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Canada Cancels Arms Export Licenses to Israel
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer stands guard outside the Senate of Canada prior to the Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada on September 23, 2020. Photo: AFP photo/DAVE CHAN
JNS.org — Canada has canceled around 30 existing permits for arms shipments to Israel, including a deal with the Canadian division of a US defense contractor, Ottawa’s foreign minister told reporters on Tuesday.
“As for the question regarding General Dynamics, our policy is clear,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said, speaking with journalists on the sidelines of a caucus retreat of her governing Liberal Party.
Last month, the United States announced a $61.1 million deal to supply the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with 120mm high explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment produced in Quebec by Virginia-based General Dynamics.
Joly said, “We will not have any form of arms, or parts of arms, be sent to Gaza. Period. How they’re being sent and where they’re being sent is irrelevant. And so therefore my position is clear, the position of the government is clear, and we’re in contact with General Dynamics.”
Canada’s top diplomat on Tuesday revealed that, over the summer, the government revoked around 30 export permits issued before January, when Ottawa announced a ban on new sales of arms that could be used by the Israel Defense Forces in the war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
In March, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he said he would honor a motion in the House of Commons and halt all arms exports to Jerusalem.
“It’s regrettable that the Canadian government is taking a step that undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists, who have committed terrible crimes against humanity and against innocent Israeli civilians, including the elderly, women, and children,” said Katz.
Canadian military exports to Israel amounted to more than $15.4 million in 2022, according to official figures. (The largest non-American export destination was Saudi Arabia, which received about $1.15 billion, or about 54 percent of the total value of all non-US Canadian military exports.)
The Ottawa-based Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs said on Wednesday: “Less than a week after six hostages were brutally murdered following more than 300 days in Hamas captivity, and while hundreds of thousands of Israelis remain displaced by Hezbollah’s relentless bombing in the north, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly continues to proclaim Israel’s right to self-defense — just not with Canada’s support.”
“This decision marks a disturbing shift. Canada, once a steadfast ally of the Jewish state, now risks becoming complicit in the ongoing assault against it,” the Canadian Jewish community group added, charging, “While Minister Joly may seek favor in the looming leadership race, it comes at the expense of Canada’s principles and moral standing.”
On Oct. 7, some 6,000 Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel by land, sea, and air from Gaza, murdering around 1,200 people including Canadians, abducting 251 people back to the enclave, and using rape and torture as weapons while temporarily conquering several southern Israeli towns.
Earlier this month, the British government suspended some arms sales to the Israel Defense Forces, claiming there is a “clear risk” the weapons could be used by the Jewish state’s military to “commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law” in the Gaza Strip.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy informed lawmakers that London would cancel 30 out of 350 licenses, banning the export of aircraft, drones, helicopters ,and ground targeting equipment.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant responded by saying he was “deeply disheartened to learn of the sanctions placed by the UK Government on export licenses to Israel’s defense establishment.”
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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