Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she spoke with her Lebanese counterpart on Tuesday to express condolences on the killing of a Canadian citizen in the country last week, but declined to sanction Israel, which Mohammad Hassan Haidar’s family blames for the death.
“I express my sincere condolences to his family and his friends and his community,” Anand told journalists on Parliament Hill on Wednesday morning.
But she sidestepped when asked about sanctioning Israel, which is a long-standing request of civil society groups like the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.
The NCCM reiterated that request in the wake of Haidar’s death.
“I understand that the peace talks between Lebanon and Israel began yesterday in Washington, D.C., where their representatives were directly discussing the potential for a ceasefire. We very much hope that there will be a ceasefire, and in the meantime, we’ll continue to examine Canada’s approach to this situation,” she said.
Anand also said she is “in the process of making contact” with Israeli officials, but that she has not spoken to any since Haidar’s death.
Asked about whether she would summon Israel’s ambassador for a diplomatic démarche, Anand said she is addressing the issues relating to the war through bilateral and humanitarian engagement.
Family says Haidar killed in drone attack
CBC News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Canada as well as the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.
Haidar’s family said he was killed in a drone attack in the early hours on Friday, after he attempted to lend a hand to a man outside his house in the southern Lebanese community of Qana, who had already been struck.
Hussein Haidar and Fatima Hassan, the brother and sister of Mohamad Hassan Haidar, a Canadian man killed in Lebanon last week, are seen outside city hall in Windsor, Ont., on Monday. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
His sister Fatima Haidar said he had been speaking to his wife moments before hearing the calls for help.
“The paramedics told us afterwards that he didn’t reach far,” she said during a news conference.
“No one is safe with Israel,” she said. “They decided to murder both of them.”
New Liberal MP declines to weigh in
Liberal MP-elect for the Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest, Doly Begum, who has been a vocal critic of Israel, declined to weigh in on the issue of sanctions.
“I think it is horrible what has happened, and I look forward to working with the [foreign affairs] ministry and with listening to my community as well,” she said.
Begum said she has spent the last two months knocking on doors in her community, and heard from voters about plenty of issues, including the conflict in the Middle East.
“There are many parts of the issues that I’m hoping that I can address to this government right now,” she said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney walks with new members of the Liberal caucus Tatiana Auguste, Danielle Martin and Doly Begum. Begum, formerly deputy leader of the Ontario NDP, has been a vocal critic of Israel. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Begum is one of three Liberals who won byelections on Monday, helping Prime Minister Mark Carney cement his majority.
Before she joined the federal Liberal Party, Begum was the deputy leader of the Ontario NDP.
In that role at Queen’s Park, she called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.
“Our governments sit here patting themselves on the back every time there’s a ceasefire, which eventually falls apart, time and time again,” she said, according to an official transcript at the Ontario legislature from Nov. 3.
“Our federal government recognizes Palestine in words yet refuses to implement an arms embargo and impose sanctions on the Israeli government.”