CANSEC attendee to be sentenced on November 24 for assault in Ottawa against Palestinian woman in May 2024
This past July, CBC News reported: “A Swiss man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman at an anti-war, pro-Palestinian demonstration in Ottawa during the 2024 CANSEC conference, a defence industry showcase hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).”
That article notes: “He is expected to be sentenced following submissions on Nov. 24.”
Rheinmetall manufactures ammunition
The CBC News article from July 2025 further noted that David Henschel resides in Switzerland and “is an employee of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition Schweiz AG (RWMSchweiz AG), an ammunition manufacturer”.
Rheinmetall explains: “RWM Schweiz AG (former Oerlikon Contraves Pyrotec AG) specialises in the development and manufacture of medium calibre ammunition for land, air and naval applications, including anti-aircraft rounds.”
In January 2024, Spiegel reported: “According to SPIEGEL information, Israel had asked in November [2023] for Germany to approve the delivery of around 10,000 rounds of 120-millimeter precision ammunition manufactured by Rheinmetall. …Since then, the Chancellery, the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Economics have been discussing the request in strict secrecy.”
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has reported: “On 3 July 2024, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Rheinmetall to respond to the allegation over Rheinmetall’s weapons deals with Israel during the ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip and that Rheinmetall avoids the German government’s arms export restrictions by exporting weapons through subsidiaries based in other countries with less strict policies. We also invited Rheinmetall to respond to the call by UN Experts to cease the transfer of arms to Israel. The company did not respond.”
And Al Jazeera has previously reported: “British company BAE Systems, in conjunction with German company Rheinmetall, manufactures M109 self-propelled howitzers which have been used to shell densely populated areas in Gaza. Amnesty International has found evidence that these artillery weapons also deployed white phosphorus munitions, which can burn skin down to the bone and cause organ dysfunction; their use in civilian areas is restricted under international law.”
CANSEC 2026
In her July 2025 report, From economy of occupation to economy of genocide, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, urged the international criminal court “and national judiciaries to investigate and prosecute corporate executives and/or corporate entities for their part in the commission of international crimes and laundering of the proceeds from those crimes.”
Numerous corporations that exhibit and sponsor CANSEC have been implicated in arming the genocide in Palestine.
The next CASEC, billed as “Canada’s leading defence, security & emerging technology event”, will be held on May 27-28, 2026, at the EY Centre in Ottawa.
Registration for CANSEC opens in March 2026.
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