Status Update:
May 2025:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an “arms embargo”?
It prohibits exporting and importing arms and related materials to and from the targeted country, and may also prohibit communicating technical data or financial transactions related to military activities.” (Global Affairs Canada)
Canadian officials have the power to enact an arms embargo against Israel. In recent years, Canadian officials have imposed arms embargoes on certain states, including Russia, Zimbabwe, and Myanmar, when they are deemed to have committed a serious international breach of peace and security, committed gross and systematic human rights violations, or when officials or their associates are involved in acts of corruption. In the 1980s, Canada imposed a two-way arms embargo on Israel as a response to Israeli violence against Palestinians during the first intifada. There is no reason why an embargo could not be enacted against Israel again today.
What steps has Canada taken toward an arms embargo?
We have written and phoned our MPs, picketed their offices, marched in the streets, and taken action with our neighbours.
In March 2024, the NDP put forward a motion in Parliament that called on Canada to “suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel.” To avoid a split in the Liberal caucus, the Trudeau government negotiated a watered-down version of the motion, including a clause that would “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime…” That version of the motion passed with 204 in favour and 117 against. It was moved by the NDP with the support of the Bloc Québécois, Greens, and almost all Liberal MPs, including Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Joly. Only the Conservatives and three other MPs voted against it. Though the motion was non-binding, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that she intended to honour it. However, as of May 2024 all the Canadian government has done towards an arms embargo is:
— Paused issuing any new permits for weapons exports to Israel.
—Suspended 30 (or roughly 12%) of the 200+ permits that had already been issued. These active permits are for military goods that are continuing to be shipped out to Israel right now.
— Promised to stop one planned shipment of Canadian-made explosives to Israel through the US. But only after details of this one shipment (among hundreds) were revealed by fluke and provoked huge public outcry.
Suspending just 12% of active permits to Israel is not enough. Letting Canadian weapons flow to Israel via the U.S., untracked and without requiring a permit is unacceptable. Buying Israeli weapons being used on Gaza for the Canadian Armed Forces is inexcusable.
Is Canada exporting military goods to Israel?
Every year, Canada exports over a billion dollars of military goods to the US – the vast majority without permits, regulation, or any tracking of their final destination. Those exports are integrated into hundreds of weapons systems including warships, drones, fighter jets, and missiles by American military giants like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Many of these weapons are then sent on to Israel.
As just one example, every F-35 fighter jet – the most advanced warplane used by the IDF to drop 2000 pound bombs on Gaza – contains millions in Canadian parts produced at dozens of Canadian facilities. See additional examples below.
In September 2024, after we discovered a contract for explosives to be produced at a Quebec General Dynamics factory and then sent to Israel via the US, our movement forced the Canadian government to block the contract. But despite their rhetoric, the Liberal government has refused to address the flow of hundreds of other Canadian weapons that also travel through the US en route to Israel.
The Canadian government must block all weapons exports to Israel through the US.
Canada also has a long history of issuing permits to Canadian companies so they can sell military goods directly to Israel. The Liberal government even approved a record breaking number of export permits in the first three months of this genocide.
In response to growing movement pressure for an arms embargo, Global Affairs Canada paused issuing any new export permits in January 2024 and announced that they would suspend 30 of the existing permits in August 2024. But approximately a hundred permits remain active today.
Canadian companies continue to quietly fulfill these orders, even as Israel continues to flagrantly commit war crimes against Palestinian civilians.
The Canadian government must cancel all existing export permits.
What are some examples of military goods that Canada has imported from Israel?
In 2015, Rheinmetall Canada teamed up with Israel Aerospace subsidiary ELTA Systems to provide the Canadian Armed Forces with Medium Range Radar systems, adapting technology used by the Israeli military’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system. It has been called “most advanced active 3D air defence and target acquisition radar that is part of the Canadian Army inventory,” and its development involved a technology transfer from ELTA to Rheinmetall Canada. The original deal was valued at $243.3 million dollars Canadian, and its completion paved the way for subsequent Rheinmetall Canada – IAI / ELTA collaborations.
What kind of components are transferred to Israel via the U.S. and what weapons are they used in?
- Companies that participate in the F-35 program include: Honeywell, Magellan Aerospace, Apex Industries, ASCO Aerospace Canada, Ben Machine Products, PCC Aerostructures Centra and others.
- Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets have become emblematic of the loophole that allows Canadian-made weapons components to be transferred, unregulated and unreported, to Israel via the U.S.
- Héroux-Devtek, headquartered in Quebec, contributes parts and landing gear to Boeing’s F-15 fighter jet program. It’s among the Canadian companies that supply components for Boeing’s F-15s, which are used by the Israeli Air Force to bomb Gaza.
Canadian companies also supply parts for Boeing’s AH-64 Apache helicopters, which are also used by the Israeli Air Force.
What is the legal case for an arms embargo?
Given Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, 70% of whom are women and children, and given Israel’s military occupation and its system of apartheid over the Palestinian people, there is a clear and undeniable risk that Canadian weapons could be implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Under the Genocide Convention, Canada is obliged to “prevent and punish” the crime of genocide. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that there is a “plausible” case that Israel is committing acts of genocide in Gaza, and that Palestinians there face a “real and imminent risk” of genocide. By reiterating that States have an obligation to prevent genocide, the ICJ ruling puts Canada on notice that, as a party to the Genocide Convention, it must do everything within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza.
Canada’s obligations under international law have been articulated by UN experts who warned that in light of the fact that “Israel has repeatedly failed to comply with international law” in Gaza, “any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately,” and by the UN Human Rights Council which in April passed a resolution calling on all states to “cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.”
What does Canada still need to do to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel?
It requires closing the loophole that allows Canadian arms and components to be exported to Israel via the United States. A full arms embargo requires banning the import of weapons, military equipment,and surveillance technology from Israeli companies and the Israeli government. It also involves prohibiting the import and export of “dual-use” technology and equipment to Israel. The government has laws and policy tools that it can use to enact these measures.
As of May 2025 the government of Canada still has not done the following:
— They haven’t suspended or cancelled the remaining approximately one hundred permits currently being used to ship arms to Israel.
— They haven’t done anything to stop the vast majority of arms exports to Israel which don’t even need an export permit because they use a loophole that allows military goods to go to Israel via the U.S., unreported & unregulated.
— They haven’t stopped importing weapons from Israel. Canada continues to fund the Israeli war machine by purchasing Israeli weapons for the Canadian military marketed as “battle-tested” on Palestinians.
What military goods are exported to Israel?
The government justifies this secrecy by claiming that it must protect the commercial privacy of weapons makers and dealers. It values the privacy of war profiteers over the public’s right to know. On the record, the government only provides vague categories that give a general sense of the type of military exports. This makes it extremely hard for the public to evaluate the true human rights impact of Canada’s exports.
In March, the CBC reported that Canada is considering a request to export thirty armoured patrol vehicles to Israel, but has been dragging its feet on making a decision. Following the passage of Parliament’s motion for an end to further transfers, Canada should officially reject the request.
In recent years, the main categories of Canada’s military exports to Israel have included:
1) bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices (and related components);
2) military aircraft and/or related components,
3) military spacecraft and/or related components.
Keep in mind that when talking about components, we mean smaller pieces that are added to a larger weapons system (for example, a tail wing or piece of landing gear that is later added to a fighter jet, or a sensor that is added onto a missile or drone). Government sources have suggested that Canada has not exported full weapons systems since October 7, 2023, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility that Canadian components of larger weapons systems are being exported, thus implicating them in the killing of Palestinians.
In addition to the above, Canada exports weapons to Israel via the United States, and due to loopholes, this trade is completely unreported and thus unregulated under Canadian export law for military equipment. For example, Canada produces different components that become part of all F-35 fighter jets, such as parts of the landing gear, pieces of the engine, and segments of the wings. This means that the Israeli F-35s which are involved in bombing civilians in the Gaza Strip are all equipped with Canadian parts. However, because these parts are first sent to the United States, where they are added to the F-35 before being shipped to Israel, these exports are not included in Canada’s overall military export numbers. It also means that these exports are not subjected to a human rights risk assessment. The problem of Canada’s arms exports to Israel is therefore much bigger than it first appears based on available data and reporting from Global Affairs Canada. We know it is happening because Canadian companies boast in their press release about having contracts to produce F35 parts.
No but really, what are some examples of military goods that Canadian companies export to Israel?
IAI is state-owned and is Israel’s major aerospace and aviation manufacturer.
INKAS has sold the Israeli government ‘more command & control units than any other supplier in history’
Kraken Robotics supplies Elbit Systems its KATFISH towed sonar system, for use in the Seagull USV which the Israeli military is using off the coast of Gaza.
Looking for something else? The campaign webinars are here. Campaign explainers and additional resources are here. We’ve also put together a list of resources to fight misinformation about Canada’s arms trade with Israel.