Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced criticism Wednesday from Jewish leaders after he made comments that were perceived as overly critical of Israel and its efforts to destroy Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking at an electric vehicle announcement in Maple Ridge, B.C. yesterday, Trudeau said “the world is watching” as Israel pursues its campaign to destroy the group that carried out the deadly Oct. 7 attack.
“We’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who’ve lost their parents. The world is witnessing this — the killing of women and children, of babies,” Trudeau said. “This has to stop.
“I have been clear that the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. Even wars have rules. All innocent life is equal in worth — Israeli and Palestinian.”
While the prime minister did not explicitly call for a ceasefire, he said the “violence needs to stop urgently” so Palestinians can get access to lifesaving medical services, food, fuel and water.
WATCH: Trudeau urges Israel to ‘exercise maximum restraint’
Trudeau urges Israel to ‘exercise maximum restraint’ in war against Hamas
2 days ago
Duration 1:42:31
Featured VideoNov. 14, 2023 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the killing of innocent Palestinians ‘has to stop’ as people stuck in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital reportedly dig a mass grave on hospital grounds to place decomposing bodies. P&P speaks to the World Health Organization and brings you the latest from our reporter on the ground.
Trudeau also condemned Hamas in his remarks, saying that the militant group “needs to stop using Palestinians as human shields.”
He also urged Hamas, which has called for the destruction of Israel, to release the hostages it captured in its violent incursion.
Canada has been a strong ally of Israel.
The federal Liberal government has resisted pressure to call for a ceasefire in the conflict — pressure that has been coming from the NDP, the Bloc Québécois, Arab, Muslim and Palestinian communities and its own backbench MPs.
The government has maintained that Israel has the right to protect itself against a virulently antisemitic and violent group like Hamas.
Canada has acted consistently to support Israel in votes at the United Nations, including a recent vote meant to condemn Israel for permitting Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Canada was one of only seven countries (the others were Hungary, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and the U.S.) to vote against the resolution.
But Trudeau’s comments on Tuesday were interpreted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an unnecessarily strong rebuke of his country’s war effort.
In a social media post that tagged Trudeau, Netanyahu said Israel isn’t the one “deliberately targeting civilians, but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust.
.<a href=”https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@JustinTrudeau</a> <br><br>It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust. <br><br>While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing…
“While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way.”
Nethanyahu said Israel has been providing Palestinian civilians in the embattled territory with humanitarian corridors and safe zones. He alleged Hamas has stopped them from leaving at gunpoint.
“It is Hamas, not Israel, that should be held accountable for committing a double war crime — targeting civilians while hiding behind civilians. The forces of civilization must back Israel in defeating Hamas barbarism,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/AP Photo)
Michael Levitt, a former Liberal MP who now serves as the president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish rights group, said Trudeau’s “reckless accusations against Israel are deeply concerning.”
“His words, which belie the facts on the ground in the war between a fellow democracy and a genocidal terror group, may have been meant to deliver a message overseas but that’s not the only place they landed,” he said in a social media post.
“The scathing remarks also landed here at home, where Jews like me, reeling from weeks of surging antisemitism, got the message loud and clear,”
Levitt said Trudeau’s comments have “the potential to further fan the flames of Jew-hatred that we are facing.”
Reached by phone Wednesday, Levitt said the prime minister’s forceful “tone” was the most problematic aspect of his comments.
“The prime minister’s remarks were delivered sharply and curtly. The accusation of Israel killing women and children, killing babies, it was something that did not properly contextualize how we got here,” Levitt told CBC News.
“Everything that’s happening now, the tragic loss of life that we’ve seen of both innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilians, is the result of the atrocities committed by the terror group Hamas.”
Former Liberal MP Michael Levitt, who now serves as the president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said he was disappointed in Trudeau’s critique of Israel. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
Levitt said Trudeau’s remarks also “crossed the line in terms of moral clarity.”
He said Trudeau should have shown more support for a democratic friend and ally like Israel in a pitched battle with what he called a terrorist group.
Levitt said the prime minister’s comments could “further fuel antisemitism and lashing out at Jews in Canada.”
He said that Trudeau’s past comments condemning an earlier blast at an Anglican hospital In Gaza may have inspired anti-Israel protests. Canada’s intelligence agency now believes a Palestinian group was responsible for the explosion.
As a former MP in Trudeau’s government, Levitt said he’s “disappointed” with how Trudeau carried himself.
He said he knows there are “many members” of the party who feel the same way.
Trudeau’s remarks come as Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital faces an increasingly dire situation, with a lack of water, power and internet service threatening patients, including babies in incubators.
Israel is attempting to coordinate the transfer of special incubators to Al-Shifa to help save the newborns.
The hospital, Gaza’s largest, has become the focus of international alarm because of worsening conditions in the facility. Thousands of patients, medical staff and displaced people have been trapped in the hospital during the Israeli assault on Gaza in the past five weeks.
Wounded Palestinians receive treatment at the al-Shifa hospital, following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Abed Khaled/Associated Press)
Israel has defended its activity near Al-Shifa by alleging Hamas is using the facility to conceal a vast underground command complex.
That claim was backed up by the U.S. yesterday.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that intelligence has confirmed Hamas has used tunnels underneath Al-Shifa and other hospitals to conceal military operations and hold hostages.
While they caught heat from prominent Jewish Canadians, Trudeau’s remarks were dismissed by a leading Muslim organization as “not enough.”
Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said Trudeau’s forceful condemnation of the deaths of women and children in Gaza is “an important and positive step.”
“But we need to see more. Canada needs to be a leading voice in the international community calling for a ceasefire and also working for a just and lasting peace for the Palestinians,” he said.
Brown said Netanyahu’s angry response to Trudeau’s comments was “callous and uncaring.”
“Quite frankly, it’s ridiculous,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said democracies like Israel should be held to a higher standard in war. (Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images)
The French leader said a democracy like Israel should be held to a higher standard and adhere to international humanitarian law.
While Macron insisted that Israel has the right to protect itself against terrorism, he added there is “no justification” for an attack on civilians.
“There’s babies, there’s ladies, there’s old people bombed and killed,” he said. “There is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we did urge Israel to stop.”
Michael Mostyn, president and CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, said the community is “extremely upset” with how Trudeau framed Israel’s activities in Gaza.
Like Levitt, Mostyn said Trudeau’s “tone” was particularly upsetting to some in the Jewish community.
WATCH | Protesters follow Trudeau in Vancouver:
Trudeau shouted out of Vancouver restaurant by protesters
21 hours ago
Duration 3:41
Featured VideoFacing criticism from all sides for Canada’s position on the Israel-Hamas war, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was shouted out of a Vancouver restaurant by pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied to Trudeau on social media after he sharpened his tone against Israel in a speech.
“The community is very anxious about hate and antisemitism. The tone and demeanour of leaders, that has a real-world impact. We all need to lower the temperature. The last thing we need is the leader of this country to take a tone like that,” Mostyn told CBC News.
He said Trudeau’s statement that “even wars have rules” suggests Israel isn’t adhering to international law.
Mostyn said Israel is trying to be “surgical” in its conflict with Hamas in order to minimize deaths.
“There’s always collateral damage in war. War is a dirty, dirty business, we all know that. Nobody wants to see suffering but this is the situation that we’re in,” he said.
He said Hamas is a terror group that has threatened to repeat what it did on Oct. 7.
“Rape, murder and brutality that shouldn’t even be discussed — there’s no democracy in the world that would stand by and allow that to happen,” he said.
“If Canada’s position is that Israel has the right to defend itself, then you have to allow Israel to defend itself. It’s every democracy’s job to stand by those that are following international laws.”
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
