By The New Arab, November 16, 2025

Richard Falk, a leading international law scholar and former United Nations special rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory, says Canadian authorities had detained and interrogated him for hours on “national security” grounds as he travelled to speak at a Gaza-related tribunal in Ottawa.

Falk, 95, was travelling from the United States with his wife, fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver, when they were stopped at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Thursday.

The couple were heading to the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility, a two-day gathering of human rights and legal experts examining Canada’s role in Israel’s two-year assault on the Gaza Strip, which UN investigators and rights groups describe as a genocide.

Falk told Al Jazeera that border agents had taken their passports, escorted them to an interview room, and said they were being held because authorities “were concerned that you pose a national security threat to Canada”.

He said he was questioned about his participation in the tribunal, his work on Israel–Palestine, and his views on Israel’s war on Gaza.

“It was my first experience of this sort ever in my life,” he said, noting that the incident took place on his 95th birthday.

Falk said the questioning lasted more than four hours and focused heavily on his writings on Israel, Gaza, and genocide. He described the interview as disorganised but politically telling.

Falk believes the detention is part of a wider effort, across several Western states, to silence voices critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“It suggests a climate of governmental insecurity, to try to clamp down on dissident voices,” he said. He added that the interrogation fits into a broader push to “punish those who endeavour to tell the truth about what is happening” in Gaza.

Global Affairs Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

Senator Yuen Pau Woo, who supports the tribunal, said he was “appalled” that two international law experts were interrogated on the basis that they might present a security threat.

“We know they were here to attend the Palestine Tribunal. We know they have been outspoken in documenting and publicising the horrors inflicted on Gaza by Israel, and advocating for justice,” Woo said.

“If those are the factums for their detention, then it suggests that the Canadian government considers these acts of seeking justice for Palestine to be national security threats.”

Tribunal scrutinises Canada’s support for Israel

The People’s Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility examined Canada’s political, military, and economic ties to Israel.

Organisers argue that Canadian weapons exports and political backing have contributed to Israeli operations in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and where severe shortages of food, water, medicine, and shelter continue despite a ceasefire deal last month.

Activists say Canadian-made weapons continue to reach Israel through loopholes in the arms export system, often routed via the United States.

“The bombs have not stopped falling,” said Rachel Small of World Beyond War, speaking at the tribunal. “None of Israel’s genocide would be possible without the flow of weapons from the United States, from Europe, and yes, from Canada.”

At least 260 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to local health authorities.

Falk said that with Israel continuing an “incremental genocide”, attempts to intimidate or silence critics make it even more urgent to document conditions on the ground.

“It’s more important than ever to expose the reality of what’s happening,” he said.

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