Spain’s top criminal court said Friday it had opened an investigation into executives at privately owned steelmaker Sidenor for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity or genocide for trading with an Israeli arms company.
Spain, one of Israel’s fiercest critics in recent years, said it had stopped exchanging weapons with the country after the war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. The embargo formally became law this month.
Sidenor’s chairman Jose Antonio Jainaga and two other executives are being investigated for having allegedly covertly sold steel to Israel Military Industries (IMI), the Audiencia Nacional court said. The Israeli company is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, which is Israel’s largest arms manufacturer and a key supplier of the IDF.
Sidenor sold the metal to IMI without requesting the government’s permission or registering the transaction, and “with full knowledge that (the firm) was a manufacturer of both heavy and light weapons, and that the material sold was to be used for the manufacture of weapons,” the court said.
It added that the company itself was not being investigated because of whistleblower employees who contributed to the complaint and helped “prevent the continuation of the allegedly criminal activity.”
The investigating judge has summoned all three executives to testify on November 12 in the case, which was initiated after a complaint filed in July by the association of the Palestinian community of the region of Catalonia.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference as part of the European Council summit of the 27 EU leaders, in Brussels, Belgium, on October 23, 2025. (NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)
Sidenor said in a statement that it had referred the matter to its lawyers and will provide the judge with all available information.
The steelmaker said it announced its decision to suspend all commercial relations with Israel on July 1, 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 protesters worldwide, declined to comment.
Activists from the Palestine Action group protest at the gates of a factory owned by 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 scrapped contracts with Elbit and other Israeli arms makers. Also in September, Spain banned ships and aircraft 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.
