in a press conference.
Podemos is not the only party that has expressed its fights towards the measure, but the rest of the forces that have been critical have preferred to validate it waiting to introduce improvements if processed as a bill subsequently. It is one of the things that demanded to add when he left the Council of Ministers, after verifying that the decree contained some gaps. Also the Galego nationalist bloc (BNG) has advanced that it will try to amend the text in the parliamentary process.
But party sources discard a negotiation afterwards and remember that Congress has in the drawer all the bills that were approved to process after the validation of the decrees in this legislature. What we want, and has moved it in public, is that the government withdraw the decree and approve a new one. But until Tuesday he will not reveal his vote. “Tomorrow (for this Tuesday) they will check it,” his spokesman predicted.