Despite an anti-Israel NDP motion passed by parliament that included a demand to stop arms and technology supplies to Israel that could be used for military purposes, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said that the attitude toward this issue will not change at all.

“We are not changing anything,” he told a national channel correspondent, “and I would characterize this as a continuation of the existing government policy.” Although most Liberals, including Trudeau’s cabinet ministers, supported the motion, its final version underwent a number of changes.

But the uncertainty over what this decision practically entails is causing controversy: some argue that it is an arms embargo, while others say that business will continue as usual.

And Foreign Minister Melanie Joly indicated that “the government is following through on what has been proposed,” recalling that her office stopped issuing permits for exports of military equipment and technology to Israel on January 8, before the vote in Parliament.

The sponsor of the anti-Israel motion, Heather Macpherson, the NDP foreign affairs critic, expressed disappointment that the Liberals changed her wording from “total ban” to the more neutral “stop issuing permits and exports.”

Anastasia Chupina