Canada needs all evaluated evidence before recognizing the genocide in Gaza, explains the United Nations ambassador

The United Nations Ambassador David Lametti said that Canada needs “all evidence to come” and be assessed before recognizing if Israel commits a genocide in Gaza – and it generally follows the example of a United Nations resolution or a decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“This is certainly what we have done in other cases where a genocide has been recognized,” said Lametti in an interview with CBC The house This is broadcast on Saturday morning. “There is an international corpus of authority that governs in this way, then Canada makes it recognized.

“This is the position that Canada has adopted for several years and we think it is the right position,” Lametti told Catherine Cullen.

It was announced Thursday as the next ambassador of Canada.

The comments of Lametti came a few days after the conclusion of a United Nations investigation, Israel committed a genocide in Gaza and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had prompted these acts.

The Insrael Ambassador to the UN called the “scandalous” report and said that he had been written by “Hamas proxies”.

The United Nations report quotes examples of the killings scale, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic to support its conclusion of genocide, adding its voice to the human rights groups and others that have reached the same conclusion.

Until now, the CIJ has not yet judged if Israel commits a genocide in Gaza.

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However, he ordered Israel in January 2024 to abstain from any act which could fall under the Convention of Genocide and also guarantee that Israeli troops do not commit any genocidal act in Gaza. The decision was legally binding, but the court had no way to apply it.

At the time, the CIJ did not deal with the main allegation of South Africa on the question of whether Israel commits a genocide, although he declared that he would not reject the case, as Israel asked.

Lametti’s comments echo those of the Minister of Justice Sean Fraser, who told journalists on Wednesday that the determination of knowing if Israel commits a genocide should be based on a deep legal process where the parties “make submissions based on evidence”.

“It’s not just an emotional, but also legal question,” added Fraser.

Canada should recognize the Palestinian state

At the beginning of next week, Canada is expected to recognize the Palestinian state in the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the return in July for the first time and declared that he was conditional to the Palestinian authority organizing an election in 2026 and engaging in other democratic reforms.

Carney confirmed on Monday that he would proceed to recognition plans. While the Jewish defense group B’Nai Brith Canada called last month for the case to be debated in Parliament, no party has filed a motion on the issue this week.

Lametti said Canada “takes action to preserve the possibility and promote the possibility of a two-state solution in the Middle East. We think it’s the only right and just way to move forward.”

“We have seen horrible things happen, both in terms of what Hamas has done and what was done in Gaza, and we are trying to help push, help support, parties that would like to see a solution just to two states,” he said.

Friday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand differentiated “recognition” and “normalization”. She said that recognition is “extremely important and necessary because the viability of a solution to two states is crumbling”.

According to Anand, standardization is a process that “implies an increase in diplomatic relations”, including the opening of embassies and consulates as well as to guarantee “that there are processes of transfer of citizens between the two states in question”.

“We intend to recognize Palestine, and it is very different from the normalization of diplomatic relations,” she said.

In July, Carney said Hamas could not have any role in the elections it proposed. He also reiterated that Hamas should release the remaining Israeli hostages and said that a Palestinian state should be demilitarized.