Netanyahu Overflies Canada Again; Ottawa Silent on Approval
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- Israel says it requested Canadian airspace permission for Netanyahu's Monday flight to Washington aboard the Wing of Zion (Boeing 767), which overflew Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
- Canada's Prime Minister's Office and Global Affairs Canada declined to confirm or deny whether permission was granted, with GAC saying it 'does not comment on which route a foreign state chooses to take.'
- Netanyahu has been sought by the ICC since Nov. 21, 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza; PM Mark Carney previously pledged to arrest him if he entered Canada, echoing Justin Trudeau's earlier promise.
- Canada is a State Party to the Rome Statute and told CBC it is 'committed to upholding international law and the decisions of international judicial bodies' while reiterating calls for Israel to comply with Gaza ceasefire terms and respect Lebanon's territorial integrity.
- This is Netanyahu's third overflight of Eastern Canada in roughly seven months — the previous two on Dec. 29, 2025 (Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) and Feb. 10, 2026 (Newfoundland, PEI, and New Brunswick) — whereas a Sept. 25, 2025 flight took an evasive Atlantic route to avoid Canadian airspace.
- Canadian protocol requires foreign government flights to seek clearance at least 72 hours in advance; international law scholar Mark Kersten of the University of the Fraser Valley called it 'implausible' the government 'didn't allow this to happen on some level.'
- Kersten warned the overflight 'undermines both international law and Canadian sovereignty,' particularly 'at a time when our sovereignty is being consistently called into question by the United States.'
Why it matters: Canada faces a binary accountability problem with concrete ICC obligations attached: either it granted airspace permission to an ICC-wanted figure — contradicting Carney's arrest pledge and Rome Statute commitments — or it refused and Israel flew through anyway while Ottawa stayed silent. Three overflights in roughly seven months, after a September flight that went out of its way to avoid Canada, suggests the diplomatic workaround is hardening into routine.
