Ottawa’s foreign policy has swerved radically under Carney and now puts Canada among the leading anti-Israeli countries in the world

An amazing shift has taken place in Ottawa’s diplomatic relations with Israel. For most of the past eight decades of Israel’s existence, Canada has recognized Israel and its right to self-defence.

Canada rejected the absolute refusal of Israel’s Arab neighbours and the Palestinians to recognize its existence as a Jewish state. Canadians such as Lester B. Pearson — whose proposal to form the United Nations Emergency Force in 1956 won him the Nobel Peace Prize — took for granted that Israel had found a place among the world’s nations and ought to be left in peace.

That policy, which was followed by virtually every Liberal government since, has swerved radically under Prime Minister Mark Carney and now puts Canada among the leading anti-Israeli countries in the world, alongside countries such as Ireland, China and Russia.

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David J. Bercuson is a senior fellow at the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy and director emeritus of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. Photo: WikiCommons