What a difference 11 years makes.
When former prime minister Stephen Harper was in charge of Canada’s foreign policy, Israel was treated like a proper ally.
During his final term in office, Harper was invited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Israel’s Parliamentarians.
In addressing the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, back in 2014, Harper eloquently spoke about why it was so important for Canada to stand with Israel.
“It is right to support Israel because, after generations of persecution, the Jewish people deserve their own homeland and deserve to live safely and peacefully in that homeland,” said Harper.
“Let me repeat that: Canada supports Israel because it is right to do so,” he added. “This is a very Canadian trait, to do something for no reason other than it is right, even when no immediate reward for, or threat to, ourselves is evident.”
Just 11 years later, so much has changed.
Israel was treated rather poorly by former prime minister Justin Trudeau for nearly a decade. And even though most Jewish Canadians couldn’t imagine that things could get worse, they have.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has taken poor treatment of the Jewish state to the next level.
Asked if he would have Netanyahu arrested should the Israeli prime minister come to Canada, given the much-maligned International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him, Carney declared that he would.
Furthermore, Carney insisted that the Netanyahu government has taken actions that “were explicitly designed to end any possibility of a state of Palestine in violation of the UN charter and going against Canadian government policy of whatever political stripe since 1947.”
Just two years after the barbarism of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel, resulting in the worst loss of life of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Carney has blamed Israel for the situation in the Middle East at virtually every turn.
He even chose to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations, despite the fact that Carney’s own pre-conditions had yet to be met, which included holding free and fair elections, governance reforms, and having Hamas lay down its arms.
And Carney recognized a Palestinian state even before U.S. President Donald Trump was able to negotiate the release of the 20 remaining hostages in Hamas’s captivity.
Hamas’s goal in attacking Israel and massacring civilians was, in large part, to achieve a Palestinian state. Carney’s decision to grant recognition of Palestinian statehood, without any of his preconditions being met, followed up by a pledge to arrest Netanyahu should he come to Canada, must be music to the terrorist group’s ears.
Consider how profoundly different Carney’s attitude is from the conclusion of Harper’s 2014 Knesset speech.
“You have taken the collective memory of death and persecution to build an optimistic, forward-looking land one that so values life, you will sometimes release a thousand criminals and terrorists, to save one of your own,” said Harper. “In the democratic family of nations, Israel represents values which our government takes as articles of faith, and principles to drive our national life.”
“And therefore, through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.”
The sad reality is that Canada has not stood with Israel through fire and water. Under the last 10 years of Liberal rule, Canada has stood against Israel at almost every turn. And this is especially the case after October 7, when the government of Canada paid lip service to standing with Israel but in reality, started equivocating almost from day one.
The Netanyahu government is far from perfect. But Canada’s equivocating on Israel’s right to defend itself after the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, followed by the shameful pre-mature recognition of a Palestinian state, followed yet again by a pledge to arrest the Israeli prime minister should he come to Canada, shows the Liberals were never prepared to stand with Israel.
Sadly, “through fire and water,” a statement that ought to have been bipartisan, lasted only until election night, 2015.
One can only hope a future Canadian government will once again recognize the need to stand with the greatest democracy in the Middle East, the nation of Israel.
Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center. He previously served as the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
