Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird breaks taboos
Canada’s foreign minister did something this week that most of his Western colleagues adamantly refuse to do: he met with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in her office at the Justice Ministry, which is located in East Jerusalem.
Most Western countries refuse to let their officials attend meetings at Israeli government offices in East Jerusalem, lest this be viewed as recognizing Israel’s annexation of that part of the city.
Nor was that all John Baird did: He also visited an Israeli army outpost in the Golan Heights to view the situation on the Syrian border firsthand and receive an intelligence briefing on Syria’s civil war. The Golan is another area many Western countries bar their officials from visiting, lest it be viewed as recognizing Israel’s annexation of the heights.
A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official said that Baird made both visits despite opposition from diplomats at Canada’s embassy in Tel Aviv.
A nongovernmental Israeli source involved in Israeli-Canadian relations noted that Baird also violated the East Jerusalem taboo last time he was here, by visiting Jerusalem’s Old City with an official Israeli escort. “Baird recognizes the sensitivity, but he wants to set a precedent,” this source said.Ironically, Baird met with Livni to hear her views on 'negotiations' with the 'Palestinians' since Livni is now nominally in charge of those 'negotiations.'
Perhaps more ironically, I would rate Baird as being more pro-Israel than Livni.
I haven't been to Canada since 1999, although I've had (and have) clients in Toronto and Vancouver. If you can find me a reason to take a business trip there, I would love to come visit Israel's best friend.
Thanks Canada! Thanks John Baird!
Labels: Canada, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights, John Baird, Tzipi Livni
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:47 PM
4 Comments:
Enjoy it while this government lasts, There's a horde of liberals and foreign service types, chomping at the bit to go back to the old way of doing things, plus more by way of punishment.
The official opposition is the far left NDP that contains some virulent anti-Israel people. The leader is more level-headed but his 2IC is not. The less left Liberal party is pinning its hopes on Justin Trudeau (yes, son of). His brother Alexandre is one of his advisors. You can read about him here:
http://eyecrazy.blogspot.ca/2012/10/justin-trudeaus-brother-and-political.html
Let's enjoy it while we can. If Justin Trudeau (the next head of the Liberal Party) wins the next Canadian election, Canada will revert back to aping the EU in being 'evenhanded' in the Israel-Arab conflict. That means making nice speeches to Jewish groups in Canada, and voting against Israel at the UN with their EU idols....
You should know that Canada's current pro-Israel stance is largely an artifact of the current government's partisan makeup. Canadians are generally pretty apathetic about foreign policy, since without much global influence there's not much point in Canadians spending a lot of energy thinking about foreign affairs. So the Canadian government's foreign policy is primarily driven by partisan activists, whose primary division is over relations with the US, from which Middle East policy preferences flow naturally. (I suspect that other Western countries' Middle East policies follow a similar dynamic, the US being a far more relevant issue than Israel in just about every country.)
Now, since Canada has a parliamentary system--which grants near-complete control to the ruling party at any given time--as well as a fairly low level of general political enthusiasm, control of the government typically switches back and forth between the two main parties at fairly long intervals--often a decade or more. For the last few years, the ruling party has been the relatively pro-US--and hence pro-Israel party--with the results that you've commented on. But please don't be surprised if in five or ten years, the Canadian government is cozying up to Hamas or Hezbollah or whatever virulently anti-Israel/anti-American force is making the most noise at that time. And bear in mind that the government's foreign policy at any particular time doesn't necessarily reflect the views of most Canadians, a solid majority of whom have no opinion on the Middle East conflict, and see little reason to have one.
Carl, PM Harper is Israel's best friend, and has been for a number of years. Israel has no better friend. The horrific massacre of Chabad members in Mumbai? PM Harper diverted his plane, and helped them out. He personifies the word 'Mench'. How we wish that we could steal him!
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