PV staff
As Trudeau government continues to shirk its responsibility to stop arming Israel’s genocidal siege of Gaza, anti-war and solidarity activists are taking matters into their own hands and imposing their own blockade of arms manufacturers supplying Israel.
In the early morning on February 26, hundreds of protesters gathered at the TTM Technologies plant in Toronto, blocking the plant for over 4 hours and shutting down the day shift. California-based TTM is described as “a pivotal player in the global defense industry” and produces circuit boards used in the Israeli warplanes bombarding Gaza.
The Toronto blockade kicked off a week of similar actions across the country, as the anti-war movement pressures the Canadian government to impose an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel.
In Peterborough, Ontario protesters barred access to the Safran Technologies plant, which produces telemetry equipment and battlefield targeting technology for the Israeli military. Activists in Calgary blockaded Raytheon, the second-largest military corporation in the world, which manufacturers missiles, bombs and weapons systems which Israel is currently using against the people of Gaza.
The siege of Gaza has been recognized globally as an act of genocide, with the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s campaign is “plausible genocide” and ordering a series of immediate measures to protect the Palestinian people. Israel has so far ignored all of those orders. Countries like Canada, who are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention and therefore obligated to take action to stop Israel’s siege, have also ignored the ICJ ruling and are therefore complicit in genocide.
At the same time, arms manufacturers across Canada are making a fortune off the massacre by selling weapons and military technology to Israel, and by using Canadian rail and port infrastructure for transport.
In 2022, Canada exported over $21 million in military equipment to Israel, including $3 million in bombs, torpedoes, missiles and other explosives.
The anti-war actions are jointly organized by World Beyond War, Labour for Palestine, Labour Against the Arms Trade and the Palestine Youth Movement.
For more information and to support an action calling on Canada to stop arming Israel, click here.
[Photo: World Beyond War]
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