The streets of Madrid were once again bathed in red, white, green, and black yesterday morning as thousands of pro-Palestinian activists from various parts of Spain took part in a new mobilization to demand the Spanish government’s arms embargo against Israel. This was the first time so many people had gathered for a demonstration of this kind. At the same time, the right of return for displaced people was demanded on the 77th anniversary of the colonization of Palestine. Citizens once again expressed their rejection of the agreement between Spain, Europe, and the Israeli government, which the demonstrators described as “genocide.”
The march began at 12:00 p.m. at the central Atocha roundabout, where, according to the organizers, both Madrilenians and demonstrators from Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, Asturias, Navarre, Extremadura, Castile and León, Catalonia, and Cantabria gathered. More than 80,000 people participated in the mobilization, organized by the Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine (Rescop), to demand an end to the arms trade with Israel and to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. Chants such as “Israel murders, Europe sponsors,” “It’s not a war, it’s genocide,” and “Every child killed is our child” characterized this day of struggle.
According to research by the Centre Delàs, Spain has imported more weapons and ammunition from Israel than ever before since October 2023, the start of the mass attack on the Palestinian civilian population. “The Spanish government must break off relations with Israel, whose president is accused of crimes against humanity. Yet it continues to sell and buy weapons with everyone’s money,” said Hania Faydi, a member of Rescop, at the start of the demonstration.
The storm clouds began to make good on their threat of rain, while the activist denounced that these events are in direct contradiction to the provisions of international law, which condemns the trade of arms with a state that commits human rights violations. “It’s true that we were recently able to stop the purchase of thousands of bullets, but that only happens when significant social pressure is exerted by citizens and groups. There is great opacity, and we are not achieving everything,” Faydi added. Nearby, seven people received applause as they unfurled a banner reading: “Israeli citizens for sanctions against Israel.”
About 15 minutes after the protests began, a member of Rescop emphasized that “the government’s disinformation campaign is very serious.” He questioned whether a state like Spain is as democratic as it claims if it only acts when under pressure and only on its own terms. “Where are its values?” he asked.
However, the Spanish government finds something in the Israeli arsenal that it doesn’t find in other arms dealers. “What we buy from Israel has been proven in combat, specifically against the Palestinian population. No other arms industry sells its products with a quality certificate of this caliber,” Faydi emphasized.
Rescop also criticized what they called the “complicious silence” of the Spanish and European institutions. “This silence is only broken by a few words of condemnation, but it is never directed against the genocidal state of Israel. They remain silent in the face of genocide, the bombings, the murder of civilians, journalists, and humanitarian workers who are not even Palestinians, and in the face of the attacks on the Freedom Flotilla. They remain silent and do not realize that this could happen to us every day if no action is taken,” said a Rescop member who remained anonymous.
Faydi called on the PSOE to immediately take a clear position. “They say Israel is massacring civilians, but they either finance its government by buying weapons from them, or they give them the same weapons with which to continue massacring,” he said, as people around him chanted, “Palestine will win from the river to the sea.”
Miles de personas se manifestaron hoy en la capital española, Madrid, en apoyo a la causa palestina.
— Baynana (@baynanaes) May 10, 2025
Decenas de miles de manifestantes se congregaron para exigir la ruptura de relaciones con Israel y el fin de la venta de armas al Estado israelí. pic.twitter.com/pTexoE3aK2
Pro-Palestinians from across Spain
Eva Navarro had come to Madrid from Alicante: “We are commemorating the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, which continues today with much more brazenness and without pretense. It is more necessary than ever to denounce the annihilation of the Palestinian people.” She noted that awareness had grown in Valencia. “This has also increased support for the defense of the Palestinian people through armed resistance,” she added.
The demonstration reached the Chamber of Deputies around 1:00 p.m. After a short roll call and a choir performance, chants such as “Stolen land will be returned “Called back” in the area. Simón Cardona, a Colombian from Murcia who had also come to the capital, said: “We are here for life, for existence, for rights. I only ask the Spanish government for justice and for it to listen to the people,” as he tied the knot that fastened a Palestinian flag around his neck.
Nearby him, Eugenia Vecina from Albacete was for Palestine: “We must demand the end of any kind of relationship with Israel, be it cultural, diplomatic, commercial, academic, or sporting.” We must ensure that Gaza does not continue to be the death camp that Israel has turned it into with the connivance of Europe and the United States,” she said. “Our humanity is founded on the defense of Palestine,” she added bluntly.
A few meters behind, Koldobí Velasco, along with several colleagues from the Canary Islands, wanted to join the demonstration. “We are here as a territory to say that we are not accomplices to genocide,” he explained. At a somewhat slower pace, Rosana Lamas and Lupe Santos marched with a banner linking the Jewish star with the Nazi swastika: “It is terrible to see how a people who have gone through such a traumatic and horrific experience are capable of repeating it in front of everyone and without scruple,” the first of them declared.
Israel as a System of Global Oppression
Around 1:30 p.m., the protest reached the Puerta del Sol, where tourists and onlookers looked on in bewilderment. There, Rescop read a manifesto. “In May 1948, the Nakba, the catastrophe of the Palestinian people, began. This colonialist project of Israel is clearer today than ever. Today, Zionism intends to culminate the ethnic cleansing that began in Palestine 77 years ago,” they began. They added: “The Israeli colonial regime was built through, and continues to be sustained by, what we now know as war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The Palestine solidarity organization made it clear that “Israel represents and intersects the major systems of global oppression: imperialism, colonialism, racism, cisheteropatriarchy, and capitalism.” In their view, there are only two options: “Either we become complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people, or we defend a world based on justice and equality.”
They also pointed to the small successes achieved by organized civil society in the face of arms deals sponsored by the Spanish government: “With popular pressure, we have forced the government to take some steps, albeit timid and insufficient, to end its complicity. This shows us that what we are doing is working and that we must maintain and increase the pressure.”
Rescop called on the government led by Pedro Sánchez not only to sever any kind of relationship with Israel, but also to support the genocide complaint filed with the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, to repeal the gag law and end the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine, and to implement the right of return for the Palestinian refugee population.
“The impunity with which Israel acts is only possible thanks to the network of accomplices it maintains: governments that do not impose sanctions, companies that profit, media that whitewash, and institutions that remain silent,” they declared. Those present chanted chants of solidarity with Palestine as Rescop ended the protest, declaring: “Every act of solidarity counts; every mobilization strengthens the power of the people; and we will not stop until genocide and complicity are ended.” By 2:15 p.m., the epicenter of the protests in Madrid was almost empty. By this time, some throats were already hoarse from shouting “Boycott Israel, liberate Palestine!”
