Join us on September 18 to examine the issue of Canadian weapons and weapon components being used in Gaza
Photo: A protest in downtown Ottawa on the evening of September 10 calling for a full arms embargo now. Photo by Brent Patterson.
Yesterday, Tuesday September 10, Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly said: “Our goal is to ensure that there are no Canadian weapons or weapon components sent to Gaza.”
Video: Joly speaking yesterday about arms exports to Israel.
Joly added: “We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period. How they’re being sent and where they’re being sent is irrelevant.”
She further noted: “That is why I am in contact with General Dynamics.”
Almost a month ago, The Maple reported: “The United States government announced this week that a Quebec-based company [General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc. in Repentigny, just east of Montreal] will be the principal contractor in a ‘possible’ $61-million US [CAD $83 million] sale of high explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment to Israel.”
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency named these as “M933A1 120mm High Explosive (HE) mortar cartridges with M783 fuzes.”
General Dynamics photo: The company says they are “the leading manufacturer of propellants for U.S. 60mm, 81mm and 120mm Mortar Systems.”
The response
NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson has responded to Joly’s statement with this comment: “40,000+ Palestinians killed this year while Liberals allowed military goods to go to Netanyahu & today @melaniejoly gave zero details on HOW she will prevent the General Dynamics sale. Empty words? Show the proof.”
World Beyond War says: “This is MAJOR but we need a full #armsembargonow to stop the flow of ALL weapons to/from Israel.”
And Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Shane Martinez has commented: “Prudence demands careful scrutiny of Minister Joly’s comments, because even the most generous interpretation of them does not mean any of the following: That Canadian arms exports to Israel have ended. That the 50,000 mortars won’t be shipped from Quebec. That Canada is complying with the Arms Trade Treaty.”
30 of 210 permits suspended
Yesterday, Joly also noted: “I suspended this summer around 30 existing permits of Canadian companies, and we’re asking questions to these companies.”
According to a Canadian Press report: “Ottawa had an estimated maximum of $136 million in approved military export permits to Israel, according to a document Global Affairs Canada submitted to the foreign affairs committee, current as of July 3. The document lists all 210 permits that were valid at that point, amounting to a maximum of $154.8 million, of which $18 million had already been sent to various public and private clients in Israel. The permits date back to December 2020 and $24 million of the total authorized value stems from permits approved after the Oct. 7, 2023.”
Joly’s comments come one week after The Guardian reported: “[The United Kingdom] is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a ‘clear risk’ they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. …The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said it applied to 30 of the 350 existing arms licences, but would almost entirely exclude all UK components for the F-35 fighter jet programme, seen as a significant loophole by pro-Palestinian groups.”
A study commissioned by Lockheed Martin boasts that there are US $2.3-million worth of Canadian components in every F-35 warplane.
House of Commons vote
This coming Wednesday September 18 is the 6-month anniversary of the House of Commons vote of 204-118 that passed a motion to “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel.”
Video still: Joly rises to vote in favour of the motion.
The wording of that motion raised subsequent questions about the $28.5 million in permits approved prior to the vote and the $94.5 million in unused export permits with expiry dates as late as December 31, 2025. Both issues were revealed by The Maple.
Joly has previously said: “Since January 8th, the government has not approved new arms export permits to Israel and this will continue until we can ensure full compliance with our export regime.”
Webinar, September 18, 2:30 pm ET
Peace Brigades International-Canada and the Canadian Friends Service Committee have invited Noam Perry of the American Friends Service Committee Action Center for Corporate Accountability and Kelsey Gallagher of Project Ploughshares to speak on this issue.
The AFSC Action Center has produced the online resource Companies Profiting from the Gaza Genocide, while Project Ploughshares has published the report Fanning the Flames: The grave risk of Canada’s arms exports to Israel.
Photo: Noam Perry, Kelsey Gallagher.
We have also invited the Palestinian Youth Movement to talk about the devastation in Gaza caused by arms exports.
To register for this webinar, click here.
Both PBI-Canada and the CFSC have joined in a wider civil society call on the “Canadian government to uphold its moral and legal responsibilities and impose a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel.”
Further reading: 1,358 Palestinian human rights defenders may have been killed over the last 10 months (PBI-Canada, August 17, 2024).
0 Comments