Carney-Anand Press Conference Is a Deflection from Canada's Role in Arming Genocide
Yesterday [July 30], Prime Minister Mark Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand held a press conference to announce their intent to recognize a Palestinian State, conditional on demilitarization and Palestinian elections.
This announcement both undermines Palestinian self-determination and is an attempt to sanitize Canada's image while evading accountability for its material support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Absent from their statement was any acknowledgement of Canada's continued role in arming Israel's genocide through an uninterrupted flow of weapons from manufacturers in Canada to Israel.
For nearly two years, the Canadian government has responded to public pressure calling for an arms embargo with lies.
In the face of a damning report that shed light on Canada's arms exports to Israel, which was released on July 29, Carney and Anand did not address the 391 military-related shipments to Israel, including nearly half a million bullets shipped to the Zionist entity since the start of the Gaza genocide.
They ignored the shocking evidence that while the Canadian public called for an arms embargo, military cargo destined for Israel was loaded onto passenger planes.
For the past 21 months, millions in Canada have been calling for Israel to be held accountable for its genocide, an end to the flow of weapons, and the right to Palestinian self-determination.
While the Canadian government uses the language of self-determination, Canada imposes on the Palestinian people conditions that would facilitate Israel's colonization of Palestine. While Canada uses the language of international law, it refuses to hold Israel accountable for genocide, instead rewarding it with weapons to continue its mass slaughter and starvation campaign in Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank.
Carney and Anand's statement pledged financial support for the Palestinian Authority, a government propped up by Western powers and rejected by the majority of Palestinians. It exists only to maintain security coordination with Israel, not to serve the Palestinian people. Canada's backing of the PA reinforces the colonial strategy of governing Palestinians through a proxy regime.
Yesterday's Liberal announcement is an attempt to deflect the damning truth exposed in the report: Exposing Canadian Military Exports to Israel. But no vague diplomatic jargon or policy will distract us from our struggle to stop the flow of weapons to Israel.
While statements recognizing Palestinian statehood may seem like progress, at this stage of the forced starvation of Gaza, refusing to act on the genocide materially is unacceptable. A real response to genocide should be disarming the perpetrator, Israel.
Stop the exports. End the complicity. We demand a full two-way arms embargo on Israel, now.
(July 31, 2025)
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 21 - August 3, 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/TS552112.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca