Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s declaration Thursday that Canada would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were he to step foot on Canadian soil in the wake of the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants against him for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity made two things clear.
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First, Trudeau has abandoned Canada’s traditional support of Israel as a democratic ally.
That’s shocking but not surprising.
Not when Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, for example, told former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair that the large number of Arab speakers in her riding influences her positions on the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.
Second, Trudeau might as well have painted a target on the backs of Canada’s Jewish community, already experiencing the worst outbreak of antisemitism since the 1930s ever since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel more than a year ago.
Surely Trudeau knows his endorsement of the ICC ruling and declaration Canada would arrest Netanyahu if it could will embolden pro-Hamas demonstrators who have been targeting Canada’s Jewish community with vandalism, death threats and violence for more than a year.
Trudeau said as a founding member of the ICC that issued the arrest warrants for Netanyhau and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, abiding by its rulings is “just who we are as Canadians.”
Never mind the ICC decision is typical of the moral double standard that equates Israel responding to a terrorist attack on its citizens with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, given that the ICC previously issued an arrest warrant for the Russian dictator.
To appear to be objective, the ICC Thursday also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif — whom Israel declared dead in July.
So who does the ICC plan to hold responsible for Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that caused the war in Gaza, during which Hamas authorized the torture, rape, murder and kidnapping of Israeli civilians and which hides its weapons in the homes of Palestinians and hijacks relief aid intended for them?
The U.S. which, unlike Canada is not a member of the ICC, said it “fundamentally rejects” its decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, displaying a moral clarity on the conflict which our government abandoned long ago.