In an opinion column published in the January 21 edition of the University of Toronto’s student newspaper The Varsity entitled: “Canada’s arms trade with Israel sends the wrong message,” writer Emma Dobrovnik decreed that Canada’s military trade with Israel “should be scrutinized more closely” amid all “these documented civilian casualties,” and noted her opposition based on “the possibility that the weapons will be used to kill and main Palestinians in the occupied territories.”
Despite accusing Israel of “civilian casualties,” Dobrovnik failed to differentiate between civilians and combatants. In the first instance, she noted “Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank killed at least 477 Palestinians over the course of the year, more than half of them after October 7.” It is inferred that these are all innocent civilians, when in fact, the hyperlink she provided confirmed that the majority of these deaths occurred during ‘search and arrests,’ hardly indicative of civilians.
Secondly, while there is no dispute that casualties in Gaza have amassed since October 7, Dobrovnik asserted that about “70 per cent of those killed in Gaza between October 7 and December 18 were women and children.” These particular figures are obtained directly from Hamas, the Islamic terrorist organization that launched the current war by committing a mass killing in Israel of civilians, but Dobrovnik does not share this detail with readers.
Additionally, Hamas’ casualty figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, nor between those killed by Israeli strikes or Palestinian rockets, a fact once again selectively omitted by the author.
Hamas, which widely uses the civilian population of Gaza as human shields in an utter disregard for human life, is ultimately responsible for the deaths of civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian alike. By embedding its combatants and weapons within civilian infrastructure, Hamas is demonstrating unequivocally that it places the lives of the very people it purports to represent lower than the propaganda value of their deaths.
Dubrovnik’s argument submits that Canada’s military exports have been used unlawfully and as part of “indiscriminate fire” by Israel. This false accusation would suggest that Israel’s strikes have been done seemingly at random. In fact, satellite imagery shows that Israeli air strikes in Gaza have clearly targeted specific areas, and appear to mimic areas of suspected Hamas terror tunnels.
In fact, Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) do not target civilians, and actually take great care to warn civilians in advance, in steps that are virtually unprecedented in modern warfare.
Furthermore, Dobrovnik accused Israel of purposefully blocking “food, water and fuel in the West Bank” (presumably she means Gaza), amounting to a “war crime” in her opinion.
While citing no evidence of war crimes, this highly misleading statement failed to point out the hundreds of aid trucks sent daily from Israel, and ignored Hamas’ own brazen theft of the content of many of these aid trucks, leaving Gaza’s civilians without essential supplies.
The column concluded by implying that Canada’s transfer of any military goods to Israel “conveys an indifference toward the rule of international law” and is in fact, in “breach” of international law. Canada’s policy on the export of military items states clearly that the Minister of Foreign Affairs must deny military goods applications if it “could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international and human rights laws,” indicating that in the eyes of the Canadian government, Israel has not violated international human rights laws, despite accusations from detractors.
Emma Dobrovnik’s column in The Varsity which called on Canada to halt its sales of arms to Israel, is based upon faulty arguments and data, which unsurprisingly leads to a faulty conclusion.
