Is Israel behind the ‘inexplicable’ safety errors causing train wrecks in Spain?

Spain has faced three deadly train accidents this year, drawing heavy scrutiny to falling safety and security standards in the second-largest country in the European Union.

What has, however, given a new twist after the latest accident earlier this week is the growing online clamour over a potential Israeli hand in the deadly accidents, which have killed at least 115 people since January.

A surge of commentary on social media points fingers at Israel for allegedly carrying out repeated acts of sabotage in Spain.

The two countries recently locked horns over Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state and heavy criticism of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The tussle follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening the European nation that it would pay an “immediate price” for its pro-Palestinian diplomatic stance.

The subsequent recruitment of Spain’s former railways safety chief and transport secretary by an Israeli railways cyber firm also gave rise to suspicions about Tel Aviv’s alleged role in the fatal train accidents.

A series of human and system errors

A high-speed train ran into the back of a stationary train near the town of Urda in Spain’s Toledo province on October 28, killing at least 68 people and injuring more than 100.

Initial investigations point to a combination of a computer system failure and an “inexplicable” human error as the cause of the deadly accident.

Reports say a technical glitch knocked out the automated signalling safety system across a 65-kilometre stretch of the railway track, bringing all trains in the area to a halt. This led railway traffic controllers to take manual control of the trains.

One controller in Madrid then gave an “inexplicable” order allowing the trailing train to resume normal operations with no speed limits.

The resulting high-speed rear-end collision gave rise to suspicions that it was a planned act of sabotage instead of an accident.

Earlier, another high-speed train derailed on January 18 and crossed into the opposite track on the exact same Madrid-Seville line near Adamuz in the Cordoba province.

An oncoming train then crashed into the derailed train, killing 46 people and injuring more than 150.

Investigations held a broken section of the rail track responsible for the deadly accident. Reports said Spain's train drivers’ union had raised safety alarms before the accident.

Two days later, on January 20, another commuter train derailed close to Barcelona, killing the train driver and injuring dozens of passengers.

Investigations attributed the accident to a structural collapse – a support wall crumbled alongside the tracks, and the debris caused the fatal derailment.

Why is Israel being blamed?

There are two main reasons why an increasing number of online commentators are pointing fingers at Israel for allegedly orchestrating the deadly train accidents.

First, Netanyahu had threatened in an official statement earlier this year that Spain would pay an “immediate price” following a long string of diplomatic clashes.

Spain has taken a strong position against Israel by recognising the Palestinian state, criticising Israel’s genocidal bombing of Gaza, enacting a weapons embargo against Tel Aviv, and closing its airspace to US military flights bound for strikes against Iran.

Netanyahu said that he would not tolerate Spain's “hypocrisy and hostility” or allow it to wage a diplomatic war.

Two, the reason many people have accused Israel of playing an alleged role in the deadly train accidents is the recruitment of Spain’s former transport secretary and railway chief by an Israeli rail cybersecurity firm.

In February 2024, the Tel Aviv-based rail cybersecurity firm Cylus appointed Isabel Pardo de Vera to its advisory board.

Previously, she served as the president of Spain's state-owned railways infrastructure company, and later worked as the country’s secretary of state for transport from July 2021 until early 2023.

Always under the spotlight

Historically, Israel has been frequently accused of conducting covert sabotage, cyberattacks, and targeted operations in countries that it considers hostile.

Its foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, along with military cyber units like Unit 8200, has a well-documented history of alleged meddling in foreign countries.

In the 2000s, Tel Aviv deployed what is widely considered the world's first publicly known state-sponsored cyber weapon against Iran. It used the Stuxnet computer virus to specifically target and physically destroy nearly 1,000 centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

In 2020, Israel was found to be behind a massive cyberattack that paralysed the computers regulating traffic, shipping, and tugboats at the strategic Shahid Rajaee port terminal in Iran’s Bandar Abbas, causing miles-long traffic jams on land and sea.

In another highly sophisticated supply-chain operation, Israeli intelligence detonated thousands of modified pagers and handheld radios used by Hezbollah members simultaneously in 2024 across Lebanon, killing dozens and injuring many more.

Israel and the online chatter

Israel is being widely accused of playing a secretive role behind the high-speed train collision in Spain on October 28.

Users are connecting the widespread computer communications failure that preceded the crash to Netanyahu’s earlier warning that Spain would pay an “immediate price” for its diplomatic stance.

They are also pointing to the integration of Israeli cybersecurity firms within Spain’s rail systems.

“Israel is crashing Spanish trains,” Joe Black, a social media user, posted on X.

Another social media user highlighted that the crash was caused by a technical malfunction.

“Israeli companies are embedded into the Spanish train system and Spanish trains keep crashing after Israel threatened them,” the post said.

“Really unfortunate coincidence how these accidents keep happening when countries upset Israel and their computer/security contracts are with Israel. It's inexplicable,” said another social media user.

TRT World — TRT World