The Canadian government misled the public when it said it was pausing all new weapons export permits to Israel last year, a new report published on Tuesday says.
Commercially available data has shown shipments not only continued but were actually fast-tracked – and sometimes via indirect routes such as through the US.
The findings, compiled by an all-volunteer team from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and the groups World Beyond War and Arms Embargo Now, point to efforts by Ottawa to placate an electorate that has expressed growing dissatisfaction with how the Liberal Party has responded to Israel’s war on Gaza – but without actually reversing its policy of unconditional support for Israel, as it publicly pledged.
“Shipments of arms to Israel were allowed to proceed under hundreds of previously approved permits. This communications ploy allowed Canadian companies to continue to profit from Israel’s genocide while the Federal government misled Canadians into believing they were no longer arming the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza,” the authors wrote in the report.
The 58-page document entitled “Exposing Canadian Military Exports to Israel” cites more than 390 shipments from 21 Canadian manufacturers in six cities that included more than 420,000 bullets, 735 cartridge parts (ammunition sets for firearms), F-35 jet parts such as navigation sensors, radar systems, and dual-use items like GPS antennas.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
The deadliest weapons and military support systems came from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, Stelia Aerospace North America, and Pratt & Whitney, among others, which delivered support systems such as surveillance and tracking technology, as well as landing gear for aircraft.
The authors say they used two complementary methodologies for the first time to track Canadian arms exports: commercial shipping data crosschecked with Israeli Tax Authority import data from October 2023 to May 2025.
“[The report] exposes a vastly different reality than government claims: a continuous, massive pipeline of Canadian weapons flowing directly to Israel,” the authors said.
Canada’s Mark Carney derided online for vision of ‘Zionist Palestinian state’
Read More »
“By continuing to send arms transfers to Israel, Canada is violating both domestic law and its commitments under international law,” they continued.
Middle East Eye reached out to Global Affairs Canada, the foreign ministry, but was not given a response by the time of publication.
Israel has killed over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. And since March, it has imposed a crippling siege on the enclave that has led to a declaration of famine by the world’s top food and aid bodies.
“Canada must urgently impose a full two-way arms embargo on Israel. This requires canceling all active arms export permits, closing loopholes for US transfers, banning surveillance and dual-use technology, and canceling all contracts and planned purchases of military goods from Israel,” the report urged.
The F-35 programme
A key finding in the report is that parts made in Canada by three main companies routinely make up at least $2.1m of every F-35 fighter jet – the most sophisticated and highly sought-after fifth-generation fighter jet, designed in the US by Lockheed Martin.
Beyond its Nato and G7 partners and Australia, no other country in the world has access to these stealth aircraft except Israel.
“Canadian components, we’ve known for a long time, are critical in constructing the F-35,” Yara Shoufani, a PYM organiser, told MEE.
The three named manufacturers in Canada are Stelia, which makes composite panels and precision structural parts for the jets; CMC, which makes Doppler Velocity Sensors for target precision; and Nexeya, which supplies Modular Product Testers to ensure jets are combat-ready, the report showed.
Almost all these parts ended up at Elbit Systems.
‘Elbit, as a weapons manufacturer, has really come to be seen across the world as synonymous with genocide’
– Yara Shoufani, Palestinian Youth Movement
“This is really concerning when you think about the fact that Elbit, as a weapons manufacturer, has really come to be seen across the world as synonymous with genocide,” Shoufani said.
“For the Canadian government to be allowing for these manufacturers based in Canada to be sending weapon components to Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer is something that should really raise alarms.”
On 13 July 2024, Israel deployed an F-35 fighter jet to drop three 2,000-pound bombs on al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, an area of southern Gaza it had explicitly designated a “safe zone”. At least 90 Palestinians were killed, and another 300 were wounded in the attack.
The report cited the bombing as an example of the damage only this particular fighter jet is capable of doing.
While the F-35’s “ongoing operability relies on a complex international supply chain,” the report said, “the F-35 cannot conduct air strikes without Canadian parts”.
How do the weapons get to Israel?
Canadian weapons exports were traced by the authors to major Israeli firms such as Elta Systems and Snunit Aviation, in addition to the main recipient, Elbit Systems.
The Canadian minister of foreign affairs is ultimately responsible for signing off on the export permits to any foreign entity, and they are typically valid for at least two to three years from the date of approval, the report showed.
The authors of the report wrote that the flow of military goods between Canada and Israel operates in two ways: direct commercial exports from Canadian companies to Israel, and indirect exports where Canadian arms are shipped to Israel through transfers via the United States.
The latter allows Canada to exploit a loophole that exempts it from its permitting requirements, which stipulate that no military support can be provided to countries potentially involved in war crimes.
Palestine Action ‘shut down’ Elbit Systems HQ and subcontractor
Read More »
Shoufani added that out of the 100 direct shipments that they were able to identify, there were 67 times where military cargo was loaded onto passenger planes.
“So here we’re talking about major airlines like Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada, Air Transat, where essentially components are being loaded onto planes that have passengers headed to holiday destinations,” Shoufani said.
Among the airlines involved in carrying Canadian-made weapons and support parts to Israel since 7 October 2023 is Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi. The report identified at least four such flights by Etihad.
Canada also imports Israeli military technology and hardware, the report pointed out, including weapons that have been deployed against Palestinians and are in turn marketed to the government of Canada as “battle-tested” and “combat-proven”.
A survey commissioned by the National Council of Canadian Muslims in March, a year and a half into the war on Gaza that scholars and human rights groups have now termed a genocide, showed that 55 percent of respondents want to see arms transfers to Israel suspended.
There was a similar amount of support for backing the International Criminal Court and arresting officials with outstanding warrants if they come to Canada, namely Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
