On Tuesday Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said that Canada would halt future arms sales to Israel.
“It is a real thing,” Joly told The Toronto Star.
Foreign Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Robert Oliphant confirmed her statement the next day. “We will continue to advocate for a ceasefire, we will continue to not sell arms as we have promised and continue to make sure that we bring hostages back to their homes,” he said.
The announcement came one day after a non-binding vote on the issue passed in the House of Commons. It also calls on the international community to work toward a two-state solution and was amended to condemn Hamas with stronger language.
Prior to the vote, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz warned Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, condemned the announcement in a post on X.
“It’s regrettable that the Canadian government is taking a step that undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists, who have committed terrible crimes against humanity and against innocent Israeli civilians, including the elderly, women, and children,” he wrote. “History will judge Canada’s current action harshly. Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned home.”
According to numbers from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the Canadian government has authorized $28.5 million CAD ($21,137,167.50 USD) in new military exports to Israel since October. The GAC insists that the military aid has been used for “non-lethal goods,” a term that lacks any legal definition.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has called on the Biden administration to follow Canada’s lead.
“Canada’s parliament has voted to stop arms sales to Israel,” tweeted Sanders. “They are absolutely right to do so. Given the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, including widespread and growing starvation, the U.S. should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine.”
Many Canadian activists are expressing skepticism about the move.
“It was a positive indication to see Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s announcement the following day that she intends to implement the non-binding motion, but the devil is in the details,” Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) Vice President Michael Bueckert told Mondoweiss. “This appears too good to be true, and we need to make sure that Canada stops the transfer of all military exports, period, without any loopholes.”
Bueckert says there are already indications that the Canadian government will seek such loopholes, as it has been pushing the narrative that there is a difference between “lethal” and “non-lethal” weapons. That distinction does not exist in Canada’s arms control regime, but the new motion ensures compliance with that arrangement.
“This is very comprehensive language that should apply to all further transfers of military goods, without exception,” says Bueckert. “We will be following Minister Joly’s actions closely to make sure that Canada implements the will of Parliament, and will be holding the Minister accountable to it.”
“Oh Canada, I could drink a case of you”
Good! Based on Israel’s track record, it looks plain to me that Israel is planning a “vast kill” using mass starvation. Israel has long passed the point of needing extreme intervention.
Don’t be fooled. This is mainly PR. The Liberal Party of Canada is firmly onside with Israel regardless of what it does, as is the Conservative Party. One suspects that legal action taken against the PM, the foreign minister and others in government for their personal complicity in the “plausible” genocide taking place may have partly motivated this announcement. Even if they follow through and stop the transfers, which is doubtful, it will have little impact on Israel’s ability to continue waging its savage war on Palestinian children.
If the Canadian government was genuinely interested in curbing Israeli behaviour, it could:
Having voted Liberal for nearly 50 years, I can no longer stomach doing so again. That it took the killing, wounding, torture, starvation and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of people to make this meagre announcement, tells you all you need about the real values of governments purporting to be progressive liberal democracies. So much for Mr. Trudeau mantra of a rules based world order that was frequently stated about Ukraine, but not so much when the victims are Palestinian. As a European MP said a few weeks ago, human rights have a skin colour; the darker your skin, the less human rights you have.
History will judge the nation facing genocidal charges HARSHLY. I hope, all those in the zionist war cabinet, and their corrupt leader, will be hunted down one day, and held responsible for war crimes, just like the nazis.
Human rights organizations have damning evidence of war crimes, and it will be all proved by satellite imagery, photographs, and first hand witnesses. The justifications for killing mostly women and children, while being unable to wipe out Hamas, are sounding weak, and the number of casualties on the Palestinian side, shows just which side is more brutal and disregards human lives.
They have outdone Hamas in violence, savagery, and killing more civilians.
No one can deny that.