Violence at a conference event in Toronto has sparked calls for greater scrutiny of Israeli soldiers entering Canada, with some saying they should be banned from entering or investigated for possible involvement in war crimes related to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Police arrested and charged six protesters after an event organized this month by a Metropolitan University of Toronto student group, Students Supporting Israel (SSI), which featured Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers as speakers.
While SSI blamed protesters for a chaotic scene that included screaming and a broken glass door (in one video, protesters can be seen banging on the venue’s front doors as they are detained by police), clips shared by Toronto’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) show one of the IDF soldiers grabbing and shoving protesters.
IDF soldiers have been touring Canada as part of the Triggered: From Combat to Campus tour.
NDP MP Heather McPherson issued a statement after the incident saying she was “outraged” to learn of the tour and said any IDF soldier entering Canada should be investigated under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
“The Government of Canada must immediately address these concerns. It is not just a matter of international or domestic law; it is also a matter of public safety,” he said.
SJP Toronto is calling on the Canadian government to ban all Israeli soldiers and launch war crimes investigations against those already in Canada.
Advocacy groups such as Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Independent Jewish Voices and the National Council of Canadian Muslims have previously called for investigations into IDF soldiers, while Israel is being investigated for committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
An SSI spokesperson said in an email to CBC News that the soldiers came to “share their first-hand experiences from the front” and that McPherson’s comments ignored the fact that protesters “violently entered private property we had rented for an event.”
“When a political leader uses his platform to pander to those who committed such acts of violence, he is catering to extremists and allowing them to avoid responsibility for their actions,” the spokesperson said.
The question of whether IDF soldiers should be investigated or banned from entering Canada is complicated both legally and diplomatically. But two legal experts who spoke to CBC News say more scrutiny is needed.
Canada has international obligations: lawyer
The U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a September report that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a conclusion also reached by numerous human rights groups and genocide scholars.
The UN report gave a list of reasons that soldiers could be implicated, some of which included widespread killings of civilians and aid workers; rape and “sexualized torture” against Palestinian detainees; and a “concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s health system.”
CBC News does not have any information to suggest that the specific soldiers who spoke at the Toronto event participated in war crimes.
James Yap, a Toronto-based lawyer, says CCanada has obligations under the Genocide Convention to take measures to prevent genocide, and under a July ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to be complicit in illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“A strong argument can be made that, to meet all of these obligations, Canada should prosecute any soldier suspected of involvement in these violations,” Yap said.
Canadian courts normally only have jurisdiction over crimes that have a geographic connection to Canada, but the War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act says it makes an exception.
Palestinian Canadians want the federal government to move faster on a special visa program aimed at resettling family members in Gaza. Since the start of the war two years ago, 880 people out of 5,000 applicants have arrived in Canada through the program, and Ottawa cited security checks as the cause of the delays.
Yap says that under Canadian law, simply being a member of the IDF could be grounds for denying a person admission to the country, unless they are a Canadian citizen.
Legal experts who spoke to CBC News They say being a member of Hamas, which the Canadian government designates as a terrorist entity, would likely make a foreign citizen inadmissible.
Last year, courts ruled that an Iraqi who entered Canada on a visa in 2021 was inadmissible to the country because he had served in Saddam Hussein’s government.
The International Court of Justice is investigating Israel for genocide, while the ICC is investigating people for war crimes and crimes against humanity and has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide.
Israeli soldiers fear retaliation
Two Israeli men were arrested at a music festival in Belgium in July, accused of committing war crimes, but were later released. There have been calls to investigate individual IDF soldiers in countries such as France, Chile, Sri Lanka and Brazil.
Canadians serving in the IDF told the Times of Israel in July that they are afraid to return home for fear of arrest or reprisals. Some Canadians travel to Israel to serve in the military, and several Canadian organizations provide funding, volunteers and other support to the IDF.
Richard Marceau, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and general counsel at the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, noted that Israel requires mandatory military service for its citizens and characterized calls for investigations as a “witch hunt.”
“Efforts to single out or discriminate against Israelis and Jewish Canadians are not only completely unacceptable and undermine our inclusive society, but also harm our country as a whole,” he said in a written statement to CBC News.
“There can be no moral equivalence between those who have served in the armed forces of Canada’s democratic ally and supporters of a terrorist entity listed under Canadian law,” he added, referring to Hamas.
Yap says prosecuting soldiers for war crimes is “a challenge on several levels” because a Crown prosecutor would need enough evidence to have a reasonable prospect of conviction.
He says that’s especially difficult given the “chaotic” nature off war and the fact that the fighting in this case is taking place “in a place where information is being highly controlled and restricted,” with Israel banning international media from entering Gaza.
Mark Kerstenassistant professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, says investigations should only be carried out if there is concrete evidence to suspect criminal activity.
‘This is not about the IDF’
Kersten says it should be standard procedure to interview anyone who was in Gaza during the war and is into Canada, in case they have information about crimes. Kersten says this applies in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other international conflicts.
“What I’m talking about would apply to any armed conflict where mass atrocities are committed… This is not about the IDF or any particular entity,” Kersten said.
“What I’m suggesting should be literally uncontroversial and directly in line with Canadian public safety interests, Canadian diplomatic interests, Canadian national interests and, of course, at least the potential interest of justice and accountability.”
CBC News accepted an invitation from the Israel Defense Forces to take a small group of journalists to the outskirts of Gaza City for a first-hand look at one of the hardest-hit areas.
He says that while the war in Gaza is especially politically sensitive – “never before has Canada opened a structural investigation in a context where its own ally is credibly implicated in countless international crimes” – the same rules should apply.
In June, the RCMP announced it had opened a structural investigation to “collect, preserve and evaluate potentially relevant information under Canada’s War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act” in relation to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Kersten said he would expect the RCMP to interview soldiers entering Canada as part of the investigation, but he has not seen any evidence that is happening.
The RCMP had no comment to CBC News as of press time and did not answer questions about whether police had interviewed or investigated IDF soldiers.
A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in an email that the government carries out pre-travel checks on foreigners visiting the country on Israeli passports, and people arriving at ports of entry are screened by the Canada Border Services Agency. The spokesperson said the ministry cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation.
