Foreign Affairs Minister M茅lanie Joly says Canada is 害羞草研究所渧ery closely害羞草研究所� following a push from the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Israeli prime minister and Hamas leaders over the war in the Gaza Strip.
The court害羞草研究所檚 chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants Monday for Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister and senior Hamas leaders.
Ottawa has so far avoided supporting or denouncing the idea of charges, and ministers are only weighing in a day after peer countries took clearer stances.
On Monday, the U.S. rejected the move to implicate Israel alongside Hamas, while France and Belgium supported the decision and Germany said it respects the court害羞草研究所檚 independence.
Joly says no equivalence can be drawn between Israel and Hamas, but she also says the court decided upon different charges against the leaders from each side of the conflict.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to make a statement, though a handful of vocal Liberal MPs are taking more defined stances.
害羞草研究所淲e respect the independence of the ICC. All parties must make sure that they abide by international law, including international humanitarian law. We害羞草研究所檝e been calling all parties to do so for months now, and so therefore we are closely monitoring the process,害羞草研究所� Joly told reporters Tuesday afternoon on Parliament Hill.
害羞草研究所淥f course there害羞草研究所檚 no equivalency because one organization害羞草研究所檚 a terrorist organization; the other one is a state. That being said, (the) charges that have been laid are different.害羞草研究所�
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was repeatedly asked for Canada害羞草研究所檚 position on the developments earlier Tuesday at an unrelated press conference.
害羞草研究所淚t is entirely inappropriate to equate the terrorist leaders of a terrorist organization with the democratically elected leaders of a democracy,害羞草研究所� she said.
But Freeland would not comment on whether or not Ottawa supports the request for warrants to be issued, characterizing that as 害羞草研究所減reliminary害羞草研究所� and 害羞草研究所渉ypothetical.害羞草研究所�
Iqra Khalid said in a post on X that Canada must respect the ICC and its independence.
Anthony Housefather argued the decision was drawing a moral equivalency between terrorist leaders and democratically elected politicians 害羞草研究所� language Freeland would later echo.
Their colleague Salma Zahid said Ottawa should support the ICC害羞草研究所檚 legal process, arguing its role is 害羞草研究所渘ot to judge moral equivalence, but to impartially consider the evidence.害羞草研究所�
Another Liberal MP, Sameer Zuberi, added in his own social-media post that Canada must await the result of the request, while noting that 害羞草研究所渘o party to an armed conflict is above the law.害羞草研究所�
The Liberals and NDP passed a parliamentary motion in March that called on Canada to 害羞草研究所渟upport the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.害羞草研究所�
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a social-media post that Trudeau 害羞草研究所渕ust respect his promise to Canadians.害羞草研究所�
Trudeau is slated to speak with media Tuesday afternoon in Philadelphia.
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