By David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom
President Shimon Peres was right to laud Canada as a “moral role model” for the nations of the world. Commenting on Ottawa’s Friday decision to cut diplomatic relations with Iran, Peres said, “Canada has proven once again that morals come before pragmatism, (and that) policy must reflect principles and values … I thank Canada for taking a stance based on the highest morals and hope that other nations will see Canada as a moral role model. The diplomatic isolation of Iran is an important step for the security and stability of the entire world.”
The Canadian decision was not surprising for those who have followed the brave new path in global affairs carved out by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister John Baird. Under their leadership, Canada has become arguably the most pro-Israel country in the world. They have led a conceptual revolution in how Canadians think about the world, and that includes a deep understanding of and appreciation for Israel’s security dilemmas.
From being the first world leader to cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority in 2006 when it was taken over by Hamas, to speaking out against growing global anti-Semitism, Harper has embraced Israel as no Canadian leader did before him. He blamed Hezbollah for the war and civilian deaths in Lebanon during the summer war of 2006, and rejected widespread calls for an immediate ceasefire. He led the boycott of the Durban II conference. He blocked a G-8 statement that would have called for a return to Israel’s 1967 borders, despite pressure from U.S. President BarackObama and the Europeans.
Harper, Baird and colleagues also have consistently stood up for Israel, often as a lone voice, in the G-20, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the U.N. General Assembly. Over the three years that it sat on the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Canada stood alone in defense of Israel — eight times casting the only “no” vote against unfair condemnations of Israel. Last fall, Canada changed its votes in favor of Israel on seven resolutions at the U.N., and signed new agreements for military, defense and intelligence cooperation with Israel.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay told then Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, during a 2011 visit to the Middle East, that “a threat to Israel is a threat to Canada.” McKay’s cabinet colleague Peter Kent stated that “an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada.”
Speaking to the Herzliya Conference earlier this year, John Baird said plainly that “Israel has no greater friend in the world than Canada. You have no better friend in the world than Canada, no stronger ally who will stand up for you. We won’t stand behind you; we will stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel. Canada will not remain silent while the Jewish state is attacked for defending its territory or people.”
Ottawa stands with Israel, he said, because it was a Canadian tradition “to stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is popular, convenient or expedient,” and because Israel embodies values that Canada holds dear and respects. “Israel is a beacon of light in a region that craves freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
Baird told the Israeli press in February that “My grandfather went to war in 1942 — the big struggle of his generation was fascism and then communism. The great struggle of my generation, of our generation, is terrorism. Too often Israel is on the front line of that struggle, and it is tremendously important that we take a principled stand and support our friend and ally.”
Harper and Baird also have explicitly adopted Natan Sharansky’s 3-D rubric for definition of the “new anti-Semitism.” They have slammed the “constant barrage of rhetorical demonization, double standards and delegitimization” of Israel. Baird: “Harnessing disparate anti-Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western ideologies, it targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel, as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and uses, perversely, the language of human rights to do so. We must be relentless in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is.”
After Canada lost its bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, Harper suggested that the country’s stalwart defense of Israel was a contributing factor. For the prime minister, however, it was a small price to pay. Admitting that there is a diplomatic price to be paid for such moral probity, Harper said that he remains undeterred.
“The easy thing to do,” he told the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism in Ottawa in 2010, “is simply to just get along and go along with this anti-Israeli rhetoric, to pretend it is just being even-handed, and to excuse oneself with the label of ‘honest broker’. [But] Canada will take a stand [in support of Israel], whatever the cost. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because history shows us, and the ideology of the anti-Israeli mob tells us all too well, that those who threaten the existence of the Jewish people are, in the longer term, a threat to all of us.”
“As long as I am prime minister, whether it is at the U.N. or the Francophonie or anywhere else, Canada will take a stand, whatever the cost.”
Harper speaks often about the lessons of the Holocaust and refers to Israel in almost prophetic terms. “Remembering the Holocaust is not merely an act of historical recognition, but an undertaking,” Harper has said. “The same threats exist today … Memory requires a solemn responsibility to fight those threats.” He adds,“The persistence of the Jewish homeland is a sign of hope and a symbol of our faith in humanity’s future, in the power of good over evil.”
Israelis feel very much isolated in today’s world community, which often appears to be increasingly hypocritical, cynical and indifferent to Israel’s existential dilemmas. This is a world in which the president of Iran vows to erase Israel, tells the world that the Holocaust never happened, and is building a nuclear weapon. Yet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad receives applause when he speaks from the U.N. rostrum, gets unashamedly invited to speak at Columbia University, and basks in the glow of 120 world leaders including the U.N. Secretary General at a Non-Aligned conference in Tehran.
Canada’s bold words and actions give us Israelis hope that there are indeed many decent people, some of them in positions of power, who will not bow to demonization or to the Orwellian twisting of history and language that often pertains to Israel these days. And they will stand in defense of Israel.
The writer is director of the Israel office of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the central advocacy agency of the Canadian Jewish community.
@ Michael Devolin:
Michael,
You have discovered what I believe is the formula to a successful anti anything demonstration. SILENCE.
Years ago Air Canada Pilots went on strike for higher wages. Everybody was against these highly paid professionals.
They picketed in the usual places, walking with their signs in single file so as not to obstruct anyone. They had one firm rule. Only one person would speak for them. Everyone else would remain SILENT. The spokesperson was well spoken, calm, unemotional and intelligent. Their DISCIPLINE, RESTRAINT and DIGNITY very soon won over nearly all the opposition. They got their increase and gained a great deal of respect as well.
If the Jewish demonstrators and counter demonstrators at every incident would follow the pilots’ example I think the frustrated Muslims and their supporters finding that their chants and insult were not receiving any response would quickly “fold their tents and silently steal away.”
SILENCE IS GOLDEN.
@ Ben Ze’ev:
Ben,
Yes, there are antisemites in Canada.
Name any place in the world where they do not infest the population including and especially Israel with its large Muslim presence.
But to condemn a whole country because you encountered some of those vermin is unfair and unjust. They are a tiny minority that had shrunk considerably until the influx of Islam reinvigorated it. Legislative steps are now being initiated to curtail and, hopefully, eliminate almost all of it.
Take that chip off your shoulder, Ben. The population, that is THE PEOPLE OF CANADA gave the Harper government an overwhelming majority well knowing where it stood.
A Jewish friend and I just got back from Toronto where we protested with the JDL Canada against Omar Khadr being repatriated to Canada. This took place across the street from Khadr’s parent’s Ontario Housing highrise. In front of the highrise, across the street from us, were the usual Muslim “Welcome home, Omar Khadr” supporters. They were at one time chanting through megaphones, “Down with PM Harper!, down with PM Harper!” There was not one Canadian flag with this Muslim group. Our guys and girls had many giant Canadian flags and were waving them proudly. But, as I said, not one Canadian flag on the Muslim side of the street. And this was all caught on Sun News. JDL Canada did not respond to the shouting. We were told not to shout back. And this made us look for more refined than the Muslim animals across the street from us.
The Muslims were also shouting, “Get out of our neighborhood!” So tribal. So typical of Muslim mentality.
It’s Harper and his governement, not Canada as a whole which supports Israel. I lived in Canada for very many years and experienced several almost career ending happenings. One included a dispute with Canada Revenue, during which my tiny part time (really just a hobby) business was victimised. They resorted to calling at my place every day until I was forced to almost abandon going there more than a couple of times a week at odd hours. They phoned me one time at 3 a.m and the guy talked about Jews all being millionaires and owning the banks etc.etc. Scared me stiff. I left and stayed in Israel for over 10 years.
Isn’t it a pity that a creeper like Peres the Oslo macher, which has caused the deaths of so many Israelis since, should get all the publicity incidental to Harper’s staunch gesture.
My pride in Canada and its moral leader and government is unparalleled.
Please do not forget an important member of the government who is a moral, outspoken, friend of Israel, Jason Kenney.
Canada and Iran
Canada’s relations with Iran have been on shaky ground since the 1979 Islamic Revolution:
1980: Canadian Embassy closes for eight years after Canadians spirit U.S. diplomats out of Tehran during the post-revolution hostage crisis.
1996: Two countries cap a gradual return to normal diplomatic relations with an exchange of ambassadors.
2003: Relationship chills after Zahra Kazemi, a freelance photographer with dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, is killed in custody in Iran, in what Canada describes as a state-sanctioned murder. Canada recalls its ambassador.
2012: After months of increasingly tough talk from Ottawa, Canada suspends all relations, citing several factors including treatment of foreign diplomats, Iran’s support for Syria and its threats against Israel.
It was announced today that there are 2600 illegal immigrants up for deportation, if they can find them.
The lefties are already saying that Harper is doing this to get the Jewish vote, but the reality is there are more Muslim and lefty votes, so Harper is putting his ass on the line. Nice to have a leader with a spine. I surmise that Harper also knows some things are brewing with hezbo cells in North America, which are tied in with the diplomats. So, he is cleaning them out (at least to the extent that is possible.)
@ Nigel Shaw:
Quite. One of the reasons for this statement being somewhat effective in Canada is that we have a reasonable chance of getting the true story out in the media; not all media outlets of course (those of us who have retained most of our sanity, we all know the exceptions), but we do have some decent outlets. In the US, on the other hand, with some exceptions it’s a closed shop; the vast majority of media outlets are heavily into lies and distortions. Kind of like the Toronto Star and the CBC, but on a much larger scale…
Yeah, I’m proud to be a Canadian, eh. Well done, PM Harper and Baird. Way to stand up and show ’em you got a pair.
S.Harper is sharper than most, but don’t let Canada’s bold move detract from the intent of its action. Foreign Minister Baird clearly enunciated that Canada is closing its embassy in Teheran because Iran is a supporter of terrorism and its acquisition of nuclear weapons would be a MORTAL THREAT TO THE WORLD.
This stands in juxtaposition to the Obama stance that this is Israel’s problem, and the US promises to take care of it in its own good time, and woe betide Israel if it takes matters into its own hands, even though it would be because it doesn’t really trust the Muslim in the White House to stop Iran in time.
What should be stressed is that Canada is not just breaking diplomatic relations with Iran in solidarity with Israel, it is doing so as a loud statement that the mad mullahs are a danger to the whole world.
I too have never been prouder to be a Canadian.
I only wish the entire American ruling class, academic class, media weasels and retired CIA things (i.e., Shaggy Scheuer, Girardi, etc.. ) and their supreme military leaders exhibited the same spine and backbone as P.M. Harper but they are more interested on being listed on a muslim payroll like their hero Jimmy Carter re: $audi, Al Jazeera or RT.com. The exceptional ones do not yearn to get a monthly Saudi hand out only because they come from wealthy families. But so did James Baker III.
I have never been prouder to be a Canadian. I only wish the Israeli Prime Minister exhibited the same spine and backbone as P.M. Harper.
Once again I am proud to be a Canadian. I have not heard one world leader say anything close to what Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister John Baird are publically saying. Knowing that there is a price to pay to support Israel has not deterred them to speak the truth. This is what men and women of conviction do. I hope to be on the right side of history this time.