Canadian exports of military-related goods to Israel have risen more than sixfold in the last decade.
A record amount of $30 was exported by Canadian companies. $6 million in military hardware to Israel in the previous year, a report by Global Affairs Canada published last week.
The annual report sets out
in detail the export of military products to other countries in the world
excluding the United States. Here are some of the points discussed in the
report regarding exports to Israel.
In 2023, the volume of
exported military products from Canada to Israel reached the level of $
30,000,000, which is a record high, exceeding the previous record of $
28,000,000. In 1987, this was equal to over 7 million US dollars in today’s
adjusted value by 6. 6 percent.
For the last 10 years,
yearly exports to the Israeli military have risen from $4. 8 million in 2013.
The government added the
following footnote to the 2023 report: It has repeatedly stated that it only
issued permits for ‘non-lethal’ materials, after October 7, 2023, when Israel
began its vicious attack on Gaza.
As stated in the Canadian previous media reports, ‘non-lethal’ is a term that has no legal definition,
and may encompass parts of lethal weapons of war.
It said that “no permits
have been issued since January 8, 2024,” but it made no mention of the official
notice that the government pledged to give notifying a temporary halt
in the approval of new permits after a symbolic vote in the UK Parliament in
the early part of this year.
The temporary halt in the
authorization of new licenses does not exclude those issued prior to January 8,
which implies that military exports are still happening from Canada to Israel
under those licenses.
In February, The Canadian Media published the news that the Trudeau government has issued new permits for
military exports with a total value of $28. That is one and a half million per
week or two hundred thousand per day of the current ongoing attack on Gaza,
Israel.
The Maple pointed out at
that time that some of the exports under those permits may in fact have
remained undelivered during the year 2023 the export permits are likely to
still be valid.
Israel was the non-U. A.
The picture below highlights the top S. destination for which Canadian
suppliers used the largest number of military export permits in 2023. This does
not imply, nevertheless that it bought the highest dollar value of Canadian military
goods in the year. Based on its notification, GAC merely informs the public
about the general characteristics of the military goods exported to foreign
countries.
Export of goods which were
exported to Israel in the last year can be categorized as follows;
It should be noted that
none of the military export permits that were rejected by GAC the previous year
were products exported to Israel. The following table provides an overview of
the permit denials, and the rationale behind the denial:
According to the report,
Canada’s foreign affairs minister is required to “refuse export and brokering
permit to military services and dual-use goods, if there are reasonable risks
that these items are likely to be utilized to breach peace and order, or for
committing acts related to international humanitarian and human rights laws or offenses
that are prohibited under international conventions of terrorism or organized
crimes, gender-based violence or violence against women and children. ”
Also, Israel is deeply
involved in Genocide. It is currently on trial for the Genocide of Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip at the international criminal court for the violation of the
1948 Genocide Convention.
In January 2019, the United Nations issued a plea to all member states to cease arms exports to Israel including licenses and military assistance because “exports to Israel are likely to be in breach of international humanitarian law. ”
This UN statement in
particular lists Canada as amongst several countries that still send military pieces
of equipment to Israel.
Israel continues to be
listed on the Automatic Firearms Country Control List of Canada, this means
that it is legal for any resident of Canada to apply for a permit to export
prohibited firearms weapons, and devices to the said country as per Canada’s
2023 military exports report.
All in all, Canadian
export was seen to be worth $ 2. $14 billion in military goods to non-U. Other
leading S. destinations were up $2. 12 billion in 2022. Today, by far the
single largest source of this non-U. Saudi Arabia was the largest buyer of
Canadian military goods in 2023 and is governed by a strict monarchy that has a
reprehensible record when it comes to human rights.
Saudi Arabia bought $904.
$6 million worth of military products were exported to Canada, where most of
the items it shipped were “ground vehicles and components.”
Recent annual reports of
GAC do not contain any information about the export of military products to the
USA where they can be delivered to the Israeli military which arms control
organizations mentioned.
The 2023 report was
critically analyzed by the PP, a monitoring group on arms, and stated that
based on its estimation of the military exports to the U. S., such exports are
valued at more than a billion yearly.
In December,
PP released a report stating that some of the components built in Canada,
such as many that were used in F-35 fighter jets, go through the United States
before being delivered to Israel. Gaza strip bombing has been an instance where
Israel has deployed F-35s.
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