This is the first time an Israeli prime minister has visited both Toronto and Ottawa. His weekend in Toronto, which included addressing the annual Walk with Israel event, was as much a tourist jaunt – complete with a visit to the CN Tower – as it was an official visit, signalling the intimacy of the relationship that the Israeli Prime Minister seeks to establish with his receptive Canadian host. In Ottawa, he will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and with Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff(Theglobeandmail).Much has changed in the Conservative government’s foreign policy since Stephen Harper came to power in 2006. Suspicion of China because of its human-rights record has given way to enthusiastic courting of its business potential. Indifference to Africa has been replaced by a major commitment to promoting maternal health. Full-throated support for the mission in Afghanistan has become an unequivocal commitment to withdraw in 2011.
But on Middle East issues, the Harper government remains an unswerving defender of Israel, even after the Obama administration replaced George W. Bush’s uncritical support with a more balanced approach that included sharp criticism of Israel’s ongoing settlements in the West Bank.
“Look, the United States is Israel’s main benefactor. We have friends in Europe, like the UK and France and so on,” said one senior Israeli official who asked not to be identified. “Nobody, I think, is as close as Canada.”
Paul Kingston, a specialist on the Middle East at the University of Toronto, agrees.
“Canada, under the Harper government, has been a staunch and uncritical friend” of Israel, he said in an interview. “They have stood by Israel during all of its recent policy adventures.”
B’nai Brith, which advocates for Jews and for Israel, is taking out advertisements thanking Mr. Harper for “his principled and determined leadership of the Middle East file,” Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith Canada’s executive vice-president, said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was given a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey during his visit to Toronto on Sunday, May 30.
J.P. Moczulski/The Globe and Mail
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was given a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey during his visit to Toronto on Sunday, May 30.
From the time Israel invaded Lebanon not long after Mr. Harper came to power in 2006, to Minister of State Peter Kent’s declaration in February that “an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada,” this country has gone farther than any other in unstinting support of Israel’s actions.
Mr. Harper himself stated in 2008: “Those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada, because, as the last world war showed, hate-fuelled bigotry against some is ultimately a threat to us all, and must be resisted wherever it may lurk.”
Critics maintain that Mr. Harper’s unflinching support for Israel panders to the religious wing within the Conservative Party, some of whose members believe that the unification of Israel is an essential precondition for Christ’s return, though others simply see Israel as a democratic bulwark in a hostile region..
Others believe the government’s stand is motivated by domestic political calculations.
In a scathing diatribe earlier this year, the former diplomat, Robert Fowler, maintained, “the scramble to lock up the Jewish vote in Canada” had led both Conservative and Liberal governments to “sell out our widely admired and long-established reputation for fairness and justice in the Middle East – in particular, for the cause of a just settlement for the Palestinian people.”
Others say Mr. Harper was simply acting on principle.
A friend of Mr. Harper’s who has known him many years and doesn’t wish to be identified says the Prime Minister grew up in a household with parents who were appalled by the Holocaust and impressed on their son the importance of Israel as a refuge and a homeland for the Jewish people.
“It was something he internalized and understood growing up,” the friend said. “As his world view evolved, he continued to see Israel as a de facto Western nation with democracy and the rule of law, in contrast to some of the other countries in the region.”
“It is in Harper's nature to be decisive and to choose sides,” argues Bob Plamondon, author of Blue Thunder: The Truth about Conservatives from Macdonald to Harper. “Unlike many of his predecessors, that makes Harper less sensitive to diplomatic niceties and more inclined to side clearly with our allies.”
He added: “I believe Harper's support of Israel goes beyond political calculation. In the case of Israel, he is acting out of genuine friendship for a nation he admires.”
Nevertheless, in a hostile world, Mr. Netanyahu can take solace in knowing that, as long as Stephen Harper is prime minister, he can count on having Canada in his corner.