By Arms Embargo Now campaign, May 23, 2025
Israel is still bombing Palestine. Canada is still arming Israel. The demand is still Arms Embargo Now.
Throughout the election, Canadian politicians were confronted about their complicity in Israel’s escalating genocide in Gaza. Many lied to their constituents, claiming that Canada has stopped exporting weapons to Israel. But for all the Liberal government’s talk, the actions they’ve taken have been a mere drop in the bucket, leaving the vast majority of military exports untouched.
The truth is that the F35 bomber jets, Apache attack helicopters, and Elbit drones that Israel is using to murder Palestinians every day are made with Canadian technology and are full of Canadian parts. Weapons components from engines and mortars to missile circuit boards and sonar systems manufactured in dozens of Canadian factories cross-country are still being sent to Israel and used in their genocide.
Here is a breakdown of the three dimensions of the Canada-Israel arms trade, and what is needed to end it.
1: Canadian military exports to Israel via the US
Every year, Canada exports over a billion dollars of military goods to the U.S. – the vast majority without permits, regulation, or any tracking of their final destination. Those exports are integrated into hundreds of weapons systems including warships, drones, fighter jets, and missiles by American military giants like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Many of these weapons are then sent on to Israel.
As just one example, every F-35 fighter jet – the most advanced warplane used by the IDF to drop 2000 pound bombs on Gaza – contains millions in Canadian parts produced at dozens of Canadian facilities.
In September 2024, after we discovered a contract for explosives to be produced at a Quebec General Dynamics factory and then sent to Israel via the US, our movement forced the Canadian government to block the contract. But despite their rhetoric, the Liberal government has refused to address the flow of hundreds of other Canadian weapons that also travel through the US en route to Israel.
The Canadian government must block all weapons exports to Israel through the U.S.
2: Direct military exports to Israel
Canada also has a long history of issuing permits to Canadian companies so they can sell military goods directly to Israel. The Liberal government even approved a record breaking number of export permits in the first three months of this genocide.
In response to growing movement pressure for an arms embargo, Global Affairs Canada paused issuing any new export permits in January 2024 and announced that they would suspend 30 of the existing permits in August 2024. But approximately a hundred permits remain active today.
Canadian companies continue to quietly fulfil these orders, even as Israel continues to flagrantly commit war crimes against Palestinian civilians.
The Canadian government must cancel all existing export permits.
3: Funding the Israeli war machine by buying weapons from Israel
Canada is Israel’s 6th largest buyer of arms– which means millions of our taxpayer dollars flow directly to Israeli weapons companies.
For instance, just last year, the Canadian government announced its plan to purchase $43 million worth of Spike LR2 missiles from Israeli state-owned weapons giant Rafael. These are the same missiles being used in Gaza – in fact Israeli arms manufacturers advertise their military equipment as ‘battle tested’ because of their use on Palestinians. Arms industry sales such as these are a key way that Israel is paying for its war on Gaza.
The Canadian government must cancel the contracts to buy Israeli weapons.
When a politician says that Canada has stopped arming Israel – they are lying.
We are going to keep up the pressure until they implement a full two way arms embargo to stop the flow of all weapons to and from Israel.
The Canadian government must immediately:
- Block all weapons exports to Israel through the U.S.
- Cancel all existing permits for direct exports from Canada to Israel
- Cancel contracts and planned purchases of weapons from Israel
