Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada remains committed to a two-state solution to the escalatingArab-Israeli conflict, while acknowledging divergent views, and common fears, among his Liberal MPs on the Israel-Hamas war.
“Canada remains firm and steadfast in our commitment to a two-state solution. The world and the region need a peaceful, safe, prosperous, viable Palestinian state alongside a peaceful, prosperous, democratic, safe Israeli state — Israel,” he said.
Trudeau’s comment reflects Canada’s long-standing call for negotiations that would result in a sovereign Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, using the borders that existed in 1967, before a war and settlements led to Israeli control over Palestinian territories.
Canada has long considered the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, and Ottawa has argued that the expansion of Israeli settlements in these territories undermine peace and violate international law.
Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, pulling out both its military and its settlements. Hamas seized control of that territory two years later. Israel and Egypt, which borders Gaza to the south, have restricted the flow of goods and people ever since.
Israel has argued these restrictions are to protect against violence from Hamas. Palestinians have argued the blockade is collective punishment by Israel.
Trudeau reiterated Canada’s call for a negotiated two-state solution in the context of the latest Israel-Hamas war, which began after militants from Hamas, which Canada considers a terrorist organization, killed 1,400 Israelis in a brazen attack on Oct. 7.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where it has also cut off the Palestinian territory’s access to water, food and electricity. The United Nations says violates this international humanitarian law.
Israel has vowed to “destroy” Hamas. Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, also said during a speech he gave Wednesday night in Ottawa that Hamas “has to be destroyed,” as reported by the Toronto Star.
Trudeau would not say whether his government shares that specific position. Instead, Trudeau noted Canada has long deemed Hamas to be a terrorist organization, and called for civilians to be protected and hostages returned.
“Hamas’ actions are absolutely indefensible and Israel has the full right to defend itself in accordance with international law,” he said.
He also did not say what plan Canada would like to see for Gaza once Israel finishes its operations.
“We will of course continue to deal with things as they come up and we will have those conversations when the time comes,” Trudeau said Friday in Brampton, Ont.
On Friday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant shared a plan that seemed to suggest that Israel did not intend to resume long-term control over Gaza. He said Israel is expecting to create a new “security regime” in Gaza along with “the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip.”
Gallant did not say who Israel expected to run Gaza if Hamas is toppled or what the new security regime would entail.
The war in Israel has reached its 14th day, and The Associated Press reports that Israeli airstrikes are hitting southern Gaza, an area full of civilians who fled there from the north of the territory at the direction of Israeli officials.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is at the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, to try to find a way to get badly needed aid into the enclave.
Liberal MPs have expressed a range of views on the conflict, with several calling for a ceasefire over the past week. The federal New Democrats, who entered into a confidence-and-supply agreement with the minority Liberal government last year, are also calling for a ceasefire.
Toronto-area Liberal MP Salma Zahid, who is chair of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, said Friday that she worked with 33 MPs to send a letter to the prime minister that lay out certain demands.
The letter was signed by 23 backbench Liberal MPs, eight NDP MPs and both Green Party MPs. It asks Canada to join the call for an immediate ceasefire, help facilitate the opening of a humanitarian corridor and to stand up for international law.
“International law is clear that innocent civilians and all those not taking part in the fighting must on no account be attacked and must be spared and protected,” the letter said.
The Conservatives are not calling for a ceasefire.
Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party’s foreign affairs critic, warned earlier this week that Canada’s solidarity with Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas would be “tested” in the days ahead.
“As casualties mount, we should resist the temptation to call for a ceasefire until the Israeli Defense (Forces) achieves its goal of eliminating this existential threat to the state of Israel,” he said Monday evening in the House of Commons during a debate on the Israel-Hamas war.
“It is a justifiable war against a terrorist group,” Chong said.
On Thursday, a dozen Muslim, Jewish and Arab MPs from the Liberal caucus met to discuss the conflict.
“While we may not always agree on events in the Middle East, we do agree that all communities must and deserve to feel safe in Canada,” some of the MPs posted on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Everyone is hurt and hurting, everyone is grieving, everyone is scared of what this means,” Trudeau said Friday when asked whether is caucus is divided over how Canada should respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Canadians of all backgrounds, who are represented in Parliament, are reflecting the very real fears and concerns that everyone has. Our jobs as parliamentarians is, yes, to speak for our communities … (but also) to reassure everyone that this is Canada, and here our differences must and will remains a source of strength.”
Trudeau has also faced growing pressure to state his position on who was responsible for Tuesday’s deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza, which officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory had quickly blamed on an Israeli airstrike.
Asked about it by a reporter on his way into the House of Commons for question period that afternoon, Trudeau said in French that it was “not legal.”
Israel’s military then denied it was involved, and the White House has since said a U.S. intelligence assessment found Israel was not to blame. President Joe Biden told Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to that country on Wednesday that it appeared to be done “by the other team, not you.”
B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs have all asked Trudeau to clarify his stance, as Biden did.
Asked about it again on Friday, Trudeau reiterated that he is still trying to figure out the facts.
“Obviously the hospital explosion was a terrible, terrible thing. We deplore the loss of civilian life of innocence,” Trudeau said Friday, which is similar to what he said the day before.
“We are working with our allies internationally to make sure that we can determine exactly what happened.”
Trudeau said Canada’s diplomatic efforts are focused on the protection of civilian life, whether it’s hostages being held by Hamas, or civilians in Gaza.
— With files from The Associated Press and Mickey Djuric in Ottawa.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
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