Canada’s opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said on Tuesday that for Israel to prevent the “genocidal” Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons “would be a gift by the Jewish state to humanity.”
Speaking at a press briefing outside Canada’s House of Commons, Poilievre said, “I think the idea of allowing a genocidal, theocratic, unstable dictatorship, that is desperate to avoid being overthrown by its own people, to develop nuclear weapons is about the most dangerous and irresponsible thing that the world could ever allow.”
Poilievre’s remarks came in response to a reporter’s question regarding his comments on Monday that Israel had a right to strike Iran’s nuclear sites and oil infrastructure.
In a speech at an Oct. 7 event in Ottawa marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel, Poilievre said, “Israel must be able to prevent Iran from using nuclear weapons, if necessary. That means proactively striking Iranian nuclear sites and oil installations to defund the terrorist regime.”
Poilievre’s position puts him at odds with the U.S. administration. President Joe Biden voiced disapproval last week for an Israeli attack on either Iranian nuclear sites or oil facilities.
Poilievre is in position to become Canada’s next prime minister, according to polls. Elections will be held on or before Oct. 20, 2025.
At the press conference, Poilievre also accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals of responsibility for the rise in antisemitism in Canada over the past year.
In 2023, hate crimes against Jews surged across the country, with police reporting 900 instances, a 71% increase from 2022 and a 172% increase since 2020.
Jews were the targets of 70% of religiously motivated hate crimes, four times the figure for Muslims.
Jews make up less than 1% of Canada’s population.
On Tuesday, Poilievre was censured by House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus for “unparliamentary language” after he refused to withdraw his statement a day earlier that Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly was pandering to Hamas.
Poilievre had said in the House that he’d given Joly two opportunities to condemn “the increasingly common and terrifying antisemitic chants we hear in the streets—’Israel will soon be gone,’ ‘There is only one solution, Intifada revolution.’”
Twice, he continued, “she refused to condemn those remarks,” accusing her of pandering to Hamas supporters in the Liberal Party in her bid to eventually take over its leadership from current head Trudeau.
“So I’ll give her another chance. Will she publicly support Israel’s right to retaliate against the tyrants of Tehran, and the terrorists in Hezbollah and Hamas, to protect itself? Yes or no,” he said.
Noting it was Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas massacre, Joly responded, “If there’s a day where we don’t do politics about people’s lives being taken or people being killed, it’s today.”
She added: “We are all against any form of antisemitism … any form of discrimination. And I really hope that my colleague and friend will apologize.”
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