Pro-Palestine Canadian protesters hold sit-in to demand arms embargo on Israel

Pro-Palestine demonstrators have staged a sit-in protest at the Canadian parliament building, calling on the Ottawa government to stop sending arms to Israel amid the regime’s genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

The protesters stormed the lobby of the Confederation Building in central Ottawa on Tuesday to demand an arms embargo on Israel.

According to a statement issued by the protesters, the group was made up of more than a hundred Jewish Canadians and Palestinian supporters opposing the country’s arms trade with the Tel Aviv regime.

"Our politicians cannot be complacent in these marble hallways while Israel continues to burn Palestinians alive in their tents," said Niall Ricardo, one of the organizers of the sit-in protest.

Local media cited the protesters as saying that they would allow MPs with offices in the building to pass through the crowd, but those MPs would have to listen to the demonstrators' demands on the way in.

The group said in the statement that it wants the Canadian government "to admit its role in arming Israel and stop hiding Canada's complicity" in the war in Gaza.

The group also wants Canada to impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel, and cancel all active military export permits to the country.

The protesters called on Canada to halt any weapons exports to the United States that may be funneled to Israel, and to end the import of military goods and technology from Israel.

"The warplanes and attack helicopters raining destruction on civilians could not fly without hundreds of Canadian-made components," Ricardo underlined. "Canada's ongoing arms exports and diplomatic support make it complicit in these atrocities."

Pro-Palestinian activists urge Canada to halt all arms sales to Israel

Pro-Palestinian activists have called on the Canadian government to adhere to its legal and humanitarian obligations and halt "all arms sales to Israel."

The same concerns were also raised by the head of Jewish Canadian protesters partaking in the sit-in.

“Today’s action is grounded in the Torah’s command: ‘Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor’ (Leviticus 19:16),” Rabbi David Mivasair said in a release.

“A small, well-funded pro-Israel lobby has hijacked Jewish identity to justify unspeakable atrocities. As Jews, we reject genocide in our name. Our liberation is bound with the liberation of all oppressed peoples—because to be truly free, we must act against oppression everywhere.”

Reports said the Ottawa police cleared out the demonstrators within an hour after making 14 arrests.

Canadian arms manufacturing companies in 2023 exported $22.2 million worth of military material to Israel, placing the regime among the 10 largest recipients of Canadian arms exports.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured upwards of 105,250 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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