After days of confusion, Trudeau government says it will abide by ICJ on genocide case against Israel

Canada will abide by all rulings arising from South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), officials at Global Affairs Canada have told CBC News.

The clarification, issued Monday, comes after days of confusion following verbal and written statements issued Friday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly in response to South Africa's claim that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in its war against Hamas.

Trudeau's and Joly's statements were widely misreported in mainstream media and on social media as dismissing the South African case and taking the side of Israel. In fact, their statements carefully avoided either rejecting or endorsing South Africa's case against Israel.

The confusion affected one of the government's own ministers and some of its MPs, as well as the Consulate-General of Israel in Toronto.

Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian organizations were united in describing the rollout of the government's position as mismanaged.

«It's beyond confusion. I think it's a total failure of communication,» said Michael Bueckert of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), which has called on Canada to declare its support for South Africa's case against Israel.

«When we all listened to Trudeau's words, not just us but everyone on all sides of the debate, it was quite clear, or it seemed beyond obvious to everyone, that this was a rejection of South Africa's claims.

»It didn't sound neutral. It sounded like Canada had taken a clear position. And again, that wasn't just us. That was the pro-Israel groups."

Richard Marceau, vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), said he wanted to see Canada