Spain is considering charges against a steelmaker that allegedly supplied an Israeli arms company
Spain’s top criminal court said Friday it had opened an investigation into executives at private steelmaker Sidenor for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity or genocide over trade with an Israeli defense company.
Spain, one of Israel’s harshest critics in recent years, said it had stopped arms exchanges with the country after the war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. The embargo officially became law this month.
Sidenor chairman Jose Antonio Jainaga and two other executives are being investigated for allegedly secretly selling steel to Israel Military Industries (IMI), the Audiencia Nacional court has told. The Israeli company is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, the largest Israeli weapons manufacturer and a key supplier to the IDF.
Sidenor sold the metal to IMI without seeking government permission or registering the transaction and “with full knowledge that (the company) manufactured both heavy and light weapons and that the material sold was intended to be used for the manufacture of weapons,” the court said.
It added that the company itself would not be investigated because whistleblower employees contributed to the complaint and helped “prevent the continuation of the alleged criminal activity.”
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The investigating judge summoned all three executives to testify on November 12 in the case, which was opened following a complaint filed in July by the Association of the Palestinian Community of the Catalonia Region.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference as part of the European Council summit of 27 EU leaders on October 23, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. (NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)
Sidenor said in a statement that it had referred the matter to its lawyers and would provide the judge with all available information.
The steelmaker said it announced its decision on July 1 to suspend all trade relations with Israel, following the Spanish government’s decision in April to halt contracts with the country.
Elbit Systems, which has been the target of protests and vandalism by anti-Israel demonstrators around the world, declined to comment.
Activists from the group Palestine Action protest outside the gates of a factory belonging to Ferranti, a British subsidiary of Elbit Systems, in England on February 1, 2021. (Paul Ellis/AFP)
Spain, which recognized Palestinian statehood in 2024, last month canceled contracts with Elbit and other Israeli arms makers. Also in September, Spain banned ships and planes carrying weapons or jet fuel to Israel from calling at Spanish ports or entering its airspace.
Spain has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, which Israel vehemently denies.
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