(THE CRADLE) – Canada will impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, the country’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced on 19 March. “It’s a real thing,” Joly told Canadian newspaper The Toronto Star on Tuesday. The decision follows a vote of 204-117 in the Canadian parliament on 18 March in favor of ending the sales. While it originally called for a suspension, it was later changed into a full ban.
“There are a number of existing contracts that are already in place, but this was on a going-forward basis, I think that’s how the minister’s looking at it. There has been a lot of concern expressed with respect to … lethal military sales to Israel during the conflict,” Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said on 19 March.
Ottawa had previously temporarily suspended export permits for military goods to Israel. However, Global Affairs Canada, the government body in charge of diplomatic and consular relations, continued to receive applications for weapon exports to Israel, reviewing them on a case-by-case basis.
