Skip to main content

What's a political football?

 Dear Federal leaders,

I am dismayed to learn that a recent report lists a Canadian company as the sole provider for $78.8 million of artillery propellants to the U.S., destined to Israel, being held by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems - Canada (GD-OTS-Canada).

This contract was awarded in September 2024, months after the Liberal government promised to halt weapons exports destined to Israel, as they are being investigated for genocide against the Palestinian people. 

There is simply no measure by which the actions of Israel against the Gaza Strip are not egregious. This is no time for politeness. The government must not be allowed to continue to violate human rights. 

As a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty, it is prohibited to continue the sales of arms if there is a substantial risk of them being used to violate international and humanitarian law. 

I call on you to halt the General Dynamics Ordnance contract immediately and impose a true two-way arms embargo on Israel immediately.

Prime Minister Carney, you said you wouldn't make Gaza a political football and it was up to the ICJ, not you, to decide. But the ICJ has handed down an opinion on genocide. This is not shrouded in mystery. If you respect the ICJ, you must not continue arms sales in any form.

--

Adapted from https://leadnow.ca/campaigns/cancel-new-weapons-april-2025/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Living stones in the holy land

I met Jesus in Israel-Palestine a few years ago. I found him not in the rocky, desert ground he trod, nor in the ancient stones of the towns and cities he visited; not in the subterranean grotto in the Church of the Nativity, nor in the mammoth Church of the Holy Sepulchre, encompassing the traditional site of his death and resurrection. No, I met him in the lives of Palestinians who incarnate his spirit, in humble, passionate people who are convinced that love is the only way. I met Jesus in people who spoke like this: “We need to be soaked in the love of Christ. Love is not a hug and a kiss. Love is to seek the life of the other that the cost of one’s own.” --Labib Madanat, coordinator of the Palestinian and Israeli Bible Societies “Love is not an opportunity to overlook justice. Love is an opportunity to pursue justice…. [But] we want to resist any form of evil with the heart and mind of Jesus Christ.… There is no love without justice. And there is no true justice without lov...

Broken people...

After reflecting with one coworker on how often churches in all their forms really mess up and hurt a whole bunch of people in the process -- and how "we gotta do better" -- I stumbled into another conversation with a coworker which highlighted our brokenness, and I suddenly realized what was wrong with my take in the first. I wanted the church to be better at fixing our mistakes, or better yet, at not making them in the first place. But maybe this "fix-it" attitude is partly the reason we keep blowing it again and again! My friend recollected an experience when a church community was in a terrible place: compounded mistakes, hurts, and frustrations had blown up, spewing pain all over all parties. (I'm sure anyone with a long history in the church can think of one, if not several, such occasions in their past.) A new Christian who observed all these goings on responded in an unexpected way. Instead of "you people are a bunch of screw-ups! How could this pos...

Deep breaths, just relax

I am immensely relieved to have my visa application in the mail...except I won't be free of trepidation until I have my passport back, visa approved. Sending my visa makes me realize it's actually going to happen -- sooner rather than later. Just one more day of work at the newspaper, 2 1/2 more shifts at the bookstore. Training the new guy today went well for me; I hope it went well for him as well! Thankfully, I have news that I will not be wandering around Douala by myself upon my arrival in Cameroon. (Okay, not that that was going to be the case, but it sounds more dramatic.) The original plan was that I'd meet Dan and Lisa at Charles de Gaulle and continue with them from there in on. Just the way I like it -- being "adventurous" within the safe parameters of responsible and experienced oversight. However, the U.S. government got in the way of those plans with delay after delay with Joshua's paperwork. To say I was worried about arriving in Douala all alo...