Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney after he seemed to validate an anti-Israel protester’s claim that there is a “genocide” occurring in Gaza.

“Canada has always sided with civilization. So should Mr. Carney. But instead of supporting Israel, a democracy engaged in a just war with just means against the barbarians of Hamas, he attacks the one and only Jewish state. Mr. Carney, retract your irresponsible statement,” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s response to an anti-Israel agitator at a rally. (Rueters)

Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi, affiliated with Canada’s Conservative Party, also denounced Carney’s remarks, labeling them a “disgraceful betrayal of moral clarity.”

“By siding with a heckler and endorsing the false, slanderous claim of ‘genocide’ in Israel, he has shown himself unworthy of leadership or respect.”

When asked to clarify his comments, Carney claimed he did not hear the protester say the word “genocide.”

“It’s noisy. If you’re up there you hear snippets of what people say and I heard Gaza, and my point was I’m aware of the situation in Gaza,” he said, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney holds a Liberal Party election campaign rally in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on April 8, 2025. (REUTERS/Todd Korol)

Canada began halting arms sales to Israel in January 2024. Months later, in September 2024, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that she had suspended the permits of multiple companies over a U.S. plan to sell Canadian-made ammo to Israel. She said that Canada would “not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period.”