Article
If I Get Elected as the Next Toronto Mayor, I Will Call for Netanyahu’s Arrest: Bahira Abdulsalam
On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.[1] Canada is a member of the Court and has a legal duty to cooperate with it, and the federal government said at the time that Canada would abide by the Court’s rulings.[2]
Last week marked three years since the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza began. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, as reported by the United Nations, more than 74,000 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza as of October 7, 2026. Of the dead identified by the end of 2025, more than 21,000 were children.[3]
The International Court of Justice is hearing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, and in January 2024 it ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.[4][5] In September 2025, the UN Commission of Inquiry found that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.[6] The International Association of Genocide Scholars,[7] the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem,[8] and Jewish and Israeli Holocaust and genocide scholars including Omer Bartov, Raz Segal and Amos Goldberg[9][10][11] have reached the same conclusion.
If Netanyahu sets foot in Toronto, I will demand that the Government of Canada arrest him on the spot and hand him over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Canada signed the Rome Statute. Its word must mean something. No one accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity will be given a welcome, a handshake or an honour by this mayor. Toronto will not be a safe harbour for anyone wanted by the Court.
International law is not optional, and it doesn’t apply only to people we don’t like. A city that believes in human rights must say so when it counts.
Read more: Remembering Palestine
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Candidate for Mayor of Toronto
References
- International Criminal Court, “ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant,” November 21, 2024. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges ↩
- CBC News, “International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli defence minister,” November 21, 2024. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/icc-mideast-war-arrest-warrants-1.7389265 ↩
- UN OCHA, “Reported impact snapshot | Gaza Strip (7 October 2026),” published October 9, 2026 (Ministry of Health figures: 74,250 reported fatalities; 21,283 children among 71,444 fatalities identified as of December 31, 2025). https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-7-october-2026 ↩
- International Court of Justice, “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).” https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192 ↩
- International Court of Justice, Order of 26 January 2024 (provisional measures), South Africa v. Israel. https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447 ↩
- UN News, “Gaza: Top independent rights probe alleges Israel committed genocide,” September 16, 2025. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165856 ↩
- International Association of Genocide Scholars, “IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza,” passed August 31, 2025. https://genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf ↩
- B’Tselem, “Our Genocide,” July 2025. https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide ↩
- Omer Bartov, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.,” The New York Times, July 15, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/israel-gaza-holocaust-genocide-palestinians.html ↩
- Raz Segal, “A Textbook Case of Genocide,” Jewish Currents, October 13, 2023. https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide ↩
- Amos Goldberg, “Yes, it is genocide,” English translation published by Jewish Voice for Labour, May 14, 2024 (originally in Hebrew in Local Call, April 2024). https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/prof-amos-goldberg-yes-it-is-genocide/ ↩
Vote Bahira.
On October 26, vote Bahira Abdulsalam for Mayor of Toronto.
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