Israeli ambassador meets with Canadian officials after summons from foreign minister

OTTAWA — Israel’s Ambassador in Canada met with senior officials from the foreign affairs ministry on Wednesday to discuss an incident in the West Bank that saw Israeli soldiers fire warning shots near a diplomatic tour that included four Canadians.

But Iddo Moed told The Canadian Press in an interview he felt the formal process was unnecessary.

“Well, (Israel) just made public exactly what we’ve done. We continue to publish information about the inquiry as it progresses, and so in my perspective there is no need for this formal act but that’s the choice of the Canadian government,” Moed said.

Anand issued the summons Wednesday afternoon, hours after the incident took place, impacting a tour of the Jenin refugee camp by the Canadians and diplomats from more than a dozen other countries, including Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

Anand said Canada was demanding a full investigation and ‘accountability” from Israel.

Moed said he has open lines of communication with the Canadian government, but he won’t discuss what happened in the closed-door meeting with officials.

A spokesman for Anand’s office said in an email the government has nothing more to add to what the minister posted on social media Wednesday.

The foreign ministers of France and Italy also issued summons to their respective Israeli ambassadors.

A video of the incident circulating online shows members of the tour group speaking to cameras near a large yellow gate. Gunshots can be heard as the group hurries away from the gate and goes around a street corner. In one video, two soldiers can be seen pointing guns in the direction of the group.

In its Wednesday statement, the Israeli military said the tour group “deviated” from its approved route and soldiers fired warning shots to get the group to move away from an area it was not permitted to visit. The Israeli Defense Forces says no one was injured in the incident.

This report was first published by The Canadian Press on May 22, 2025.