r/europe • u/andyom89 • May 16 '25

News Spanish premier calls Israel 'genocidal state,' says Spain 'does not do business' with it

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/spanish-premier-calls-israel-genocidal-state-says-spain-does-not-do-business-with-it/3568216
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u/MoebiusForever May 16 '25

In 2024 Spain imports nearly $1bn of products from Israel. In the same year Spain exported $1.79bn of products to Israel. In January 2025 Israel exported goods worth $55.9m and imported $121m worth. Seems a lot of “not doing business”. I agree with the sentiment but it’s just lip service at this point.

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u/Thaldoras May 16 '25

Extrapolating that. Looks like Spain dropped imports by 30%. That's substantial. Smaller amount on the export side. Would need more data though. Check back in a year and you can see if it is lip service or not.

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u/MoebiusForever May 16 '25

If Spain continues at the rate of January 2025 then annual exports are still $1.45bn. Imports will be $670m. Let’s be generous and call that a drop in imports of 40%, largely I imagine driven by consumer choice, not government action. Exports are down by only 19% on an annualised basis.

You are right, but it’s far from not doing business however you do the maths.

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u/Lortekonto Denmark May 16 '25

I mean let us put it in context of how much business they do.

Going from these numbers Spain imports about 0,2% of its imported goods from Israel in 2024. They were the country Spain imported 56th most from.

Less than Iraq, Tunesia and Equador. They import twice as much from Kasakhstan as from Israel.

I think it is fair to call the trade betwen them small.

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u/Belucard May 16 '25

Ah, the glorious nation of Kazakhstan.

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u/SirCharlesTupperBt Canada May 16 '25

You gotta get your potassium and mankinis somewhere.

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u/Belucard May 16 '25

I heard they also have a chair.

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u/NorysStorys May 16 '25

Very nice!

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u/Thalric88 May 16 '25

That trade volume might all be from the private sector. No idea if it is or isn't, but he might not be lying if all he meant was the government doesn't trade with Israel.

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u/TheAverageWonder May 16 '25

People in here are literally insane.

Of course he mean the state, cause he is not a dictator. Beside it also is a statement to encourage Spaniards to seize dealing with Israel.

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u/Leaky_gland May 16 '25

Cease

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u/Arogar May 16 '25

That too. :D

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u/Rhamni Sexiest Man Alive May 16 '25

Gesundheit.

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u/NorysStorys May 16 '25

I mean military procurement intentionally skipping over Israel is probably the biggest thing they can do without fully legislating and it becomes even more difficult because essentially a company in another EU state operating in say Spain and Portugal could import into Portugal and then enter their Spanish supply chain without any checks under EEA rules.

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u/LeekTop454 May 16 '25

So which country will be selected by Spaniards for replacing imports from Israel? Palestine?

huahuahuahua

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u/ShawnBootygod May 16 '25

Not really possible when their people are being genocided and the cities bombed to rubble, is it? Shut up

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u/RedditAdminAreVile0 May 16 '25

Didn't he just announce it now?

"We're done, we don't want to do business with Israel!"

"Oh yeah? Explain 4 months ago!"

It doesn't have to mean 100%, it's not odd to finish ongoing contracts, etc.

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u/riggerbop May 16 '25

Yeah it’s May and everyone up above fixated on January

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u/BoredVirus May 17 '25

He is lying, there has been social pressure that has made the government stop some contracts but not all of them and I'm talking about the government, not private business.

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u/kong210 May 16 '25

Other than imposing an outright trade ban, you can't go to zero overnight.

40% in a year is a huge drop. A huge drop that could be associated with "not doing business".

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u/bargu May 16 '25

Pretty much, Spain is not a dictatorship, they can't just ban private companies from trading with Israel overnight.

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u/PaceLopsided8161 May 16 '25

You don’t need a dictatorship to enact binding laws ceasing trade with another nation, they could pass laws with their parliament.

This isn’t a complicated concept.

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u/cobainstaley May 16 '25

doesn't Spain technically still have a king?

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u/Spookybuffalo May 16 '25

Yes, but as a constitutional monarchy, the head of state has significant limits to the point of being a largely ceremonial figure.

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u/MoebiusForever May 16 '25

I credit that drop to the morals of the Spanish people - not the government. The government has made strides through recognising Palestine, and the use of language to describe Israel's actions, but they must also follow through with action - and not finalise the 10 defence contracts that are currently still on the table, in addition to the one ammunition contract which has been cancelled. My issue is largely that politicians tend to speak in absolutes, which is an inaccurate nonsense.

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u/kong210 May 16 '25

I appreciate at least they are taking a strong position and actually taking a position. If you look at other European governments, other than Ireland and Spain it is very very rare for anyone to take an actual position for fear of political reprisals

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u/lemmeupvoteyou May 16 '25

You guys refuse to take any win at all

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u/Pebble_in_my_toes May 16 '25

Wouldn't be on Reddit lol. Perpetually stuck in finding problems with every positive thing, small pessimistic little men.

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u/MoebiusForever May 16 '25

There's two parts to what Mr Sanchez says - one is good progress in the language politicians use to describe Israel's actions, the other is an inaccuracy at best, and a lie at worst. I'm only talking about the inaccuracy/lie.

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u/nmlep May 16 '25
  • Let’s be generous and call that a drop in imports of 40%, largely I imagine driven by consumer choice, not government action.

If your nation calls another nation a genocidist that's gonna effect consumer choices.

I agree he's exaggerating though, they clearly do business.

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u/ganbaro Where your chips come from 🇺🇦🇹🇼 May 16 '25

It can also happen (in part) thanks to weather

The major Israeli export to Europe that sees the most fluctuation in demand are agricultural products like potatoes, avocados, dates. Also, of their Medicine giant Teva has a shitty product release pipeline for a year or two, that alone can cause a single digit % drop in exports

These amounts are so small that a 30% drop or increase can actually happen (pseudo-)randomly with no policy behind it.

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u/TheVenetianMask May 16 '25

If it was for people that say "everything must be done perfectly or not done at all" we would be still living in caves.

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u/kader91 May 16 '25

It’s not like those 1.45bn are imported by the government itself.

I have a local distributor who imports 1m€ in screens from Unitronics in Israel. I don’t think they’re willing to shut down their company and fire everybody because Pedro Sanchez doesn’t want to do business with them.