The Canadian government is now faced with a significant choice, according to Rachel Small, of the World Beyond War group: “Either it continues to try to deceive the public, to make its declarations on the need to act while continuing to send weapons, or it can put an end to the role in the death machine of Israel”.
World Beyond War is part of a coalition of Canadian activists for the defense of Palestinians who examined the data published by the Israeli tax administration.
These data show that expeditions from Canada, classified as bullets, rifles and weapons, arrive in Israel.
The Canadian press examined the data accessible to the public, which includes a cargo of last April listed as “bullets”, sent from Canada to Israel, whose quantity was 175,000. This delivery is under the customs code used by Israel for “war ammunition and their spare parts”.
Similar cargoes of ammunition from Canada arrived in Israel in February, July and December 2024.
Also in April, a Canadian cargo that customs agent classified in the category of “tanks and other armored combat vehicles, armed or non -armed motor vehicles, and their spare parts”.
The tax database indicates that in August and November 2024, “parts and accessories” of firearms that can be considered as “weapons and ammunition” have been shipped from Canada to Israel. The database indicates that it could be “military weapons”, but also non -military articles, such as hunting rifles or batons.
In the report published on Tuesday, activists highlight other deliveries to Israel, classified as plane parts, lasers, cameras and transmission devices, which, according to them, may have been intended for military use.
Global Affairs Canada and the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand, did not immediately comment on this information.
“We can clearly see now that military goods made in Canada continued to flock directly to Israel during all this time, directly supporting Israel’s ability to commit war crimes in Gaza and maintain its occupation of Palestine,” said Small.
Parliament voted in favor of a non -binding motion in March 2024, which aimed to suspend the granting of new weapons permits in Israel. The government subsequently announced an examination of existing export permits.
That month, the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Mélanie Joly, said that none of the operating permits allowed the export of lethal weapons to Israel.
Yara Shoufani, of the Palestinian Youth Movement, says that the Canadian government has not been transparent as to what achieves Israel, and it wonders if the federal government has misleaded Parliament.
“Despite the government’s misleading statements, the influx of military goods from Canada to Israel was not interrupted,” she said at a press conference on the hill in Parliament on Tuesday.
It has pressed the government to set up a bilateral embargo on arms, instead of continuing to “arm Israel and mislead the public with vague declarations on permit regulation”.
The report also raises the question of whether Ottawa respected the commitment made by Minister Joly in September 2024 to prohibit access to Canadian weapons to the Gaza Strip.
The report mentions specific companies receiving Canadian weapons that have equipped the Israeli offensive in Gaza, and the possibility that Canadian plane parts were used during strikes on Gaza. The report contains no direct and explicit evidence of the use of Canadian weapons on the ground in Gaza.
The spokesperson for the new Democratic Foreign Affairs Party Heather McPherson, said the government had broken its promise to end the transfers of weapons to Israel.
“Today’s report shows that the Liberals mislead the Canadians instead of taking concrete measures to end the violence and famine that kills Palestinian civilians,” she wrote in a statement.
McPherson argued that Canada is exposed to international responsibility by not taking measures to dissuade Israel from committing acts that the International Court of Justice could describe as genocidal.
“Canadians are right to feel betrayed and horrified,” wrote Ms. McPherson.