Montreal, August 15, 2024 — Peace groups are condemning the proposed transfer of $83.7M worth of explosives to the Israeli military, which they warn will fuel Israel’s genocidal violence against civilians in Gaza. As part of this week’s $20B weapons package to Israel, the US Congress approved the purchase of 50,000 High Explosive Mortar Cartridges worth $83.7M CAD ($61.1M USD) from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc., located in Quebec. In response, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), World Beyond War (WBW), and Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) are urging the Canadian government to block this export of explosives, close the US loophole in Canada’s arms export regime, and impose a real two-way arms embargo on Israel.
In March 2024, Canada’s Parliament, including the governing Liberal party, voted to stop the transfer of arms to Israel. However, despite claiming to implement a ‘pause’ on new permit approvals, Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly excluded the hundreds of existing permits, which means that $95M worth of military goods could still ship to Israel by the end of 2025. Moreover, civil society groups have warned that Canada’s arms control regime contains a significant intentional loophole allowing weapons to flow through the US to Israel unregulated, unreported, and without human rights evaluations.
“This sale must be cancelled. Canada is trying to assist the US in funnelling 50,000 made-in-Canada mortars to a state actively committing genocide,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice President of CJPME. “Minister Joly must immediately reverse course and stop Canadian explosives from being used in Israel’s illegal mass slaughter of civilians in Gaza,” Bueckert added.
“It is egregious that at a time when Prime Minister Trudeau is telling the public ‘we’ve stopped arms exports to Israel’ the United States is announcing a major sale of munitions/mortar cartridges to Israel manufactured in Canada,” said Rachel Small of World Beyond War. “The announcement destroys any lingering trust we might have had in the Liberal government’s authenticity on this issue — either they are lying about having suspended approvals of export permits, or that suspension is meaningless. This is why we’re calling for a full arms embargo on Israel.”
“The world looked on in absolute horror last week as Israeli forces used 2,000 pound bombs to strike the al-Tabin school three times, killing over 100 Palestinians that were seeking refuge there. Despite the fact that the Canadian government doesn’t seem to have taken measure of what is happening in Gaza, we know it’s genocide and we have the moral imperative to apply maximum pressure to stop Israel’s genocidal violence!” stated Niall Clapham Ricardo, special projects coordinator for Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV). “As long as Canada keeps the loophole open that allows for Canadian manufactured weapons to find their way through the United States to Israel, Canada will continue to be complicit in the genocidal actions of Israel in Gaza.”
In response to continued lies from the Liberal Government about the Canada-Israel arms trade, and following one of the most devastating periods of violence Israel has inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza, hundreds of civil society organizations across the country have called an Arms Embargo Day of Action on Tuesday August 20. To date, 44 Members of Parliament have joined more than 300 associations, labour unions, faith institutions, human rights and environmental organizations across Canada in signing the Arms Embargo Now statement calling for a full and immediate two-way arms embargo, using Canada’s sanctions legislation, that will effectively stop the flow of all arms and military goods to and from Israel.