German-owned ship claimed to carry arms to Israel, faces calls to be blocked by Spain

A German-owned cargo vessel flying the flags of Antigua and Barbuda, Borkum, has been recently caught up in a metaphorical storm in Spain after anti-Israel activists and politicians claimed that the ship was carrying arms to its final destination – Israel. The ship is expected to set sail from the Port of Cartagena today at noon.

The BDS group in the Spanish city of Murcia even presented a document that allegedly showed that the cargo ship sailed sailed from India bound for Israel, though it is not certain that this document was indeed related to said ship.

El Borkum cargado de armamento ya está en aguas de la Región de Murcia con la complicidad del gobierno español. pic.twitter.com/GaBLhQR0aV

— Fonsi Loaiza (@FonsiLoaiza) May 16, 2024

The Spanish government announced yesterday that the ship’s final destination is Czechia, but this did not convince anti-Israel activists and politicians, who continued to propagate an online campaign to block the ship and carry out an inspection of its contents, as well as call for an investigation of the parties involved.

Spanish activist Luis Arbide, who followed the issue from up close, also claimed that the ship’s manifest specifically mentioned IMI (Israel Military Industries) as the cargo’s destination, adding that Czechia is Israel’s fourth arms supplier across the globe.

Spanish politicians from the left-wing party Podemos further propagated the campaign against the cargo ship. Yesterday, the ex-minister of the Equality Ministry and the current European Parliament candidate, Irene Montero, noted that the party filed a complaint with the National Court to have the Borkum detained and its cargo inspected. “The law prohibits Spain from facilitating the transit of military material that could be used to commit genocide. Not acting makes us responsible,” she added in a tweet.

Likewise, Spain’s Social Rights Ministry’s ex-minister and current leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, announced yesterday that the party communicated to Spain’s Transportations Minister, Oscar Puente, that the party’s representative from Murcia, Javier Sanchez Serna, will be arriving at the facilities at the Port of Cartagena to “check, first-hand, the situation of the ship Borkum, suspected of carrying weapons to Israel for the genocide.”

Sanchez himself tweeted: “We have learned about the Borkum cargo ship that arrives this afternoon in Cartagena and is transporting 20 tons of rocket engines and 1,500 kilos of explosive substances,” imploring the minister not to obstruct his duty as representative.

Con el propósito de cumplir mis responsabilidades como representante público, y a raíz de las informaciones que hemos conocido sobre el carguero Borkum que llega esta tarde a Cartagena y que transporta 20 toneladas de motores de cohetes y 1500 kilos de sustancia explosivas, he… pic.twitter.com/Qojw1CCEyg

— Javier Sánchez Serna (@J_Sanchez_Serna) May 16, 2024

In the same context, the Spanish parliamentary group Sumar registered a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office to initiate the procedures aiming to block the route of the Borkum, a move many have seen as an implication that the cargo ship does indeed have arms meant for Israeli use.

Borkum affair made many headlines

The Borkum affair made many headlines in Spanish media, with popular Canal Red TV conducting an interview with the former director general of the Merchant Navy, José Antonio Madiedo, who claimed that “the only way to identify these goods is to inspect them.”