Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime
minister, said during a press conference on Thursday that he would have
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the premier
arrived on Canadian soil, in line with a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
“First of all, as Canada has always said, it’s really important that everyone abide by international law,” Trudeau said.
“This is something we’ve been calling on from the beginning of the
conflict. We are one of the founding members of the International
Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.”
Both the ICC and the ICJ are located in
The Hague, although the justice court is a body of the United Nations
and the criminal court is a stand-alone body. The ICC issued warrants on
Thursday for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense
minister, among others.
“We stand up for international law, and we
will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international
courts,” Trudeau added. “This is just who we are as Canadians.”
Netanyahu has called the court’s decision a “modern Dreyfus trial,” while U.S. President Joe Biden recycled a six-month-old statement, in which he referred to the court’s decision as “outrageous.”
Leo Housakos, a Quebec senator, wrote
that Trudeau’s were “disgraceful comments” that suggested that
“Canadian authorities would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
“This ill-considered endorsement of the
ICC’s politically motivated actions is a slap in the face to our ally
and to every innocent Israeli still being held hostage,” Housakos
stated. “We stand with the people of Israel and support their right to
self-defense against terrorism. The actions taken by both the ICC and
Justin Trudeau should be condemned as a dangerous precedent that
threatens global stability and the principles of international law.”
“I have to say that we’re horrified, but
not shocked,” Michael Teper, a board member of Canadian Antisemitism
Education Foundation, told JNS of Trudeau’s comments.
“The statement is sadly highly predictable
and indicative of the overall attitudes of the government of Canada
these days,” Teper said. “It’s really just sad that Mr. Trudeau is
taking this approach.”
Earlier in the day, Anthony Housefather, Canadian special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, wrote
that “Israel was attacked by terrorists on Oct 7. The warrant issued by
the ICC today against Netanyahu and Gallant claims their crimes started
as early as Oct. 8. A day Israel was in shock, grief and mourning. The
ICC discredits itself by its actions today.”
Amir Epstein, director of Tafsik, an
Israel advocacy group with affiliates in Toronto and Winnipeg, told JNS
that “the idea that Canada is aligned with Islamofascist countries that
dictate what the ICC, the ICJ and the United Nations say and do is no
longer surprising to anyone.”
He noted that dictators are able to “come freely into Canada,” which “is both laughable and embarrassing at the same time.”
The Abraham Global Peace Initiative in
Toronto stated that it “expresses its strongest condemnation” of the
court’s “reckless and politically motivated” action.
“The decision underscores the ICC’s
troubling trend of weaponization against Israel, prepared by the
Palestinian Authority and its allies since 2015,” the group said. “The
ICC’s arrest warrants dangerously distort international justice by
empowering extremists, exacerbating global antisemitism and undermining
peace efforts during a time of heightened tensions.”
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