“Only racists who do not view people of color as equally human, and sociopaths who delight in funding mass slaughter, could send Netanyahu even more bombs while his government openly kidnaps doctors, destroys hospitals, and exterminates the last survivors in northern Gaza.”  CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad ( CAIR is the Council on American Islamic Relations)

Word is out. 

Almost all of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza’s north have been pushed south, killed, injured, or buried under the rubble caused by Israeli missiles.  This massive destruction of Gaza will allow Jewish settlers to move into the region.  They are waiting in the wings to do just that according to Holocaust scholar, Israeli-American Omer Bartov.  The IDF is allowing the “creeping annexation” of Gaza – and the northern  20% of the Gaza strip is now being readied for Jewish settlement. 

There are also reports that Israeli settlers, aided by Israeli armed forces, are working to “Gaza-fy” the West Bank. 

Ethnic cleansing pre-supposes that if a population is “transferred” (transfer is illegal according to the UN) – but those transferred must be allowed to live in a “safe zone”.   And if there is one thing we all know from Israel’s brutal 15-month war on Palestinians – there are no safe zones in all of Gaza.

“Never Alone. Always Aware”

General Dynamics’ rather creepy motto

Dr Bartov, a Jew who is a specialist in Holocaust studies and opposes Israel’s genocide, is a professor at Brown University in the US. 

He explained that the “war” could have ended as early as November 2023—two months after it started – had it not been for help and overwhelming financial backing from the US.  In August 2024, the US promised Israel $20 billion in armaments, bombs, missiles and more.  Surprisingly, half of the weapons are not scheduled for delivery till late 2026 to 2029.  The $20 billion was spent on:

-50 new F-15 1A jets

-120 jet engines

-75 radar systems

-320 missile launchers

-180 GPS devices

-32,739 tank cartridges

-8-ton cargo trucks

-50,4000 120 mm high explosive mortar cartridges 

Of course, the rogue’s gallery of US corporations that employ hundreds of thousands of US workers– and some thousands in Canada –  to ensure this genocide continues include: 

General Dynamics 

Oshkosh Corp

RTX Corp (Raytheon)

Northrop Grumman

Come to think of it, let’s see how the companies contribute to the genocide and where their Canadian offices are located.

General Dynamics’ rather creepy motto is “Never Alone. Always Aware.” GD has “integrated solutions for land, airborne, maritime and public safety applications”.  GD has plants and offices in Dartmouth, NS, Calgary and Nepean.

Raytheon Canada Ltd. (RTX Canada) manufactures aircraft engines, weapons systems, components for fighter jets, missiles, defense operations’ sensors and radar, and cybersecurity services.  It is the world’s second-largest military company and claims “The F-22 is having a modernization moment”.  Raytheon boasts that it also  “makes much of what goes in and on” F-35 fighter jets. According to the American Friends Service Committee,  in Israel’s

“frequent military offensives against Gaza, the Israeli military uses Raytheon’s 5,000-pound GBU-28 “bunker buster” and laser-guided Paveway bombs, as well as AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles, AIM-9X missiles, AIM-120 Sidewinder missiles, and TOW long-range missiles. These missiles and bombs are typically fired or dropped by the Israeli Air Force’s F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.”    

RTX is located in Calgary, Waterloo and Midland Ontario. 

Oshkosh Corp. is based in the US has no Canadian plants or offices, but employs more than 15,000 people in 130 plants around the world.   On 3 July 2024, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Oshkosh to answer to the call by UN experts to stop the transfer of arms to Israel. The company ignored the call and refused to respond – in other words they keep producing weapons for Israel, as usual. Oshkosh supplied Israel with military vehicles and armored personnel carriers (APC) used in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.  According to Who Profits Research Centre, 

“the company provides the Israeli military with the Namer 1500 and Eitan Armored Personnel Carriers (APC), both used in Israel’s recent military invasion of Gaza.”

Finally, US corporation Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, the third largest military contractor in the world, has offices in Richmond BC, St John’s NF and Halifax, Northrop Grumman  Sperry Marine  (a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin) provides marine navigation systems and tools.

According to the American Friends Service Committee’s Investigate site,  

“Northrop Grumman supplies the Israeli military with a wide variety of weapons, including various missile systems. The company’s technologies are also integrated into Israel’s main weapon systems, including its fighter jets, missile ships, and trainer aircraft. These weapons are often gifted to Israel through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Financing program.

For years, these weapons have repeatedly been used against Palestinian civilians, resulting in numerous casualties as well as mass destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water and electric systems. These attacks include war crimes that Israel has committed during several major military offensives against the Gaza Strip, which has been illegally blockaded since 2007.”

So here we have new places we can picket and protest in 2025 right here at home! The site Who Profits? reveals other major weapons contributors to Israel’s war on Gaza including:  ThyssenKrupp, a German company that supplies Sa’ar 6 warships to the Israeli Navy, and US-based Caterpillar whose bulldozers are used to destroy homes and buildings, to build illegal Jewish settlements and helped build Israel’s notorious “separation wall”.  There is also Boeing that supplies Israel with Apache helicopters, armed with Hellfire missiles and Hydra rockets as well as F-15 fighter jets.   

“We consider our exposure to modern slavery to be low due to the nature of our business, the marketplaces that we and our suppliers operate in, and our company’s policies and procedures for combating modern slavery.”

Raytheon’s bizarre Modern Slavery Statement!

The turning point for US aid, according to Prof Bartov in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, was in May 2024, when the IDF invaded Rafah.  That began the rush for Palestinians to head north again to avoid the horrifying bombing and destruction of southern Gaza.  Once the Palestinians migrated to northern Gaza, thousands were bombed, and starved to death.  The crimes in central to northern Gaza have been well documented.  Bartov notes the massive destruction of Gaza and the failure and meaninglessness of international law to prevent genocide.  Clearly if Israel can act with impunity, it could greenlight other countries to do the same. 

And there is little relief in sight.  Biden, with ten days left of his presidential term, has recently signed off on another $8 billion in weapons to Israel.  The only way that decision could be overturned is if 2/3 of both US houses – the Senate and Congress – voted to deep six the deal.  Very unlikely. 

Raytheon’s “Modern Slavery Statement”

Oh yes, on the adding insult to injury front: RTX Canada (Raytheon) has taken an interest human rights to a new level:  Raytheon boasts they have a  “Modern Slavery Statement… to ensure modern slavery is not taking place in any part of our operations or supply chain”  Raytheon’s website notes, “We consider our exposure to modern slavery to be low due to the nature of our business, the marketplaces that we and our suppliers operate in, and our company’s policies and procedures for combating modern slavery.” How refreshing!  A policy ripped straight out of a business ethics textbook.  

RTX elevates its concerns by appointing a corporate “Human Rights Council.”  The RTX Council consists “of leaders from each of the company’s three business units and its relevant corporate functions. The HRC is responsible for overseeing a common framework to identify, assess, and address human rights risks associated with the company’s operations and products.”  

How can this be?  RTX, the number one arms/weapons manufacturer in the US, is an  active and eager supplier to Israel’s war on Palestinians.  Yet RTX is all in favour of human rights and against all forms of modern slavery.  No acknowledgement of the history of colonialism, racism, the total blockade and siege of Gaza, of the crimes of Zionism including bombing, torturing and maiming Palestinians – especially women and children–  the groups that this statement and the RTX Council claims it wants to help.  Irony of ironies.  

Image at the top: Employees of General Dynamics celebrate their fun days of volunteering for charity. (credit: General Dynamics website)