The government has the MPs calling to end the deliveries of weapons amid the continuing war in Gaza
Melanie Joly, Foreign Minister of Canada, Tokio, Japan, November 8, 2023 © Getty Images / Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images
Canada will halt future arms sales to Israel, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told the newspaper Toronto Star on Tuesday.
Her statement came after the country’s parliament passed a resolution on the matter amid the growing push among the MPs to condemn Israel’s ongoing military operation against the Palestinian militants in Gaza, which has recently entered its sixth month.
Despite the non-binding nature of the document, Joly confirmed that the government will cease the transfer of weapons to Israel. “It is a real thing,” she said when answering a reporter’s question.
The parliamentary motion was part of a larger vote originally put forward by minority left-leaning New Democrats (NDP), who pitched it as a way to attempt to revive peace talks and support the Palestinians. The resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was passed on Monday after MPs agreed to tone down its language and include a demand that Hamas “must lay down its arms.”
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The document called on Ottawa to “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. The original text demanded the suspension “of all trade in military goods and technology with Israel.”
The adopted resolution also called for “the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution.”
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Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz condemned Joly’s remarks on X (formerly Twitter), arguing that the refusal to sell weapons “undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists.” He further stated that “history will judge Canada’s current action harshly.”
The militant group Hamas launched a series of raids on Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, according to the local health authorities.
Despite the mounting international calls for a lasting ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday that the Israel Defense Forces will continue their advance on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, which he described as the stronghold used by the militants. “We do not see a way to eliminate Hamas militarily without destroying these remaining battalions,” he told Israeli legislators.
