The Canadian government, led by leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will stop future arms exports to Israel.
The motion passed by Canada’s House of Commons said the country would “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.” It passed in a 204-117 vote.
“It is a real thing,” Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said of the resolution, which was originally introduced by the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) headed by Jagmeet Singh.
“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,” Singh said before the vote was taken.
Much of the military materiel shipped by Canada to Israel is modified in Israel and then returned to Canada for that country’s military or Canada’s military allies, The Toronto Star noted. That materiel, which comprises nearly 70% of Canada’s recent military exports to the Jewish state, is not expected to be affected, meaning Canada still benefits from Israeli know-how.
After the vote was taken, Trudeau spoke to Benny Gantz, a leader in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, and “reiterated his concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the humanitarian implications for Israel’s planned military offensive in the city of Rafah,” the Star reported.
Canada’s move to halt arms transfers would “actually weaken our possibility to defend ourselves against terrorism of Hamas. That is exactly what it would entail,” Iddo Moed, Israeli Ambassador to Canada, stated.
“We feel the whole motivation behind the motion was to increase pressure on Israel. 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 chances for peace and damage Israel’s capacity to counter “Hamas terror against the backdrop of them (its militant leaders) saying that they will repeat their actions again, given the opportunity.”
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Canadian officials told the Star that Joly could not guarantee no “substantial risk” existed that Israel would not misuse the arms exports.
The original resolution called for Canada to recognize the “State of Palestine,” but it was revised to support the “establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution,” the Star noted.
Last October, two weeks after Hamas massacred over 1,200 Israelis, Trudeau, who had publicly criticized the state of Israel and expressed sympathies for Palestinians in the past, issued a tweet saying that his government was “here” for Palestinian, Arab, and black Muslim communities.
As members of the Palestinian, Arab, and Black Muslim communities gathered for prayer yesterday, I wanted them to know this: We know you’re worried and hurting. We’re here for you. We will not stop advocating for civilians to be protected and for international law to be upheld. pic.twitter.com/El6KLO2CRw
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 21, 2023
“As members of the Palestinian, Arab, and Black Muslim communities gathered for prayer yesterday, I wanted them to know this: We know you’re worried and hurting. We’re here for you. We will not stop advocating for civilians to be protected and for international law to be upheld,” he declared.