By Arms Embargo Now campaign, August 1, 2025

Minister Anand’s statement today in response to the report we released on Tuesday continues a pattern of deception. This statement does not deny that Canada continues to ship arms to Israel, but instead  tries to muddy the waters to mislead the public.

Our report lays out in painstaking detail—with the evidence of detailed shipping records and Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) data—that nearly 400 Canadian military exports, including F-35 components and ammunition, have been sent to Israel, some as recently as last week.

For over a year, we’ve been fed the same lies: Canada claims to have halted arms sales to Israel, and yet Canadian weapons continue to fuel this genocide. This is more of the same—vague and shifting assertions from the government, particularly around permits, that twist and turn to avoid accountability.

If Canada truly wants to stop fueling this genocide, the solution is obvious: a full and immediate two-way arms embargo. Anything less is just an excuse to keep the status quo alive.

Now to Minister Anand’s exact points of contention:

Minister Anand says:

Items identified as “bullets,” are in fact paintball-style projectiles. They are accompanied by equipment designed to make a firearm inoperable with traditional rounds. These cannot be used in combat and if they were, they would require a permit which would not be granted.

The truth is:

The items identified as bullets in the report are identified as “bullets” by the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) – customs code: 93069010 – valued at over $379,000; and categorized in Canadian HS codes in the category of  “Bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles and similar munitions of war and parts thereof; cartridges and other ammunition and projectiles and parts thereof, including shot and cartridge wads.”

According to the Israel Tax Authority – customs code, paintball markers and similar non-lethal arms – such as air, spring, or gas-powered guns – are classified under heading 9304.

Using the ITA data, the report confirms that 175,000 military bullets were shipped from Canada to Israel in April 2025 alone and that a half a million bullets have been shipped since October 2023.

Furthermore, the CBC, Toronto Star, and Canadian Press all independently verified this data and confirmed the ITA categorized the shipments as bullets.

Even if the Canadian government is being truthful and the bullets are improperly categorized, it is unacceptable for Canada to be exporting hundreds of thousands of training bullets to Israel to fuel the genocide in Gaza.

Minister Anand says:

No mortars have been shipped from Canadian manufacturers to Israel, either directly or indirectly, since before permits were suspended.

The truth is:

We have not tracked such shipments in this report but we note that in August 2024, as part of a weapons package to Israel, the U.S. Congress approved the purchase of 50,000 High Explosive Mortar cartridges worth CAD$83.7 million from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc, located in Quebec. This purchase was to be transferred to the U.S. and then on to Israel.

In September 2024 the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Canadian Crown corporation, signed a contract to provide the U.S. DOD with CAD$78.8 million of artillery propellant to the U.S. Department of Defense – destined for use by the Israeli and Ukrainian militaries. The propellant was to be produced by GD-OTS-Canada’s production facility in Valleyfield, Quebec. This facility is the sole provider to the U.S. of this variant of explosive fuel needed to launch 155mm artillery shells, which have been used extensively by Israel in its attacks on Gaza.

Minister Anand says:

At no time are explosive materials such as bullets or other munitions transported on passenger aircraft. To claim otherwise is simply false.

The truth is:

While we are relieved to hear that explosive materials are not being transported on Canadian commercial flights underneath passengers — which the report did not claim — what this report showed was a range of military components going on these commercial flights. And since the reports’ publication, this has been confirmed by one of the companies themselves, Nexeya, to a Toronto journalist. The report further confirms that this particular shipment consisted of electronic testing systems for use on F-35 fighter jets.

The post Minister Anand Responds to Our Report, Continues to Deceive the Canadian Public appeared first on World BEYOND War.

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