U.S. President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in 2017. Wikipedia photo credit: U.S. Embassy, Tel Aviv
Beauséjour Liberal candidate Dominic LeBlanc refused to say Tuesday whether he would push for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits Canada.
“Look, I’m not going to answer a hypothetical question in terms of the International Criminal Court’s role,” LeBlanc said when pressed by NDP candidate Alex Gagné to say whether he would push to enforce the arrest warrant the ICC issued last November against Netanyahu for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel’s war on Gaza.
Liberal candidate Dominic LeBlanc
“What I’m saying is that Canada has consistently supported the International Criminal Court, and we have consistently spoken out about the humanitarian crisis that has gripped the world and has taken place in Gaza, and that’s my answer to your question,” LeBlanc said to Gagné.
Both were responding to my initial question asking whether, if elected, they would push for enforcement of the arrest warrant since Canada is a member state of the ICC.
Neither the United States nor Hungary enforced the warrant when Netanyahu visited and according to Amnesty International, leaders from other ICC member states such as France, Germany, Italy and Poland have suggested they would not arrest the Israeli prime minister either if he travels to their countries.
“I’m glad you highlighted Canada’s founding role in the International Criminal Court,” LeBlanc replied in response to my question.
“I’m very proud of that. We’ve always been supporters of the International Criminal Court,” he said, adding that Canada is one of the most generous donors to the ICC.
“And I think it behooves all of us to respect the process that the International Criminal Court would undertake in this regard,” LeBlanc said.
People’s Party candidate Eddie Cornell
People’s Party candidate Eddie Cornell said that while the situation in Gaza is tragic, “it would not be fair for me to say that we would arrest this person.”
He added that an arrest would not be the answer.
“You know, there needs to be discussions, and all the evidence needs to be examined and people need to get to the table,” Cornell added.
“The world is in great turmoil over this, and discussion needs to be had, and we’re willing to listen and find out what can be done to make this situation not happen again,” he said.
During last night’s French-language leaders’ debate in Montreal, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh challenged Liberal leader Mark Carney on the war in Gaza.
Mr. Carney, why don’t you call it what it is? It’s a genocide,
Singh said, adding that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve peace and security.
Carney responded that he would never use that word to “politicize” the situation in Gaza.
During the debate, the journalist who was acting as moderator mentioned the release yesterday of a report from Doctors Without Borders calling Gaza a “mass grave” for Palestinians and those trying to help them.
To listen to the local all-candidates’ forum, click here. The forum will be broadcast at 1 p.m. on Sunday on CFTA, 107.9 FM.
I think Mr. Carney was wrong to claim that the use of the word “genocide” is politicization. It is a legal question. Genocide is well defined in international law and the Criminal Code of Canada and a separate Canadian war crimes statute. Everyone should look them up. If Israeli and Hamas actions meet the definition then senior officials from those organizations should be charged if they come to Canada.
Sadly I think the lack of recognizing the genocide and brutality going on in Gaza is both a strategic one and a personal belief one, depending on the person/party.
I will give Singh HUGE props for calling out Carney on this and for saying “The quiet part out loud”.
As LeBlanc pointed out, Canada supports the ICC. And if that is actually true, then if Netanyahu steps one toe on Canadian soil, he should be arrested and sent to answer for the crimes he’s charged with.
I would say if we did NOT do this, then we fail not only our duty as supporters of the ICC, but it slams the very people who just fought a war with people charged with doing the same thing and brings what they tried to do into question as well.
We’re either consistent or we are not, picking and choosing what laws to follow is NOT democratic (nor honorable).
Allegations of genocide are a separate issue from the ICC arrest warrants.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri of Palestine (dropped, now that he is dead) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC has not alleged any of the three to have committed genocide.
Canada could arrest Gallant or Netanyahu for the ICC warrants, but would have to build a case independently to charge them with genocide if they came to Canada. That’s unlikely to happen, because it would be difficult for Canada to gather genocide evidence in a war zone. Arresting them for the ICC warrants would be far easier.
If the same people were pushing to arrest Xi Jinping for the actual real genocidal actions against the Uighurs (note that I’m not saying “genocide”, but “genocidal actions” – I don’t think that it’s quite at the level of genocide yet), I wouldn’t see this as the sick antisemitic joke that it is.
How about the Armenians evicted from their home territory by Azerbaijan? No action there either. Or any other nastiness out there.
No, instead, let’s pick on Israel, engaged in a defensive war against a genocidally-intent enemy. Just because they more-or-less have the upper hand right now doesn’t make them the victim, it just makes them lucky.
I’m all for arresting Xi Poo Bear for his desire to wipe out the existence of the Uighur and the Azerbaijani’s involved in the Armenian genocide.
The “sick antisemitic joke” is that the Palestinians are Semitic as well, for starters, so I would think you need to change that to anti-Zionist for it to be proper.
Also, holding Israel to account does not deny that these other situations happened, nor does it mean that they shouldn’t be held to account.
That you are all for EXCLUDING Israel because these others haven’t had their day “in court” though is a display of a ‘sick joke’ of a whole different kind.
But your bias towards Israel and the ignorance of the reality of the situation going on in Gaza is proven by your last paragraph. This was NEVER about a ‘defensive war’, nor the hostages, nor anything else other than the current Israeli Government’s desire to eradicate the Palestinians from their homeland.
And before you throw it out – no, I am NOT supporting Hamas and it’s insanity. What it’s done, what it did in October, was inhumane, it was despicable and those involved SHOULD be dealt with (preferably terminally). What is NOT right is the thousands upon thousands of civilians being murdered with no thought to THEIR rights. And of course, Israel, by being led by a broad brush destroy them all Government, is creating the next generations of the very people – Hamas, or similar – they say they want to “be rid of”. Their ignorance, and the ignorance of those who support them absolutely, would be laughable if it wasn’t so stupid.
So, Elaine, you agree that Hamas is inhumane and “SHOULD be dealt with (preferably terminally)”.
Exactly how would you terminate Hamas, other than by military action? What proof is there that this would work?
If by military action, how would such action avoid civilian casualties (beyond the efforts already made)? What proof is there that this would work?
Why does Hamas exist though? (hint: IDF came first…)
Marika – yes, I do believe that Hamas is inhumane and should be dealt with, preferably terminally.
I did not say that you can’t deal with Hamas by military action though, I don’t know where you got that idea.
But a few things for you that people keep forgetting about Israel.
Supposedly it has one of the BEST Special Forces in the world. Mossad, along with Sayeret and Mistaravim gather intelligence and perform anti-terrorist/counter-terrorism acts when needed, usually clandestine.
There is NO reason that these resources, which are MEANT to find people like those who acted on Oct 7 and are meant to take OUT such people, couldn’t have been used to mitigate civilian casualties. Hell, there’s no reason why that Israel couldn’t have asked for help from other countries with top tier Special Forces to help so it would be a mass operation but at least they could recover the hostages who were SUPPOSED to be the priority. At the time, there were few allies of Israel who would NOT have stepped up to help. Would it take longer? Probably? Would it have been safer for both kidnapped and civilians? Absolutely.
If there were civilian casualties, it would be nowhere NEAR the numbers of thousands that have happened and are happening. And the kidnapped would have been returned with more alive than dead, and at least returned, and much sooner, than the still waiting now.
By not using these groups, what Israel has done (to use an analogy here) is in a hostage situation, bombed the whole building instead of sending in SWAT to get the people holding the hostages. Because the hostages and any other civilians didn’t matter, just getting the people holding them did (whether they were even legitimate or not)
And while Israel – and its supporters – may think that wholesale slaughter of a people is somehow okay (and even damn the hostages because who cares about them?), many of us do NOT think this is okay. And just because we don’t think it’s okay, DOESN’T mean we stand with Hamas, either. But no matter how much we say that, the blind devotion to Israel gives no exceptions. Even against Jews who stand against Israel for its actions (I’ve seen Jews who stand for Palestine denied for being Jewish because of their stance).
But THAT is how the issue SHOULD have been handled.
It wasn’t, because Oct 7 provided the current Israeli Government the excuse it needed to wipe Palestinians from Gaza off the map. And when the indiscriminate bombing of refugee camps, foreign aid and UN vehicles, and the murder of emergency rescue people are part of the “defend Israel” excuse, then it raises a lot of “WTF?” concerns and questions about the kind of nation Israel is.