OTTAWA—The Trudeau government will cease future arms exports to Israel even though a motion passed Monday by the House of Commons that called for such action is non-binding, says Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
“It is a real thing,” said Joly, speaking to the Star briefly on the morning after a majority of Liberal MPs and cabinet voted in support of a modified NDP resolution that some Jewish groups say undermines Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.
The controversial multi-pronged resolution sought to toughen Canada’s stance on the Middle East conflict.
The original motion supported an immediate ceasefire (to which was added a call for Hamas to disarm); recognition of the State of Palestine (which was changed to support for the “establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution”); and a weapons sales suspension (which was changed to a cessation).
After feverish negotiations between the Liberals and NDP went down to the wire Monday and delayed voting by nearly two hours, the motion — deemed by some to be anti-Israel — was rewritten to satisfy Liberal government concerns it not represent a departure from Canada’s long-standing support for a negotiated “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East.
A key section of the motion that eventually passed 204-117 had originally called on Ottawa to “suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas.”
That was swapped out for language that commits Canada to “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas.”
Speaking to the Star on Tuesday, the foreign affairs minister, who has the legal responsibility of approving or rejecting export permits for military goods and technology, said the change is significant and not merely symbolic, and reflects the government’s intention.
However, while Joly says the weapons ban will be policy, there are still many details to be worked out about how far it would extend in practice.
That’s because much of the gear Canada exports to Israel is modified in that country and shipped back for use by the Canadian Forces or shipped onward to Canada’s military allies abroad. Any weapons sales ban is not expected to touch on those exports. Those cases make up the bulk of Canada’s most recent military exports to Israel — $47 million of $70 million in permits approved between Oct. 7 and Jan. 8, officials told the Star.
In the wake of the motion, and for the second time in two days, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to Benny Gantz, a former army general and key member of Israel’s war cabinet. A PMO readout said Trudeau “reiterated his concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the humanitarian implications for Israel’s planned military offensive in the city of Rafah.”
But Israel is deeply concerned about the latest move by Canada’s Parliament.
Iddo Moed, Israeli Ambassador to Canada, said in an interview that any stopping of trade in security materials with Israel will “actually weaken our possibility to defend ourselves against terrorism of Hamas. That is exactly what it would entail.”
“We feel the whole motivation behind the motion was to increase pressure on Israel,” he said. “It’s not about releasing the hostages. It’s not about Hamas laying down their weapons. But both of these things will make a big difference” to prospects for a resolution, he said. Instead, Moed argued the motion will only hurt Israel’s ability to counter “Hamas terror against the backdrop of them (its militant leaders) saying that they will repeat their actions again, given the opportunity.”
As of Jan. 8, Joly had temporarily suspended permits for military goods and technology exports to Israel, as the Star first reported.
However, senior government officials insisted last week that Global Affairs continued to receive applications and would process each on a case-by-case basis.
Part of the legal test before approving military exports requires federal officials to assess whether there is a “substantial risk” that the items could be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of serious human rights violations or violations of international law. The federal export controls incorporate Canada’s obligations under the international Arms Trade Treaty.
Canadian officials, citing the constantly evolving and “highly fluid” situation in Gaza, told the Star the minister could not be certain there was no such “substantial risk” that Canadian material destined for Israel would be diverted or misused.
So what exactly Canada’s new position on ceasing arms exports to Israel will mean on the ground in Israel, or for Canadian exporters is not yet entirely clear.
Global Affairs Canada told the Star last week that in recent years, the government “has not received, and therefore not approved, any export permits for weapons to Israel.”
After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel triggered an all-out war in Gaza, Ottawa did continue - until Jan. 8 - to approve “a wide variety of goods and technology designed for both civilian and military purposes, examples of which include telecommunications equipment, decontamination equipment, cryptographic equipment, protective equipment, simulators, imaging equipment, electronic components, firearms, and ammunition.”
Some Canadian companies are already objecting to how her department is slowing applications for gear headed to Israel that is not intended for military use.
Defence Minister Bill Blair, in an interview with the Star, deferred to Joly on what the weapons ban could entail, adding “she’s looking at the full implications of that, how that would be appropriately addressed by the government.”
“There are a number of existing contracts that are already in place, but this was a going-forward basis, I think that’s how the minister’s looking at it.”
Asked if the Liberal government would pay a political price with Jewish groups who see the government as softening its support for Israel, Blair said he understood their “anxieties” but urged them to “look very carefully at the wording of the entire resolution.”
He said it was “an affirmation” of the Liberal government’s view of “Israel’s right to defend itself” and its “strongly held position that Hamas is a terrorist organization. It called upon Hamas to lay down their arms in addition to a ceasefire. And that was, I think, an acknowledgment that Hamas is a terrorist organization, is not likely to obey or comply with international law, so calling upon them to lay down their arms as a condition of the ceasefire, I think, was appropriate.
“It also did not change in any substantive way the government’s long-held policy about its support for a negotiated two-state solution,” he added.
NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson told the Star’s Raisa Patel that discussions around banning arms exports to Israel were some of the most contentious parts of Monday’s negotiation. The New Democrats threatened to revert to the original motion in its entirety if they had failed to come to an agreement on military shipments.
“We had Mélanie Joly running through the opposition lobby yesterday trying to make a deal happen … because if she wasn’t going to come with meaningful work on arms trades, then we couldn’t continue to work with her,” McPherson said.
In the end, the motion passed by 204-117 margin, with most Liberals, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and two Jewish ministers Karina Gould and Ya’ara Saks voting in favour, along with the NDP, the Bloc Québécois, and the Greens supporting it.
Three Liberal MPs, Anthony Housefather, Ben Carr and Marco Mendicino, voted against.
Housefather said Tuesday he is now considering whether he should quit caucus.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the motion was a victory for his party’s efforts: “The fundamental changes that we want were to make sure that there was an end of the sale of arms to Israel. That is not something that Canada has ever said before,” he said ahead of the vote.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims issued a statement late Monday that passage of the motion meant Canada has gone “further than any other G7 nation” in embracing a weapons sales ban among the other measures included in the resolution.
