Canadians are clashing over Prime Minister Stephen Harper's blind support for Israel. Analyst Scott Reid calls Harper's trip to Israel an “unblemished triumph - one of the most successful foreign visits enjoyed by any prime minister in recent memory.” Analyst Andrew Coyne declared that much criticism of Israel stems not so much from hatred of Israel, or of Jews, but of the West, of “us.” Columnist Stephen Maher wrote that the 208-strong entourage of the Prime Minister included 77 Conservative donors, 21 rabbis, influential evangelical Christians, 32 registered lobbyists, a member of the militant Jewish Defense League and business leaders. Julius Suraski, an event coordinator for the Jewish Defense League, helped arrange a speech in Toronto by American Islamophobe Pamela Geller, who was introduced by Rabbi Daniel Korobkin of Toronto, also a delegation member. The Jewish Defense League promotes anti-Muslim speakers and Islamophobia. About 30 members of the delegation got free tickets on the Prime Minister's plane. Others bought air tickets but Canadian taxpayers footed their hotel bills and other expenses in Israel. The strategy was designed to kill two birds with one stone - win the support of both Jewish and evangelical Christian voters for the next federal election that is expected next year. Only about 10 ridings in Canada have a significant Jewish vote. But Jewish political participation, donation to parties and influence in the media and in financial and academic institutions and other centers is hefty. The strength of the born-again Christian vote is considerable in ridings throughout Canada. Prime Minister Harper is a member of the Evangelical Missionary Alliance. He has stated that he tries to “be very careful not to look like I'm trying to impose my particular theological views on our country.” Catherine Devonport presented a different view: “For centuries Jews and Arabs lived peacefully together until the Christians retook Spain in 1492 and Jews were forced to resettle in other parts of Europe, where they were severely restricted as to what they could do and where they could go. The Holocaust being too great a horror, a safe place had to be found for the Jews. Hence, the State of Israel was created in 1948, resulting in the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland. This was viewed as a great injustice by the Arab world… The Jewish state is seen in the Middle East as an expression of the ‘new colonialism' being spread around the globe by America and its allies.” Hugh Taylor agreed. He wrote: “Leading a large, chosen delegation to Israel, speaking to the Knesset on a favored theme in front of an unvetted and applauding audience was political heaven for an embattled prime minister. There will be no negotiated two-state settlement there as long as the ogre-in-the-park is ignored; by which I mean the Settler Movement, whose larger objective remains a Greater Israel within Biblical boundaries, Palestinians be damned.” Cathleen Kneen added: “As a Canadian Jew and the child of a Holocaust refugee, I am mortified by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's position on Israel and the Middle East. He brings a hockey ‘enforcer' approach to a complex and sensitive situation, supporting only the current right-wing Israeli government and ignoring the more sober voices (including, not so long ago, Canada's) which call for an end to the settlements that are carving away any possibility of a Palestinian state.” Eric Schiller stated: “It is very troubling when Canada says to any country that we will support you through thick and thin, supposedly no matter what you do, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper has done in the Knesset, or to put it in his words, ‘through fire and water we will stand with you.' “These are not the words of a true friend but of a sycophant… Harper also said ‘Most disgracefully, some openly call Israel an apartheid state. Think about the twisted logic and outright malice behind that.' Indeed others have thought about that. Jimmy Carter, who has spent more time in the Middle East than Harper, has written a book entitled, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. Bishop Tutu, who knows a lot more about apartheid than Harper has condemned Israeli apartheid in regard to its treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Harper says that those who criticize Israel have not taken a ‘balanced approach.' This is laughable from someone who has lost all sense of balance in the region and has therefore forfeited Canada's past role of honest broker there.” Andrew Cohen wrote: “To some Israelis, Harper looked like the Messiah. To most Canadians, he looks like the innocent who stayed too long and asked too little.” If the statements of the prime minister and some others make you wonder whether justice, accuracy, universal human rights and truth are disappearing in Canada, the views other Canadians express offer you hope that decency, quest for the truth and justice and fairness are values many Canadians still hold dear and that perhaps Canada will someday again work to build a better world for all of its people.
— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.
