This Tuesday, the Nexoe Maersk ship has arrived at the port of Barcelona, indicated by members of the campaign against the arms trade with Israel as a ship participating in “the armament supply chain” to Israeli territory. The freighter plans to continue its route in the next few days, stopping in the Spanish ports of Valencia and Algeciras, and in two Moroccan cities.
Its journey occurs while another ship, the Maersk Detroit, navigates from the United States to Tangier (Morocco), where it will bend this weekend. There the two ships will coincide: the Maersk Detroit, a member of the American Military Maritime Security Program program, and the Maersk Nexoe, after passing through three Spanish ports.
The campaign against the arms trade with Israel indicates that the first ship transports components of F-35 combat aircraft from the US, and will download them in the Moroccan port. The Maersk Nexoe will collect that military material and will transfer it to the Israeli port of Haifa, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday before the courts of Barcelona by members of this group, to which this newspaper has had access.
It is not the first time that Maersk is involved in accusations for the sending of weapons to Israel through Spanish ports
The role of the ports
The plaintiffs underline that the Manersk Nexoe will be able to receive supplies, basic supplies and fuel as they pass through Barcelona, Valencia and Algeciras and that, with it, these Spanish ports will be facilitating the arrival of the ship to the Moroccan coasts to load that military material. Therefore, they claim before the Courts the retention and registration of the maersk Nexoe “to avoid criminal continuity and the participation of ship in the commission of crimes against the international community (Title XXIV Criminal Code), crime of arms trafficking and crime of smuggling.” They also request research from the ship’s captain, as a “connoisseur and responsible” of these activities.
Sources from the Foreign Ministry consulted by this newspaper indicate that, “according to the policy announced by the Government in May of last year in view of the crisis in Gaza, no traffic request for Spain of defense material for Israel has been authorized.”
However, it is not the first time that the Danish Naviera Maersk is involved in accusations for the sending of weapons to Israel. As revealed an investigation published by Eldiario.es in November, between May and September 2024 Spain acted as a port of military material to Israel despite the suspension announced by the Government. The Progressive International and Palestinian Youth Movement organizations denounced that there were at least 25 journeys of these characteristics, from the US, with a scale in Algeciras, through Maersk.
Among the probative documentation that accompanies the complaint filed on Tuesday, there are documents that indicate the involvement of the Nexoe Maersk and Maersk Detroit ships in at least four military supply operations to Israel during the months of September and October 2023. “In all of them, the burden was transfined in Spanish ports, so Spain enjoys jurisdiction and sale to investigate the facts reported plaintiffs
The Fin Campaign to Arms Trade with Israel, in which several civil society organizations are integrated, affirms that Maersk Detroit and Nexoe Maersk ships are directly “involved in a military logistics chain that feeds the genocide in Gaza, with the complicity of civil and commercial infrastructure”, which “constitutes a flagrant violation” of obligations and international law.
This and other groups have long requested from the Spanish government a formal embargo of weapons, to establish surveillance mechanisms and tools that avoid all transits of military material and facilitate the prohibition of contracts with Israeli arms companies.
Last February an international investigation, based on data from Israeli customs, revealed the existence of a transport route of armament and military material to Israel, through the Zaragoza airport, employed “since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza”, despite the suspension announced by the Spanish government.
In July, this media reported a new investigation of the Center Dèlas of Studies for Peace in which it was shown that, since October 7, 2023, Spain allocated 1,027 million euros to acquire Israeli military material of companies that profit from the massacres in Gaza and the illegal occupation.
Another investigation to which Eldiario.es had access in December found that the US made use of the Spanish Rota base to bring weapons to Israel in November. In the last quarter of 2024, new imports and armament acquisition contracts to Israeli companies were also detected. Given this, the Spanish defense and interior ministries announced that they were going to initiate a process to annul the award of these contracts, but did not provide more specific data, so it has not been possible to know in detail how far that cancellation or the conditions of the termination clauses have come.
Spanish Law 53/2007 establishes full commitment to the International Trade Treaty on Arms Trade, which prohibits transfers – which includes traffic – of military material to recipients that can use it to commit war crimes such as attacks on civilians, crimes against humanity or genocide, which places Israel in a destination not compatible with said treaty.
A resolution of the UN Assembly approved in September – with 124 votes in favor, including that of Spain – orders the suspension of investments, commerce and transfers – which includes transit – that can contribute to the illegal Israeli occupation or use as military material in the Palestinian territories.
More than 60,000 people have died in Gaza since the beginning of Israeli attacks in October 2023, according to updated figures that include the missing. In addition, the Israel Army continues to carry out military operations in the West Bank, where from January to today it has killed dozens of Palestinians – among them, at least thirteen children and two women, one of them pregnant eight months – and has caused the forced displacement of more than 40,000 people.
Since last March 18, the United Nations has detected 36 attacks against Gaza in which the Israeli army killing women, boys and girls exclusively.
Source: www.eldiario.es
