[LINK] "Echoes of Israel in the graveyard of broken dreams"

[rfmcdonald]

In the aftermath of the Canadian government's ban on british MP George Galloway entering the country, veteran Canadian political journalist Jeffrey Simpson has written an article strongly critical of the latest turn in Canadian foreign policy towards the Middle East.

the Harper government has moved to align Canada with Israel and its staunchest supporters. Canada is now the most "Israel, right or wrong" government in the world, except for the Israeli government itself.

Even Barack Obama's new administration, itself obviously pro-Israel, has uttered a few mild criticisms about settlements in East Jerusalem and the banning of certain trade with Gaza. But not the Harper government. Mum's been the word.

The big pro-Israel organizations in Canada hailed the decision to ban Mr. Galloway. But do Canadians, while of course being supportive of Israel's existence and security, really want their country to be the most completely aligned with Israel, especially now that it is to be led by a very right-wing coalition that doesn't believe in a two-state "solution" to the Palestinian problem?

Benjamin Netanyahu, the incoming prime minister, is a hardliner. While not exactly ruling out the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, he doesn't fundamentally believe in one, preferring little enclaves of self-rule, a kind of Palestinian Bantustan. Worse, it would appear his foreign minister will be Avigdor Lieberman, leader of a far-right party who wants loyalty oaths from Arab citizens of Israel and is uninterested in the usual concept of a Palestinian state.

Canada has very little influence in the Middle East, truth be told, but for years, under both previous Conservative and Liberal governments, it did support a two-state "solution" to the problem of the co-existence of Israelis and Palestinians.

Presumably, the Harper government does, too, but it takes almost all of its cues from Israel's latest positions. This positioning might have been at least defensible under previous Israeli governments, but it's hard to imagine the same being said for the forthcoming one.