The Israeli Navy circumvents the Spanish veto on the transport of its warships and weapons to Tangier

The Israeli Navy’s new landing craft, the INS Komemiyut, which arrived in Israel this week from the United States, where it was built, would have made a technical stop in the port of Tangier. This is confirmed by the Israeli publication “Globes”, which cites “sources familiar with the matter and supported by the ship’s records on the Vessel Finder website”.

In this way, the aforementioned ship circumvented the Spanish veto against its ports being used to transport weapons intended for conflict scenarios suspected of genocide, such as the one attributed to Israel due to its offensive in Gaza and which had previously prompted proceedings at the International Criminal Court. At least three transports of this type have been detected near Spanish waters in recent months. And one of them, Vartom OdetteCame to anchor in the waters of the Bay of Algeciras.

The landing craft INS Komemiyut is built in Pascagoula, in the US state of Mississippi, and has already arrived at the Israeli naval base in Haifa, where a delegation of its navy ships welcomed it in memory of the sailors killed in the so-called War of the “Iron Swords”.

According to “Globes”, during his stop in Tangier, he also turned off his radar transponder to prevent his position from being determined. There, the new ship, whose entry into service has not yet been determined by Tel Aviv, was supplied with fuel and food to complete its route to its destination. According to Globes, another landing craft acquired by Israel from the United States, the INS Nachshon, also docked in Morocco during its maiden voyage last September.

The landing craft is a new-age means with which the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are being equipped, designed for the rapid unloading of forces on the ground. The new amphibious vehicles are about 95 meters long, 20 meters wide and weigh more than 2,500 tons. The landing craft team includes dozens of naval combat soldiers, a quarter of whom are women. The ship’s commanding officer has the rank of lieutenant commander. The landing craft are part of the Navy’s adaptation to multi-domain warfare that could be even more severe than the current war in Gaza, requiring logistical transport of equipment and combat troops to destinations such as Lebanon or other countries. The construction of the landing craft began about five years ago, when the Defense Ministry’s procurement delegation purchased them from an American shipyard with US aid funds amounting to $3.3 billion annually, “recalls Globes.

Morocco, which recognized the State of Israel years ago with which it maintains growing relations in various aspects including defense, serves as an alternative to Spain’s refusal to receive arms shipments destined for Israel.

This is what happened a month ago with the Danish-flagged Mariana Danica cargo ship, which was rejected in Cartagena because, according to the Spanish newspaper “El Pais”, it was carrying 27 tons of explosives bound for Israel.

«If there were no attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, the ship would not have passed through Spanish economic waters, but would have been diverted around the Cape of Good Hope and from there to Gibraltar. Due to the length of the route, a stop to collect goods was necessary, but the authorities in Madrid did not approve it,» reports Globes.

The public significance of the scale of these Israeli landing craft in Morocco corresponds to a climate of growing rejection in that country for the Israeli attack on Gaza, with 116 marches already organized in 48 cities across Morocco during the past week by the Moroccan Organization for the Defense of the Affairs of the Nation.

However, as Globes recalls, “In recent years, relations between Morocco and Israel have intensified with Morocco’s massive acquisition of Israeli-made weapons.” In fact, between 2019 and 2023 Israel was the third source of imports by volume for Rabat, accounting for 11% of Rabat’s total imports.

Also, in recent weeks, it was made public that the head of the National Court’s Central Investigative Court No. 1, Luis Francisco by George Mesasproceedings were initiated on the possibility that the ship Vartom OdetteWhich had been trying to dock in Cartagena without luck, was first diverted to the Bay of Algeciras where it anchored and later headed towards the Mediterranean Sea, carrying weapons, ammunition and explosive materials. Ashod30 Km from Gaza Strip,

The Ministry of Transport denied such claims and assured that it was indeed moving forward Czech Republic. However, the Solidarity Network against the Occupation of Palestine (Refinance) has reported that the ship ultimately did not stop in Spanish waters due to recent social pressure. According to this organization, the ship changes his way and leave for Montenegro Without stopping in Cartagena (Murcia). This shipment, which was located around the port of Algeciras (Cádiz), could be used by the Israeli army to attack the Palestinian territories. For this reason, Podemos then demanded that the ship be ordered to be detained as soon as possible Inspecting your content: «We request the immediate paralysis of the transit of the ship, which transports Dozens of containers of munitions to prevent it from being used in genocide against the Palestinian people,” he said in his complaint.