Spain’s junior coalition partner demands halt to technology trade with Israel

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Sumar, the junior coalition partner in the Spanish government, tabled a bill in the parliament Wednesday to halt technology trade with Israel.

Three Spanish MPs presented the idea to stop powering the “genocide” in Gaza by buying Israeli technology, aiming to join the No Tech For Apartheid movement.

“There are other kinds of very lethal arms used in the conflict that fly under the radar -- artificial intelligence algorithms,” said MP Tesh Sidi.

Spain said it has not authorized new arms exports to Israel since Oct. 7 because it is one of the key proponents of an urgent cease-fire and lasting peace in Europe.

“Today, these algorithms are trained to find targets. Israel says it’s to destroy Hamas, but as we are seeing, the algorithm is choosing many women, babies and children in Palestine,” said Sidi, who is also an information technology engineer. “Thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms, the number of people they are killing is much higher.”

Sidi said Palestine is acting as a testing ground for states to see how these technologies work in combat.

Sumar, like the No Tech for Apartheid movement, also urged the Spanish government to stop relying on Google and Amazon services and technologies.

Those companies are under fire for signing a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military.

Sumar MP Gala Pin described Israel as the “Silicon Valley” of the Middle East. She said it is important to immediately stop “buying technology used in combat,” but also civilian technologies.

One of the most notorious Israeli technology companies in Spain is the NSO Group.

The company is best known for its Pegasus spyware which seems to have been used by Spanish authorities to spy on Catalan politicians and activists, according to research published by Citizen Lab.

At the same time, the spyware was also found on the telephones of top Spanish officials, including the prime minister and defense minister.