Trudeau criticized for calling on Israel to 'exercise maximum restraint' in Gaza
'The world is witnessing this — the killing of women and children, of babies,' PM says of Gaza conflict
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.
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…
—@netanyahu"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.
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."
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.
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.
Trudeau's remarks echo what French President Emmanuel Macron said in a recent interview with the BBC.
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.
"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."
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With a file from the CBC's Raffy Boudjikanian
