Skip to main content

Keep Israeli warmongers out

Dear Mr Carney

After promising to follow international law and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, you lost your nerve and failed to deny him passage through Canadian airspace. 

However, you finally spoke up after Minister Ben Gvir's egregious display of sadism.

Now you have another chance to keep that backbone tall, standing against genocide, by preventing the representatives of Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries from attending CANSEC in Ottawa on May 27 – 28, 2026. 

This request was recently brought to your attention by ICJP and Just Peace Advocates. In their request, they provided significant evidence in support of our position that entry ought to be denied under section 35(1) of the IRPA, on the basis of the companies’ ongoing cooperation with the Israeli military during its alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Elbit is Israel's largest private defence contractor. Its financial integration with Israel’s Ministry of Defence (IMOD) has intensified dramatically since October 7, 2023: the IMOD's share of Elbit's total revenues rose from 16% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, with Elbit itself disclosing that IMOD demand has "materially increased" since the commencement of hostilities. All of Elbit's senior executives are physically embedded within the IMOD.

IAI is wholly state-owned. Since October 2023, IAI's revenues have grown by over $2 billion USD (from approximately $5.33B to $7.34B), driven in significant part by military contracts. Many IAI employees concurrently serve as Israeli military drone squadron reservists, rendering the boundary between corporate and state military activity functionally non-existent.

Both companies have supplied Israel’s armed forces with weapons systems – including drones, munitions, armoured vehicles – which United Nations (“UN”) investigative bodies, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have independently verified were used in specific attacks constituting grave breaches of international humanitarian law. In September 2025, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Admitting representatives of corporate entities which have knowingly and significantly contributed to this military campaign would be wholly contrary to Canada’s purported commitment to deny entry to those who are suspected of complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other reprehensible acts. It would also contradict Parliament's express intent in enacting the IRPA and the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

Canada must encourage respect for customary international law. You have failed Canadians -- and all the countries of the world -- by not  upholding international law. But I shan't lose hope that one day you will do the right thing. Make that day today. Demand that CBSA abide by its own policies, as well as Canadian and international law by barring entry to Canada for representatives of Elbit Systems and IAI. 



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...

Flights

I've got tickets! In faith that all the money will come together, my tickets have been purchased. So now I have to go! There was a significantly cheaper flight option with Air Maroc that involved an overnight in Paris and in Casablanca, but I opted for the same Air France flight from Paris to Douala that Dan and Lisa will be on. Frankly, I'm somewhat relieved the latter option was available. Obviously, I must have some sense of adventure to be willing to spend 10 months in Cameroon--and I do--but it's not quite up to the former challenge just yet. I'll likely be quite wound up as it is--the last thing I'll need in my state of excitement and fretful anticipation is to spend three days alone trying to reach my destination, getting no sleep, dealing with unfamiliar languages, and arriving alone to spend a half-day cartrip down roads in less than perfect condition with a local stranger. Now I'm not saying I'm unwilling to be challenged or that any one of these ...