Violence at a Toronto speaking event has sparked calls for more scrutiny on Israeli soldiers entering Canada, with some saying they should be barred entry or investigated for potential participation in war crimes related to the Israel-Hamas war.
Police arrested and charged six protesters after an event organized by a Toronto Metropolitan University student group Students Supporting Israel (SSI) this month that featured Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers as speakers.
While SSI blamed protesters for a chaotic scene that included screaming and a broken glass door – protesters can be seen on video banging on the venue’s front doors as they are being held off by police — clips shared by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Toronto 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 released a statement following 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. This is not only a matter of international law or domestic law; it is also a matter of public safety,” she said.
SJP Toronto is calling on the Canadian government to ban entry to all Israeli soldiers and launch war crime investigations into those already in Canada.
Advocacy groups like 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 on 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 lines,” and that McPherson’s comments ignored the fact that protesters “violently entered a private property we had rented for an event.”
“When a political leader uses her platform to pander to those who committed such acts of violence, she is catering to extremists and allowing them to avoid accountability for their actions,” the spokesperson said.
The question of whether IDF soldiers should be investigated or barred entry into Canada is complicated from both a legal and diplomatic standpoint. But two legal experts who spoke with CBC News say more scrutiny is needed.
Canada has international obligations: lawyer
The UN 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 drawn by numerous human rights groups and genocide scholars.
The UN report gave a list of reasons that could implicate soldiers, some of which include widespread killing of civilians and aid workers; rape and “sexualized torture” against Palestinian detainees; and a “concerted policy to destroy the healthcare system of Gaza.”
CBC News does not have any information suggesting the specific soldiers who spoke at the Toronto event participated in any war crimes.
James Yap, a Toronto-based lawyer, says Canada has obligations under the Genocide Convention to take measures to prevent genocide, and under a July International Criminal Court (ICC) ruling to not be complicit in illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“There is a strong argument to be made that, in order to comply with all these obligations, Canada ought to prosecute any soldier who is suspected of participating in these violations,” Yap said.
Canadian courts typically only have jurisdiction over crimes with a geographical connection to Canada, but he says the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act makes an exception.
Palestinian Canadians want the federal government to move faster on a special visa program meant to relocate family members in Gaza. Since the start of the war two years ago, 880 people out of 5,000 applicants have come to Canada through the program, with Ottawa citing security checks as being behind the delays.
Yap says under Canadian law, simply being a member of the IDF could potentially be grounds to refuse a person’s admission to the country, unless they’re a Canadian citizen.
Legal experts who spoke with CBC News say membership in Hamas, which the Canadian government designates as a terrorist entity, would likely render a foreign national inadmissible.
Last year, courts determined an Iraqi man 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 individuals 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 July music festival in Belgium, accused of committing war crimes, but were later released. There have been calls for investigations into individual IDF soldiers in countries including France, Chile, Sri Lanka and Brazil.
Canadians serving in the IDF told the Times of Israel in July that they’re afraid to come back home for fear of arrest or retaliation. Some Canadians travel to Israel to serve in the army, and several Canadian organizations provide funding, volunteers and other support for the IDF.
Richard Marceau, senior VP of strategic initiatives and general counsel with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, noted Israel requires mandatory military service for citizens, and characterized the 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 done their military service in the armed forces of a democratic ally of Canada, and supporters of a listed terrorist entity under Canadian law,” he added, referring to Hamas.
Yap says prosecuting soldiers for war crimes is “a challenge on a number of levels,” because a crown prosecutor would need enough evidence for a reasonable prospect of conviction.
He says that’s especially difficult given the “chaotic” nature of war and the fact that the fighting in this case is taking place “in a location where information is being very tightly controlled and restricted,” with Israel barring international media from Gaza.
Mark Kersten, an assistant professor in the University of Fraser Valley’s criminology and criminal justice department, 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 entering Canada, in case they have information about crimes. Kersten says this is applied in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other international conflicts.
“What I’m talking about would apply to any armed conflict where there are mass atrocities…. 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 Defence 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 sensitive politically — “never before has Canada opened a structural investigation into a context in which 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 assess information potentially relevant under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act” in relation to the Israel-Hamas war.
Kersten said he would expect the RCMP to be interviewing soldiers entering Canada as part of the investigation, but he has not seen any evidence that it’s happening.
The RCMP did not provide comment to CBC News by press time, and did not answer questions about whether police have interviewed or investigated IDF soldiers.
An Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson said in an email that the government conducts pre-travel screening of foreign nationals visiting on Israeli passports, and people arriving at ports of entry are examined by the Canada Border Services Agency. The spokesperson said the ministry cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation.
