OTTAWA –
Overseas Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada is “very shut” to a push by the Worldwide Prison Court docket to prosecute the Israeli prime minister and Hamas leaders over the battle within the Gaza Strip.
The court docket's chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants Monday for Benjamin Netanyahu, his protection minister and senior Hamas leaders.
Ottawa has to date prevented supporting or denouncing the thought of prices, and ministers are weighing in only a day after counterpart international locations took clearer positions.
On Monday, the US rejected the transfer to incorporate Israel alongside Hamas, whereas France and Belgium backed the choice and Germany stated it revered the court docket's independence.
Joly says no equivalence will be made between Israel and Hamas, however she additionally says the court docket dominated on completely different prices towards leaders from all sides of the battle.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has but to make a press release, though a handful of vocal Liberal MPs are taking extra particular positions.
“We respect the independence of the ICC. All events should make sure that they adhere to worldwide legislation, together with worldwide humanitarian legislation. We now have been calling on all events to take action for months and that’s the reason we’re we're monitoring the method intently,” Joly advised reporters Tuesday afternoon on Parliament Hill.
“In fact there is no such thing as a equivalence as a result of one group is a terrorist group; the opposite is a state. That being stated, (the) prices which have been introduced are completely different.”
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was repeatedly requested for Canada's place on the developments earlier Tuesday at an unrelated information convention.
“It’s fully inappropriate to equate the terrorist leaders of a terrorist group with the democratically elected leaders of a democracy,” she stated.
However Freeland wouldn’t touch upon whether or not or not Ottawa helps the warrant request, characterizing it as “preliminary” and “hypothetical.”
Iqra Khalid stated in a put up on X that Canada should respect the ICC and its independence.
Anthony Housefather argued that the choice was creating an ethical equivalence between terrorist leaders and democratically elected politicians – language that Freeland would later echo.
Their colleague Salma Zahid stated Ottawa ought to assist the ICC's authorized course of, arguing that its position shouldn’t be “to evaluate ethical equivalence, however to impartially think about the proof.”
One other Liberal MP, Sameer Zuberi, added in his social media put up that Canada ought to await the end result of the request, whereas stressing that “no occasion to an armed battle is above the legislation.”
The Liberals and NDP handed a parliamentary movement in March that known as on Canada to “assist the work of the Worldwide Court docket of Justice and the Worldwide Prison Court docket.”
NDP Chief Jagmeet Singh stated in a social media put up that Trudeau “should honor his promise to Canadians.”
Trudeau is scheduled to talk to the media Tuesday afternoon in Philadelphia.
This report from The Canadian Press was first revealed on Could 21, 2024