The federal government is deliberately slow-walking a request from Israel for permission to import about thirty Canadian-made armoured patrol vehicles, sources tell Radio-Canada. The news comes as the Trudeau government faces intense pressure to stop exporting military equipment to Israel.Israeli soldiers operate at the Shajaiya district of Gaza City on Dec. 8. Their stated mission is to eradicate Hamas, which killed over 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.
A source told CBC News those in government reviewing such applications have raised concerns about the possibility of the equipment being misused. The source said the reviewers are struggling to draw firm conclusions due to the constantly changing situation in Gaza. If the federal government authorizes transactions of military equipment, it risks attracting the wrath of pro-Palestinian groups and being accused of complicity in the operations of the Israeli army in Gaza.Trudeau silent while Liberal caucus remains split over ICJ ruling on Israel-Hamas warRoshel Inc., the company that makes the armoured vehicles, said it's been waiting for the government to make a decision on the permits for months.
For weeks, the NDP has been calling for a ban on exports of military equipment to Israel. In a statement issued last month, the party said that a ban must be imposed because of the "Netanyahu government's brutal four-month-long assault on the people of Gaza." "Canada has one of the strongest export regimes in the world and I'm not going to comment on a specific case, but we continue to make sure that all decisions are taken in the appropriate way," Trudeau said in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday.