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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu routinely flew through Canadian airspace to the US despite an ICC arrest warrant Canada has pledged to enforce, raising legal concerns.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has routinely flown through Canadian airspace on his way to the United States over the past two years, despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant that Canada has committed to enforce, according to a review of flight data. His most recent overflight occurred on Sept. 24 during travel to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, crossing Labrador and a large part of Quebec. It was the deepest incursion into Canadian territory since the warrant was issued in November 2024.
ICC Warrant and Canadian Obligations
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu in November 2024 for alleged war crimes, including starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilians. The Israeli government rejects the charges. Canada is a state party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that founded the ICC, and is required to arrest and surrender any person subject to a court arrest warrant.
Ardi Imseis, co-director of the international law program at Queen's University and a member of a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry, told CBC News that Canada has breached its obligations under the Rome Statute by allowing Netanyahu to enter Canadian airspace en route to the United States. The federal government has been reluctant to confirm whether it granted permission for these flights.
Shifting Explanations From Ottawa
Over the two-year period, the federal government's explanation for permitting the overflights has shifted. A statement from the Prime Minister's Office over the summer said Canada's law enforcement objectives are not typically linked to who it permits to fly through Canadian airspace. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters at the UN that she had asked her department for information about the Sept. 24 flyover, which she did not have before arriving at the United Nations.
The Canadian protocol would require permission for such flights. The review shows that Netanyahu's plane has continued to deviate from the fastest Great Circle route to avoid Irish or British airspace, and in September 2025 his jet avoided much of the European landmass by flying through the Strait of Gibraltar. The flight data suggests his concerns about international travel risks peaked in late 2025.
International Divide on Overflights
European countries appear split on whether the obligation to enforce the ICC warrant extends to sovereign airspace. France, which has also allowed Netanyahu to fly through its airspace, has said it will enforce ICC arrest warrants against Israeli officials, but a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Pascal Confavreux, said after Netanyahu's most recent flight that the Rome Statute does not impose obligations regarding overflights by a state plane carrying a passenger targeted by an arrest warrant.
France is an exception in clearly stating its interpretation of its Rome Statute obligations. Italy and Greece have also allowed Netanyahu to overfly their territory but declined to explain their legal reasoning. Other countries, including Turkey, have publicly stated their airspaces are closed to the Israeli leader. In some cases, such as Spain, no ban has been announced, yet Netanyahu's jet has made clear detours to avoid that airspace.
The overflights have raised questions about Canada's public message of support for international law, as critics argue that permitting Netanyahu to fly over the country undermines that stance. The review of two years of flights indicates that the Israeli leader is once again routinely taking a more direct path through Canadian airspace, even as the international legal debate over such overflights remains unresolved.
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