Has Canada’s love affair with Israel reached its climax?

Yves Engler The Electronic Intifada 18 September 2015

Palestine solidarity protestors march toward Parliament Hill in Ottawa to rally against Israel’s assault on Gaza, 26 July 2014.

Chris Wattie Reuters

Supporters of Israel have had it good in Canada.

The outgoing government is wildly supportive and the opposition New Democratic Party has purged a number of candidates for publicly expressing pro-Palestinian sympathies.

But national elections on 19 October may turn out to be the zenith of Israeli influence.

The pro-Israel stance of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is legend. At the United Nations General Assembly recently, Canadian diplomats voted against the vast majority of the world in opposing a bid to fly the Palestinian flag at the UN headquarters.

Further adding to Harper’s Zionist credibility, Canada and Israel recently expanded their free trade agreement, which allows goods from Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank to enter Canada duty free.

Aside from Israel, Canada may be the only country that isn’t officially supporting the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany).

Protecting Israel’s nukes

While they’ve criticized the accord for not guaranteeing that Iran won’t pursue a nuclear weapon, Harper’s Conservatives have repeatedly opposed initiatives addressing Israel’s undeclared nuclear activities.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out Canada, along with the US and Australia, for praise for blocking a resolution at the UN atomic energy agency’s annual meeting in Vienna censuring Israel over its nuclear capabilities.

In the spring, Canada joined the US and the UK in opposing a plan for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East during a review conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As the region’s only nuclear-armed state, Israel objected to scheduling a conference on a nuclear-free Middle East even though it hasn’t signed the NPT.

In a bid to protect Israel’s large nuclear stockpile, Canadian diplomats worked to scuttle the meeting.

Harper has deftly pandered to Israel for his political gain. The prime minister’s aggressive public defense of Israeli actions pleases elements of his Christian evangelical base and plays well with most of the Jewish community, all the while strengthening his neoconservative bona fides.

But the Conservatives have also successfully stoked tensions within the opposition parties over Israel.

At the start of the ongoing election campaign the Conservatives set up a website titled “Meet the NDP,” detailing purportedly controversial statements its candidates have made on various issues including a number of comments critical of Israel.

One NDP candidate the Conservatives targeted, Morgan Wheeldon, was forced to resign by the party leadership because he wrote on Facebook that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza during the summer of 2014. Wheeldon added that “one could argue that Israel’s intention was always to ethnically cleanse the region — there are direct quotations proving this to be the case.”

Apparently, the NDP has excluded as many as eight individuals from contesting nominations to be candidates in parliamentary districts because of comments criticizing Israel.

When the NDP blocked Paul Manly, a filmmaker and son of a former NDP member of parliament, from seeking the NDP candidacy in British Columbia’s Nanaimo-Ladysmith district at the start of the year, he decided to run for the Green Party.

In 2012, Manly criticized the NDP after it failed to call on Israel to release his father who was arrested on a humanitarian boat bound for Gaza.

Jolting the Greens

The Greens’ embrace of Manly reflects the growing clout of pro-Palestinian activists inside Canada’s fourth national party.

In November 2013, a Jewish Tribune reporter challenged Green Party leader Elizabeth May over her planned participation in a fundraiser for Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CPJME).

Apparently thinking the interview wouldn’t be read outside pro-Israel circles, May described CJPME as “anti-Israel” and noted that she had attended a Jewish National Fund (JNF) fundraiser in Ottawa, even lauding the JNF for “the great work that’s done in making the desert bloom.”

The JNF is a Zionist organization that predates the establishment of Israel and currently uses “tree-planting” initiatives as a cover for uprooting Palestinians from their land.

While the Jewish Tribune likely saw its intervention as a way to pressure May, it sparked a pro-Palestinian backlash that jolted the Green Party’s only member of parliament and pushed the party towards a better position on the issue. A few months later the party approved a resolution critical of Israeli expansionism.

And after Paul Estrin, the Green Party president, published an anti-Palestinian blog post in the midst of Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza, he was pressured to resign.

It seems Green Party activists are no longer willing to accept blatant anti-Palestinian sentiment. Moreover, the party leadership has realized it can bleed support from the NDP, particularly among activists, over Israel.

If NDP leader Thomas Mulcair — who once said “I am an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and in all circumstances” — continues to take anti-Palestinian positions, the Greens are likely to gain more traction among those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. This should push the party to take stronger positions in favor of Palestinian liberation.

The NDP’s purge of pro-Palestinian candidates, which largely bypassed those with a strong chance of winning seats in the House of Commons, was a depressing reminder of the official dominance of pro-Israel bias.

But the large number of individuals targeted reflects the growing number of NDP activists critical of Israel.

A historical perspective helps to see the shift. By far Canada’s most significant contribution to Palestinian dispossession was in 1947, when Canadian diplomats played an important role in shaping the UN partition plan which provided diplomatic legitimacy to a Zionist movement intent on expelling Palestinians from their homeland.

Few Canadians understood the implications of that plan, let alone protested against their government’s actions. Yet when Israel attacked Gaza last year, protests were held across the country.

In recent years, many Canadians have voted through their labor or students unions and churches to support the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.

History may view 2015 as the zenith of pro-Israel influence in Canada.

Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and the newly released Canada In Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation. He will be speaking across Canada in the lead up to the election. His website is yvesengler.com.

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maggie replied on

It is not Canadians who have had the "love affair" with Israel. It is the Christian zionist Prime Minister Harper who has been infatuated with all things Israel. Canada has large and prosperous Muslim and Arab populations and the vast majority of Canadians are devoted to fair play and justice. Harper may well be on his way to defeat and Canada will see a big change in policy concerning Israel.

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Guy replied on

I do hope the love affair is over and I am offended by the words of Tom Mulcair “I am an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and in all circumstances"
No nation should have this kind of blanket acceptance by Canada.
For Harper ,he is a fundamentalist Zionist Christian , and for these people the Israelis can do no wrong.
Elizabeth May will have my vote in October.

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Joe replied on

Israel has taken Canada for a ride long enough. Time to boycott these apartheid, genocidal terrorists.

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AbouShalom replied on

The Greens have my vote, precisely because of this issue.

Yves Engler spoke brilliantly in Vancouver at a church conference, Challenging Christian Zionism, articulating Harper's CZ commitments.

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Marth replied on

I was both unhappy and ashamed that Canada did not support flying the Palestinian flag at the UN. And while the NDP purged their members for supporting Palestine they did nothing to banish the one that painted all Catholics with one bigoted brush. While the PM did not support the Iran deal, many Canadians did and many support BDS. The more we learn about the history of this conflict, the greater the support for Palestinians as Canadians are a generous people interested in justice!

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Amyah replied on

Canadians doesn't have a love affair with Israel... the prime minister have... big difference. Our prime minister do whatever HE wants and don't care about Canadians and their opinions and needs... like the North American agreement, the selling of our Canadian lands and resources to China, the pipelines that nobody wants (I mean the people, not the lobbyists)... he don't like pensions and a lot of our elders have now their GIS cut for a long time without a reason, etc...

So.... we live in a country, under a government that rules under what is called the perfect "democracy".

Time for a big, huge change so we can regain our nice reputation.

I too, was shocked by Mulcair (and others) words about his allegiance to Israel... and for that, he will not have my vote... for sure.

Wake up, people!!!!!

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Colonist Atrocities replied on

Conservatives are racists and a perfect fit for the apartheid, racist Middle East mistake in former Palestine.