By Barry Ellsworth
TRENTON, Canada (AA) - Canada will ban all arms shipments to Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced Tuesday.
The move comes after lawmakers voted 204 - 117 in favor of a non-binding motion to stop the weapons sales after a lengthy debate Monday.
“It’s a real thing,” Joly told The Toronto Star newspaper. The original motion was for a weapons sales suspension but that was changed to an outright ban.
Also included in the motion was a clause that called for support of the eventual “establishment of the State of Palestine” in concert with Canada’s international partners.
Canada had earlier placed a temporary suspension on export permits for military goods and technology.
But there was some confusion previously as Global Affairs Canada continued to receive applications on arms exports to Israel and they were reviewed on a case-to-case basis, the Star reported.
But Joly insisted that after the Monday vote calling for the weapons ban, the government decided to honor the pledge.
Defense Minister Bill Blair said Joly will decide how the ban is enforced.
“There are a number of existing contracts that are already in place, but this was a going-forward basis, I think that's how the minister's looking at it,” Blair told the Star. “There has been a lot of concern expressed with respect to … lethal military sales to Israel during the conflict.”