Protest draws attention to Canadian company producing vital component for F-35 warplanes implicated in violations of human rights in Gaza
On November 16 a protest took place outside the Gastops head office on Polytek Street in Ottawa. The protest was part of an Arms Embargo Now day of action against F-35s “currently being used by the Israeli Air Force to bomb Gaza and Lebanon.”
Breach Media has previously reported: “Gastops is the only company in the world that produces engine sensors that go into U.S.-made F-35 combat jets—including the ones dropping 2,000 pound bombs in Gaza.”
That article highlights: “Gastops makes unique Oil Debris Monitor (ODM) ‘Metalscan’ sensors that are designed to detect engine wear and tear and ‘keep aircraft in the air,’ resulting in ‘less downtime, more flight time,’ according to the company. Approximately two dozen employees are responsible for making the sensors at the company, which produced at least 3,500 of them over the past decade.”
Dutch court blocks export of F-35 parts
In February of this year, an appeals court in The Hague ordered the government of the Netherlands to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. The court’s ruling stated: “It is undeniable that there is a clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Warnings to officials and company executives of criminal liability
Two months ago, the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq along with the UK-based Global Legal Action Network also warned that British government officials and company executives could face criminal liability and be indicted for aiding and abetting war crimes if they continue to export components for the F-35 fighter jets used by Israel to drop bombs on civilian populations in Gaza.
F-35 attack kills 90 Palestinians
The London, UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has further noted: “The use of F-35s by Israel in the attack on Gaza has been confirmed since the beginning of the war, including their use to deliver 2000lb bombs.”
CAAT adds: “[On September 2, the] Danish news outlet Information, together with NGO Danwatch, revealed that, for the first time, it has been possible to definitively confirm the use by Israel of an F-35 stealth fighter to carry out a specific attack in Gaza. The attack took place on 13 July, on an Israeli-designated ‘safe zone’ in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, killing 90 people and injuring at least 300.”
Palestinian human rights defenders
Mary Lawlor, the United Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders has written: “There exist no moral arguments that can justify the continued sale of weapons to Israel by states that respect the principle of the universality of human rights.”
Lawlor adds: “Palestinian human rights defenders have emphasized to me the importance of a ban being placed on such sales, given that Israel has demonstrated time and again that it will use such weapons indiscriminately against Palestinians.”
More than 400 days into what the International Court of Justice has ruled a plausible genocide, an estimated 1,380 human rights defenders have been killed in Palestine.
More than 986 medical workers including 165 doctors and 260 nurses, 254 aid workers including 7 from World Central Kitchen, 137 journalists and media workers, 2 lawyers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and 1 International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer are among the 43,700 people killed.
Front Line Defenders says: “Those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
Peace Brigades International
Organizations, defenders and communities accompanied by Peace Brigades International – including Credhos, dhColombia and Nomadesc in Colombia, Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc in Guatemala, Copinh in Honduras, and the Cerezo Committee in Mexico have expressed their solidarity with Palestine.
Photo: Nomadesc president Berenice Celeita wears a keffiyeh at a public forum in Ottawa in solidarity with the Palestinian people, October 2023.
Peace Brigades International called for a ceasefire in November 2023 and in March 2024 asked the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel.
On September 18, 2024, PBI-Canada and the Canadian Friends Service of Canada (Quakers) held a webinar featuring World Beyond War, Project Ploughshares and the American Friends Service Committee commenting on international obligations, Canadian arms exports to Israel and the call for an arms embargo.
At the conclusion of that webinar, Celeita poignantly stated: “We can’t forget that we are facing a genocide, the people of Palestine, we see you, we have marched and mobilized, we will continue to do this because we see there are huge, powerful entities who are trying to ignore us but the people will continue to come together and fight for the dignity of all people because dignity is the only option that we have.”
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