RSS
Trudeau Says Canada Would Arrest Netanyahu in Compliance With ICC Warrant
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Blair Gable
JNS.org — Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said during a press conference on Thursday that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the premier arrived on Canadian soil, in line with a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
“First of all, as Canada has always said, it’s really important that everyone abide by international law,” Trudeau said. “This is something we’ve been calling on from the beginning of the conflict. We are one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.”
Both the ICC and the ICJ are located in The Hague, although the justice court is a body of the United Nations and the criminal court is a stand-alone body. The ICC issued warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense minister, among others.
“We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts,” Trudeau added. “This is just who we are as Canadians.”
Netanyahu has called the court’s decision a “modern Dreyfus trial,” while US President Joe Biden recycled a six-month-old statement, in which he referred to the court’s decision as “outrageous.”
Leo Housakos, a Quebec senator, wrote that Trudeau’s were “disgraceful comments” that suggested that “Canadian authorities would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
“This ill-considered endorsement of the ICC’s politically motivated actions is a slap in the face to our ally and to every innocent Israeli still being held hostage,” Housakos stated. “We stand with the people of Israel and support their right to self-defense against terrorism. The actions taken by both the ICC and Justin Trudeau should be condemned as a dangerous precedent that threatens global stability and the principles of international law.”
“I have to say that we’re horrified, but not shocked,” Michael Teper, a board member of Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, told JNS of Trudeau’s comments.
“The statement is sadly highly predictable and indicative of the overall attitudes of the government of Canada these days,” Teper said. “It’s really just sad that Mr. Trudeau is taking this approach.”
Earlier in the day, Anthony Housefather, Canadian special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, wrote that “Israel was attacked by terrorists on Oct 7. The warrant issued by the ICC today against Netanyahu and Gallant claims their crimes started as early as Oct. 8. A day Israel was in shock, grief and mourning. The ICC discredits itself by its actions today.”
Amir Epstein, director of Tafsik, an Israel advocacy group with affiliates in Toronto and Winnipeg, told JNS that “the idea that Canada is aligned with Islamofascist countries that dictate what the ICC, the ICJ, and the United Nations say and do is no longer surprising to anyone.”
He noted that dictators are able to “come freely into Canada,” which “is both laughable and embarrassing at the same time.”
The Abraham Global Peace Initiative in Toronto stated that it “expresses its strongest condemnation” of the court’s “reckless and politically motivated” action.
“The decision underscores the ICC’s troubling trend of weaponization against Israel, prepared by the Palestinian Authority and its allies since 2015,” the group said. “The ICC’s arrest warrants dangerously distort international justice by empowering extremists, exacerbating global antisemitism and undermining peace efforts during a time of heightened tensions.”
The post Trudeau Says Canada Would Arrest Netanyahu in Compliance With ICC Warrant first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.