BREAKING: Coordinated blockades at major weapons manufacturers to demand arms embargo on Israel

Toronto, Peterborough, Ontario, Feb. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two major arms manufacturers are being disrupted this morning, kicking off rolling actions to interrupt the flow of weapons to Israel. Communities are taking action to demand an end to military exports to Israel, exactly one month after the International Court of Justice found a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and just days after UN experts called for an immediate arms embargo.

In Toronto, over one hundred trade union members and allies have formed picket lines and blocked the morning shift from entering the Scarborough manufacturing plant of TTM Technologies. This TTM Technologies plant has produced circuit boards for export to Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest military companies, for use in F-15 and F-16 fighter jets that Israel has deployed over the past four and a half months to carry out its deadly assault on Gaza, as well as the power distribution system of Elbit’s Lizard guidance kits which convert general purpose bombs to precision strike munitions.

In Peterborough, dozens of activists are picketing a Safran Electronics facility. Safran Group has an agreement with the Israeli government to provide it with telemetry equipment that will serve in the testing of its anti-missile system, as well as an agreement with Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to make battlefield targeting technology.
*TORONTO: **Rachel Small, **rachel@worldbeyondwar.org**, 647-769-2472*

*PETERBOROUGH: **Urpi Pine, 705-977-2929; Kerry Bebee, 705-772-9340; Hanah Mcfarlane, 705-933-8211*
"After months of misleading Canadians about whether Canada is exporting weapons to Israel, documents recently released revealed that our government has authorized almost $30 million of new permits for military exports to Israel since the beginning of this assault on Gaza in October. Exporting weapons to a state that has been found to at risk of committing genocide is a violation of international and Canadian law. Canada has enacted arms embargos before, and it must enact one now, immediately, to stop this genocidal violence."  
*Rachel Small, World Beyond War Canada Organizer*
"This morning, we are seeing workers and peace activists step up to take action to hurt the bottom lines of war profiteers and to obstruct the flow of weapons to Israel. The companies being targeted today are directly implicated in Israel's brutal assault on Gaza. Until Trudeau's government imposes an arms embargo, people of conscience will refuse to allow these companies to operate in our communities, and will use our bodies to interrupt Canada's complicity in genocide."

*Anna Lippman, Labour for Palestine** *

"We are seeing different actions take place at arms companies across Canada demanding an immediate arms embargo against Israel. As a Palestinian, I have been gobsmacked at the Canadian governments open defiance of international law, particularly in light of the most recent UN report directing Canada to impose an arms embargo on Israel. What's worse is that since October, Canada has authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel, their participation in this genocide must end now, we need an arms embargo!”

*Dalia Awwad, Palestinian Youth Movement*

One month ago, the International Court of Justice found that there is a strong case that Israel's military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, and issued legally binding emergency orders. Israel has flagarantly ignored these directives, blocking desperately needed humanitarian aid, launching a murderous assault on 1.5 million Palestinians who were displaced south to Rafah, and threatening to ethnically cleanse the entire strip. After months of sustained public pressure and growing international consensus, Trudeau's government was forced to voice its concerns about a looming ground offensive into Rafah and call for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire." Yet, the government has thus far refused to take actual action to make a ceasefire a reality.
Indeed, Global Affairs Canada recently released data showing that the Trudeau government has accelerated arms exports to Israel, and authorized $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel in just the first two months of the ongoing assault. On Friday, UN experts named Canada's military exports as a likely violation of international law in their urgent call for an immediate arms embargo against Israel.

These actions have been planned by a number of local groups, and have been endorsed by national organizations including World Beyond War, Labour for Palestine, and the Palestinian Youth Movement.

*Photos from each action are available **here**.*

*National Media Contacts:*
*Rachel Small, **rachel@worldbeyondwar.org**, 647-769-2472 (Toronto, World BEYOND War)*
*Dalia Awwad, **pymtoronto@gmail.com**, 416-988-9695 (Toronto, Palestinian Youth Movement)*

CONTACT: Palestinian Youth Movement
pymtoronto@gmail.com