Canada named new representatives to the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly announced that Graham Dattels has become Canada’s representative to the Palestinian Authority, replacing previous ambassador David Da Silva.
Dattels takes on the role after serving as Canada’s Global Affairs Director for Southeast Asia, responsible for Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. He had responsibility for political and trade relations, development assistance and coordination of Canada’s response to the Rohingya crisis.
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Joly also announced that Michael Gort has become Canada’s ambassador and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, replacing Richard Arbeiter. His most recent diplomatic appointment was as Canada’s ambassador to Chile.
Peter MacDougall was announced as Canada’s new ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Office and to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, replacing Leslie E. Norton. Most recently, MacDougall was Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Affairs and Development at Global Affairs Canada and served as Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada’s G7.
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Global Affairs Canada also announced the appointment of Annabelle Larouche St-Sauveur as Consul General in Monterrey, Mexico, replacing Sandra Shaddick.
The new appointments come as members of the international community are weighing in on arrest warrants being sought at the International Criminal Court against the leaders of Israel and Hamas.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced questions about pressure from the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Israeli prime minister and Hamas leaders over the conflict in Gaza on Tuesday.
The court’s chief prosecutor on Monday requested arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and senior Hamas leaders.
“The International Criminal Court is independent in its work, and I have said from the beginning how important it is for everyone to respect and comply with international law,” Trudeau said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Philadelphia.
“What I will say is worrying, however, is the sense of equivalence between Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the bloodthirsty terrorists who run Hamas. “I don’t think that’s helpful.”
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Trudeau and his ministers intervened in the case a day after the United States on Monday, rejecting a move to implicate Israel, while France and Belgium supported the decision.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada is following the case “very closely” and also expressed concern about the possibility of equivalence being drawn, while noting that the court is suggesting different charges for each side of the dispute. conflict.
“There is no equivalence, because an organization is a terrorist organization; the other is a state. That being said, (the) charges that have been filed are different,” he said.
He also would not say whether Canada would arrest Israeli officials if they ended up subject to an international arrest warrant and visited Canada, saying this is a theoretical situation. Joly added that senior Hamas leaders are already banned from Canada due to terrorism and sanctions laws.
A handful of Liberal MPs have weighed in since news of the arrest warrants was announced.
Iqra Khalid, who represents a Toronto-area horse, said in a post on X that Canada must respect the ICC and its independence.
Anthony Housefather, whose riding in Montreal has a large Jewish population and who is himself Jewish, He argued that the decision was establishing a moral equivalence between Hamas leaders and the democratically elected politicians of the State of Israel.
–with files from The Canadian Press
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