By World BEYOND War, July 30, 2024
This Week Marks 300 Days Since the Start of the Current Genocide.
The protest is being organized by Brampton4Palestine, Labour For Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement Toronto, Brampton4Ceasefire, Jews Say No to Genocide, and World BEYOND War.
Brampton, Ontario — A coalition of pro-Palestinian protesters from across the GTA have formed picket lines and blocked the morning shift from entering the Roshel Armored Vehicles facility in Brampton. Linking arms in front of driveways, they held banners and signs that read Roshel Arms Israel, Arms Embargo on Israel Now, and Workers Against War, drawing attention to Roshel’s ties with Israeli weapons companies. The protestors are demanding that the Canadian government deny the export permits Roshel is seeking to export armoured vehicles to Israel and instead implement a full arms embargo.
“I have witnessed armored vehicles identical to the ones here in the parking lot at Roshel being used to kidnap my family members and my friends in the West Bank more times than I can count,” said Adham with PYM-Toronto. “I myself was beaten physically and tortured psychologically as a 10 year old simply for being outside when IDF soldiers raided my neighborhood in Tulkarem refugee camp using these vehicles. As someone who has been living in Brampton for over 10 years, I was absolutely horrified to find out that there is a factory that manufactures and exports armored vehicles to Israel so close to my house. The amount of anxiety and PTSD that I feel every time I pass anywhere near the factory’s location is indescribable.”
Roshel, headquartered in Brampton, is one of the largest manufacturers of smart armored vehicles in North America. The facility whose operations are being disrupted today is over 120,000 sq. feet and there are over 200 employees working there. The company is currently seeking to open another facility in Brampton.
“I am outraged that Brampton is planning on welcoming a new Roshel global headquarters and production facility,” said Simmi with Brampton4Palestine. “The city’s economic development office and Councillor Toor have betrayed us by securing a deal with an Israeli-owned weapons manufacturer, blatantly disregarding Brampton’s recent ceasefire resolution. If Brampton truly supports Palestinians and an end to the violence, they must immediately reconsider this disgraceful partnership.”
In October, Roshel attempted to export approximately thirty armored patrol vehicles to Israel, but the permit approval was stalled by the government in response to immense public pressure to end the Canada-Israel arms trade. However, no permits to export arms to Israel were officially denied by the Canadian government in 2023, so it remains unclear whether this permit may have been quietly approved or may remain in limbo.
“I grew up believing Canada was a country of peacekeepers whose military equipment was geared to search and rescue operations”, said Mary Lozowsky, a member of Brampton4Palestine. “I was shocked to hear Brampton is home to four weapons manufacturers. One, Roshel Industries, is in my neighbourhood, right next to the standard suburban big box stores. Brampton should not be arming and profiting from the pain of victims of war.”
Roshel has long partnered with Israeli weapons companies, including Israeli state-owned weapons giant Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Malca-Amit.
Roshel’s senior leadership has worked extensively with Israeli military and weapons companies. Roman Shimonov, CEO and founder, served in the Israeli Armed Forces and led an encryption company providing services to the Israeli military before founding Roshel. Zeev Braiman, Production Manager, served as an Avionics Technician in the Israeli Air Force and worked for Israeli drone-maker Elbit Systems and Israeli Aerospace Industries. Demitry Faler, Plant Manager, served in the Israeli Ministry of Defence as an Avionics Manager for nearly 17 years.
“This week marks 300 days of Israel’s genocidal violence in Gaza,” said Rachel Small with World BEYOND War. “By continuing to arm the Israeli military, Canada is directly complicit in and profiting from the slaughter of over 15,000 Palestinian children. We are putting our bodies on the line again to demand that the Canadian government stop obfuscating and do everything in its power to stop Israeli atrocities, starting with imposing an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. We gather over a hundred strong here today, and many thousands across the country over the coming week, to take matters into our own hands.”
Despite ICJ rulings and various edicts from the United Nations Human Rights Council and UN Experts calling on Canada to stop arming Israel, Canada has dragged its feet, ignoring international law, international legal experts and its own laws and constituents. As we approach 300 days of Israeli military violence and the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, Canada has continued to extend support for Israel’s genocidal acts.
“I’m here representing Labour for Palestine – Toronto because this is undeniably a labour issue,” said Pamela Arancibia. “We, as workers, are sending the message to fellow workers that they will be supported in demanding the right to refuse handling weapons of war. We’re here to say: workers will declare these military goods as hot cargo that must be stopped, not shipped to a country currently conducting a genocide.”
The picketers are demanding that the Canadian government impose an immediate and total arms embargo on Israel, which would mean denying the permits Roshel is seeking to obtain to export armored vehicles to Israel, and suspending or canceling all existing military goods and services permits for Israel. Imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel requires that the Government of Canada not only stop approving new arms export permits but also immediately stop the transfer of all previously approved arms exports to Israel, including the record-breaking number approved in the last quarter of 2023. It must halt the export of vast quantities of Canadian arms and components to Israel via the United States. And it must stop importing weapons from Israel to Canada.
While the government says it has temporarily suspended the authorization of new arms export permits to Israel since January 8, 2024, the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly has specifically said that arms export permits approved before January 8 remain in effect.
In precisely this period, between October and December 2023, the most deadly period of Israel’s assault on Gaza, Global Affairs Canada approved $28.5 million dollars in arms export permits to Israel, more than in 2022 or any other year on record.
The government has not canceled or suspended those permits, or any of the hundreds of permits from previous years that were still open. Thus weapons and components are continuing to be transferred to Israel under permits approved pre-January 8.
In January, $680,312 worth of goods were exported from Ontario to Israel under the ‘Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles’ category reported by StatCan. An additional $164,088 in this category was exported in April. The identities of the producers and end users in Israel are unknown. Antiwar organization World BEYOND War has released a map listing dozens of companies across Canada involved in providing weapons and military technology to Israel.
