A CANADIAN government official said that Canada will stop exporting weapons to Israel due to the continued international criticism of its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip for the 166th day.
‘The situation on the ground prevents us from exporting any military equipment,’ the Canadian official said.
Israel is one of the most prominent importers of Canadian arms, as it received military equipment worth 21 million Canadian dollars in 2022, according to Radio-Canada, and this was preceded by shipments worth 26 million dollars in 2021, which places it in the list of the top 10 recipients of Canadian arms exports.
Earlier this month, a group of lawyers and Canadians of Palestinian origin filed a complaint against the Canadian government, demanding the suspension of arms exports to Israel, considering that Ottawa is violating domestic and international law.
Canada’s parliament passed a non-binding motion late Monday calling on the international community to work toward a two-state solution to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, in line with government policy.
The move has drawn the ire of the Tel Aviv regime as it faces growing international isolation over its genocidal war on the men women and children of Gaza.
‘The situation on the ground makes it so that we can’t export any kind of military equipment’, a Canadian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Canada’s foreign minister, Melanie Joly, told the Toronto Star newspaper on Tuesday that Ottawa would stop arms exports to Israel.
Israel slammed the decision, with foreign minister Israel Katz claiming it ‘undermines Israel’s right to self-defence’, – that is, its ‘right’ to slaughter Palestinians.
Canada had earlier announced that it reduced its weapons shipments to Israel to non-lethal equipment such as radios following the regime’s onslaught on Gaza on October 7. Canada is a key ally of the US, which provides Israel with billions of dollars a year in military aid.
There are now rapidly growing calls for countries to cut arms exports to Israel and to impose sanctions over the regime’s repeated massacres against Palestinians. Governments including Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands have suspended arms transfers to Israel.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, called the ban ‘an important step’, but said: ‘We need to make sure that Canada stops the transfer of all military exports, period, without any loopholes.’
Labour Against the Arms Trade promised to campaign for a ban on existing arms permits. ‘Let us be clear: We will continue mobilising with allies until all such permits are cancelled,’ it said in a post on X.
US Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed the move, saying in a post on X: ‘Given the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, including widespread and growing starvation, the US should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine.’
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a dire warning, saying that a growing number of children in Gaza are teetering on the edge of death due to severe hunger. The devastating genocidal Israeli campaign has resulted in over 31,800 Palestinian deaths.
The TUC in the UK, and the American trade unions must immediately call special congresses to support the Canadian action by calling UK and US general strikes to end the criminal war on Gaza by bringing down the UK and US governments and bringing in Workers Governments and socialism.
This is the only way forward.
The trade unions must act now, at once, and convene special emergency Congresses to call indefinite general strikes to bring down the UK and US criminal regimes.
There is not a moment to lose. Call general strikes to end the slaughter of the Palestinian people by bringing in Workers Governments and socialism in the US, the UK and the EU!
