Canada to summon Israeli ambassador

Israeli embassy spokesman Ofir Gendelman said on Thursday that Canadian Jamal Akkal admitted he was preparing terrorist attacks against Israel in North America on behalf of the resistance Palestinian group Hamas. 

 

The Israeli ambassador to Canada, Haim Divon, told reporters on Friday that Akkal made the statement during a closed-door hearing. 

 

Based on the confession, the Israeli embassy said this was the first time Hamas had planned to carry out such attacks in Canada and the United States. 

   

“Among the scenarios that were planned (were) attaching an explosive device to vehicles, shooting attacks and (the) assassination of a visiting Israeli official in Canada,” the embassy said in a statement.

 

 

‘Unacceptable comment’

 

But two Canadian consular agents present at the closed-door hearing did not hear Akkal make such a confession, according to Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for the foreign ministry. 

 

Moreover, Divon should not have commented on the matter, since Israeli authorities are still investing Akkal, Doiron said during a telephone call with reporters. 

 

“We’re going to tell (Divon) that the comments made by him and other people in his embassy are inappropriate” Reynald Doiron, a spokesperson for Canada’s foreign ministry

“The ambassador is going to be called in. A senior official at the department is going to meet with him early next week and will tell him … that any comment (like those) made yesterday is totally unacceptable,” Doiron said. 

 

“We’re going to tell (Divon) that the comments made by him and other people in his embassy are inappropriate.” 

 

‘Psychological torture’

 

Akkal’s lawyer Jamil al-Khatib told CBC television that Israel had used “psychological torture” to get his client to confess.

 

He said his client was kept awake for 20 days and made to sign a confession written in Hebrew, which he does not understand. 

Akkal was arrested last month in the Gaza Strip by Israeli
forces who accused him of belonging to Hamas.