Ottawa slow-walking Israel’s request for permission to import armoured vehicles: sources

The federal government is deliberately slow-walking a request from Israel for permission to import Canadian-made light armoured vehicles, two sources tell Radio-Canada.

Shortly after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens — which left about 1,200 people dead and some 250 others taken hostage — the Israeli government sent a request to the office of Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly for clearance to import about thirty light armoured vehicles from Ontario manufacturer Roshel.

Ottawa must grant the necessary export licenses before the transaction can be completed — but Israel’s request has remained in limbo ever since, as the federal government strives to strike a delicate domestic balance on its position on the Israel-Hamas conflict, sources say.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, Israel’s war on Hamas has since laid waste to the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The UN says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people face starvation.

If the federal government authorizes the transaction, it risks attracting the wrath of pro-Palestinian groups and being accused of complicity in the operations of the Israeli army in Gaza.

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.”

“The minister has an obligation under the Arms Trade Treaty not to approve export permits for military goods and technology where there is a substantial risk of human rights abuses,” NDP MP Heather McPherson said on Feb. 12. 

A coalition of Canadian lawyers and citizens of Palestinian origin also filed an action in Federal Court attempting to force the federal government to suspend all its military exports to Israel.

The federal government claims it has authorized only exports of “non-lethal” military equipment to Israel since the start of the war. The federal government has not yet provided a detailed list of equipment supplied to Israel.

When asked if approving an export visa for the armoured vehicles would violate Canada’s legal obligations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to comment.

“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.

Radio-Canada has reached out to Global Affairs Canada, Roshel and the Israeli embassy for comment but has not yet heard back.