Israel and Canada

With Barack Obama and his leftist crew installed in the U.S. government, America is no longer Israel’s closest ally in the world. Canada—under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper—is. Columnist Jeffrey Simpson in The Globe and Mail is not happy about that fact.

Whether Liberal or Conservative, [previous] Canadian governments strongly supported both Israel and peaceful Palestinian aspirations. Canada had marginal influence in the region but, nonetheless, urged both sides to talk and, on occasion, was willing to criticize actions on both sides deleterious to peace.

No longer. Mr. Harper has taken a radically different approach. His government has become Israel’s pulling guard in the world. Inside meetings of la Francophonie and the G8, Mr. Harper has personally inserted himself—or instructed Canadian diplomats to insert themselves—to block resolutions even mildly critical of Israel, including references to the settlements. Mr. Harper has thus isolated Canada from its traditional allies such as the United States, Britain and France.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 03, 2012 12:24 PM | Send