Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly speaks with reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons on May 21.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Canada struck an equivocal stand on Tuesday on the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor’s decision to request warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defence Minister and senior members of Hamas.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada respects the independence of the ICC, but are concerned by drawing parallels between Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Canada, and Israel.
Their remarks contrast with the unambiguous response to the seeking of arrest warrants in The Hague from other members of the G7, including the United States which strongly condemned the ICC initiative, and France which offered support.
Ms. Joly said Canada will follow closely as the court in The Hague does its work “and we will make sure that we react accordingly.” Speaking to journalists on Parliament Hill, she added that there is “no equivalency” between Hamas and Israel, “because one organization is a terrorist organization and the other one is a state.”
Mr. Trudeau said in a press conference in Philadelphia he found drawing parallels between Israel and Hamas “troubling” and “not helpful.”
“What I will say is troubling though is the sense of equivalency between the democratically elected leaders of Israel and the bloodthirsty terrorists that lead up Hamas,” Mr. Trudeau said.
Displaced Palestinians queue for water at a camp west of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip on May 21.-/Getty Images
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan is pursuing arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defence Minister, as well as three senior Hamas figures: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri – also known as Mohammed Deif – and Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamic militant group’s leader, who is based in Qatar.
In a statement Monday, Mr. Khan said he had reasonable grounds to believe that the Hamas leaders bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, hostage taking, rape and other acts of sexual violence and torture.
He also said he had reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health; and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.
The statement said the war crimes alleged in its applications were committed in the context of armed conflict.
Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, said Israel hopes Canada “will not co-operate with this ICC investigation.”
He said he had expressed the expectation that Canada “will clearly and publicly reject in the strongest words the request of the prosecutor for arrest warrants and his allegations against Israel.”
“Israel took note of the Canadian government condemnation of the false equivalency of Israel with the leaders of a terrorist organization. However, Israel expects the acknowledgment of the fact that the court does not have jurisdiction as Israel has a legal system that is willing and able to investigate itself,” he said.
A panel of ICC judges will consider Mr. Khan’s application for the arrest warrants.
If it approves them, it will make it difficult for Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant as well as Hamas leaders to travel to countries under the ICC’s jurisdiction, as they could face arrest. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization so its leaders already cannot come here, Ms. Joly said, adding that the question of enforcing arrest warrants was “hypothetical.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accused the government of failing to take a strong enough stand by not saying whether it would execute arrest warrants if they were issued.
He told reporters that Canada, which supported the founding of the ICC, should back any decisions it makes.
“That means if the court rules on the arrest warrants, then Canada should clearly state that we would not only respect, we would support the decision and then we would execute the warrant in relation to international law,” he said.
At a news conference in Ottawa earlier Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said “it is entirely inappropriate to equate the leaders of a terrorist organization with the democratically elected leaders of a democracy.”
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization under Canadian law.
Ms. Freeland also offered support for the ICC, saying Canada respects its independence and calling it an “important multilateral institution.”
She said Canada condemns “unequivocally the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas,” adding, “We call urgently for a ceasefire, including in Rafah. The ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Gaza is entirely unacceptable.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned the ICC’s application for the warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant.
“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “And let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also condemned the ICC prosecutor’s seeking of arrest warrants as “shameful.”
“Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of people hostage, including Americans,” he said.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Tuesday in a statement that the ICC’s action is “not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in.”
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said he supported Mr. Sunak’s view as well as “Joe Biden’s statement that it is outrageous.”
“There is no moral equivalence between the terrorist leadership of Hamas that attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and the democratically elected leadership of Israel. For the prosecutor to choose to announce that he is seeking warrants for both on the same day and at the same time discredits the ICC. Moreover in my view the ICC also lacks jurisdiction here,” he said.
But Liberal MP Salma Zahid said “the role of the ICC is not to judge moral equivalence. Its role is to impartially consider the evidence; the prosecutor has done so and is recommending charges against Hamas and Israeli officials.”
“Canada must continue to allow the independent legal process to proceed and refrain from putting its finger on the scale of justice,” she said in a statement.
Fatema Abdalla, a spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said Canada should accept ICC jurisdiction and its decision.
In a statement Monday night, France said it “supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations.”
“France has been warning for many months about the imperative of strict compliance with international humanitarian law and in particular about the unacceptable nature of civilian losses in the Gaza Strip and insufficient humanitarian access,” the statement said.
With a report from Reuters