Canada debuting Israel-Hamas ‘war crimes’ reporting portal

The RCMP is gathering data on alleged war crimes tied to Canadians in the Israel-Hamas conflict, including a multilingual portal for “witness testimony.”

By World Israel News Staff

Canada is launching an online portal in multiple languages that will facilitate complaints about Canadian citizens involved in “potential war crimes” during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Canadian police told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) probe includes “broad, intelligence-led intake process designed to collect, preserve, and assess information potentially relevant under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act,” the authorities told the Post.

Notably, the RCMP has not publicized the probe and portal, nor has it publicly stated which entity – likely the Israeli military – is the focus of their investigation.

The open-source data-gathering initiative includes a “secure online portal available in French, English, Hebrew, and Arabic, to facilitate the structured and secure any submissions of information by the public and potential witnesses” to alleged war crimes, the RCMP said.

Initially, the RCMP downplayed the significance of the investigation, claiming that it is merely gathering information. The RCMP said that the aim of the intelligence-gathering project is not to file criminal charges against Canadian citizens who were involved in the war, presumably as IDF soldiers.

Later, the RCMP admitted that “should a perpetrator of core international crimes – such as genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity – with the appropriate nexus to Canada be identified, the RCMP will initiate a separate criminal investigation.”

Jewish advocacy groups said the government’s probe into Canadian nationals serving in the IDF was misplaced and that the investigation should prioritize holding Hamas terrorists accountable.

“If our government is investigating any links between Canadians and the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, they must focus their investigation on the atrocities committed by Hamas during the October 7 terror attack and the events following the October 7 terror attack,” Richard Robertson, director of Research and Advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, told the Post.

“Any investigation into the IDF by the Canadian government is a disingenuous affront to the relationship with Canada’s ally,” Robertson added.