Billions flow between EU institutions and Israel, despite Gaza genocide 

Public institutions in European Union countries are signing profitable contracts with Israeli companies despite Israel’s long track record of war crimes in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, data collected by Statewatch and revealed by Al Jazeera shows.

The figures show Spain, among Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel, agreed to 14 contracts worth almost 227 million euros ($257m) between January 2022 and July 2025, the period covered by the data set. The majority of that sum – 207 million euros ($235m) – stems from an April 2024 contract between the Spanish Defence Ministry and Rafael for “aerial combat systems”. Spanish police forces also purchased bulletproof vests from Israeli company Marom Dolphin.

Overall the data shows that public institutions in EU member states signed 194 contracts worth nearly 2.7 billion euros ($3.1bn) with Israeli companies. The real value is likely to be higher, as publicly available EU files report a fraction of the contracts and list some with improbably low-value contracts below one euro.

The number of contracts grew after Israel launched its war on Gaza. In the first 21 months, between January 2022 and October 2023, the data set shows 82 deals worth over 1.2 billion euros ($1.36bn). More than half of them – 112 contracts worth 1.6 billion euros ($1.8bn) – were signed in the following 21 months, between October 2023 and July 2025.

The business-as-usual attitude adopted by the EU stands in contrast with ongoing trials against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip. In 2024, the ICJ found a “real and imminent risk” of irreparable harm to Palestinians and ruled that all states should neither assist nor facilitate Israel’s continued unlawful presence in the occupied territories.

Yussef Al Tamimi, an assistant professor at the Department of Legal Studies at the Central European University in Vienna, Austria, told Al Jazeera that the EU’s permissive approach towards Israel was “legally untenable”.

The ICJ “set out unambiguous obligations for all states to take measures that eliminate, alleviate and rectify the illegal occupation of Palestine,” Al Tamimi said, noting the court issued an opinion that is “binding on all EU member states by virtue of these agreements and as a matter of customary international law”.

The vast majority of contracts in the 42-month period were for advanced technologies and other goods that require precision engineering, extensive technical expertise and specialised manufacturing facilities, including weapons systems and computer chips.

Aiding Israel’s genocide in Gaza

Israeli military companies Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Troya Tech Defence Ltd were among the 10 top contractors in the period considered by the data set.

Hungary, Israel’s closest ally in Europe, signed the highest number of contracts, 42, worth almost 603 million euros ($684m).

Yet, countries like Sweden, which was the first Western European nation to recognise Palestine in 2014, and Spain, which has long expressed solidarity with Palestinians and issued prominent statements opposing Israel’s military assault on Gaza, did not bar public institutions from buying goods and services from Israeli companies.

Germany, notable for its support for the Israeli state and its public institutions, has purchased a multitude of products and services from Israeli companies.

The data set includes 37 contracts between German institutions and Israeli companies for military equipment, cybersecurity software, laboratory tools and medical equipment, among other things.

The value of several contracts – in particular with German institutions – is not disclosed in notices published in the EU’s Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) website. Others have a listed value of just one euro ($1.13) or even one cent, amounts that seem too low to be accurate.

A spokesperson of Germany’s economic affairs and energy ministry said, “Companies located in Israel can participate in tenders by German state institutions – as can companies located in other countries pursuant to EU-wide tender legislation.”

They added that the government decides on the granting of licences for arms exports on a case-by-case basis “following a thorough assessment that takes into account foreign and security policy considerations in accordance with legal and political guidelines. This also applies to Israel.

The government “takes into account compliance with international humanitarian law,” the spokesperson said. “Particular consideration is also given to the recipient country, the type of military equipment and its intended use.”

Universities and national police forces in several EU nations also featured prominently as contractors with Israeli firms.

Spain’s Polytechnic University of Madrid signed in August 2024 two contracts worth almost 300,000 euros ($340,000) with Heqapl for quantum computing equipment. Spain’s military and police force, known as Guardia Civil, signed several contracts, albeit prior to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Belgium’s University Hospital Leuven in April 2024 signed a 1.2 million-euro ($1.36m) contract for genome sequencing software with Israeli company GNX Data Systems.

ORES, a major gas and electricity supplier in the Belgian region of Wallonia, holds a contract worth more than 3.7 million euros ($4.20m) with the information technology company SysAid Technologies.

The Italian interior ministry features in a March 2024 contract worth almost 4 million euros ($4.54) with the Israeli company Source Vagabond Systems for bulletproof vests.

At the time of publishing, the Spanish defence ministry, Spanish police forces, Sweden defence ministry and German ministry of defence had not replied to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Suspending EU-Israel trade agreement

The EU, Israel’s largest trade partner, could affect Israel’s economy and ability to wage war if it chose to impose meaningful sanctions.

Trade in goods between the bloc and Israel amounted to 42.6 billion euros ($45.3bn) in 2024, according to EU data. A partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement – a framework that sets the terms for political and economic cooperation between the two parties – could directly impact about 5.8 billion euros ($6.6bn) worth of Israeli exports.

The agreement, signed in 1995 and enacted in 2000, allowed Israel privileges such as accessing grants within the 95.5 billion-euro ($108bn) Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

Israeli researchers, academic institutions, and companies collaborated with EU institutions to develop dual-use technologies such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and drones through an estimated 1.11 billion euros ($1.26bn) in grants from Horizon Europe between 2021 and 2024, and at least a further 40 million euros ($45m) under the Erasmus+ student and staff exchange programme between 2015 and 2020.

Last year, a review by the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS) headed by Kaja Kallas, found significant evidence that Israel was breaching Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which requires both parties to uphold international law and human rights.

Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said Israel’s actions such as cutting off food and medical help went “beyond self-defence”.

However, nations including Germany and Italy have opposed suspending the agreement, blocking a bid to that effect earlier this year.

Amnesty International is among several human rights watchdogs calling for the suspension of the pact. Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty’s European Institutions Office, said doing so is a legal obligation when one of its founding clauses is not respected – as is the case with Israel.

“Verbal condemnation of Israel’s unlawful conduct by the EU and its member states, including on the establishment and expansion of illegal settlements in the [occupied Palestinian territories], without action that attempts to restore legal compliance results in the erosion of international law to the detriment of all,” Geddie told Al Jazeera.

“Shamefully, the EU has allowed and enabled Israel to continue its violations in total impunity.”