Canada plans to halt arms sales to Israel, its Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told The Toronto Star after the Canadian Parliament passed a non-binding motion that called on the government to do so.
Her statement was confirmed on Tuesday by the Foreign Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Robert Oliphant.
“We will continue to advocate for a ceasefire, we will continue to not sell arms as we have promised and continue to make sure that we bring hostages back to their homes,” Oliphant told the parliament in Ottawa during a question and answer session.
Canada paused non-lethal military exports to Israel in January
Last week, Canada said it had paused non-lethal military exports to Israel since January and after Monday’s non-binding parliamentary motion on the matter, it has now declared that it would stop all such sales.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Canada of undermining Israel’s right to self-defense.
"It is unfortunate that the Canadian government is taking a step that undermines Israel's right to self-defense against the Hamas murderers who have committed terrible crimes against humanity and innocent Israeli citizens, including the elderly, women and children,” he said.
“History will judge the Canadian government's current move harshly,” Katz stated. Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all abductees are returned home.”
Katz, however, told Army Radio, that he had spoken with Joly about the issue last week when she was in Israel, and added that despite this decision, Canada remained a strong friend of Israel. He added that he did not plan to summon the Canadian ambassador.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid posted on X that “Canada's decision to suspend arms supplies to Israel is wrong, harmful and dangerous. Israel is waging a war against an extreme and cruel terrorist organization and the Canadians simply do not understand what is happening here.”
Its decision to take this step is a testament to the “collapse of Israel's foreign relations” due to the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “evil and negligent government.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while asserting Israel's right to defend itself, has taken an increasingly critical stance over the IDF’s military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, after the terror group attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7, killing over 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages.
Canada is the first major Western ally to so clearly announce a halt to its arms sales to Israel, a move that comes amid growing domestic public pressure among opponents of Gaza in other countries for their governments to follow suit. The parliamentary vote came one week after Joly visited Israel.
Canadian arms sales to Israel represent only a small fraction of such imports, but still amount to over 20 million Canadian dollars.
One Israeli political source said he feared Canada’s decision could cause a domino effect and that other countries could join in.
United Nations experts issued a call in February for member states to stop selling arms to Israel, warning that they risked violating international law in doing so.
The United States, which is the major arms exporters to Israel, has rebuffed domestic calls to halt such sales. The Biden administration last month did issue a new memorandum requesting all arms recipients to show that the weapons were not being used to violate international humanitarian law.