Canadian Minister of National “Defence” Is Interrupted By Decent Human Being

By World BEYOND War Toronto, May 3, 2024

Today we interrupted a keynote speech by Canadian Minister of War Bill Blair to call out his complicity in the genocide in Gaza and demand an immediate arms embargo on Israel. Presenting on Canada’s “defense vision,” his talk was both opened and closed by weapons company CEOs — it could not be more clear who his policies serve.

By continuing and expanding the arms trade with Israel and continuing to work closely with the Israeli military, Canada is directly complicit in the devastation of Gaza and the slaughter of over 14,000 Palestinian children.

We asked Blair how can the Canadian government claim to be committed to ending the violence in Gaza when it continues to ship weapons to and from Israel and to actively collaborate with the IDF?

Amidst Israel’s ongoing brutal slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, from October-December 2023, the Canadian government approved a record-breaking number of Canadian arms exports to Israel and under the leadership of Minister Blair the government also announced millions in new purchases of Israeli weaponry for the Canadian military, weapons advertised as battle-tests in Gaza.

The Israeli government has made clear that arms sales are central to funding their current genocide in Gaza.

In December 2023, when Israel had already massacred nearly 20,000 Palestinians, Blair announced a new deal with Israeli state-owned weapons giant Rafael to purchase $43 Million of their Spike LR2 missiles, missiles that the IDF is currently using in their attacks on Gaza.

Just 4 days ago the Canadian Armed Forces confirmed they have not changed the relationship between themselves and the IDF since Oct 7th. They continue to train and share intelligence and communicate in the same way.

Later this month the Department of “Defense” is hosting trial sessions on its base in Alberta for Israeli arms technology used to kill Palestinians.

The Canadian government needs to act decisively to save Palestinian lives and that begins with cutting off the Canada-Israel arms trade.

We won’t stop showing up to demand it.

Learn more and take action at: https://worldbeyondwar.org/canadastoparmingisrael