Canadian Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper reaffirmed at the recent G8 conference his commitment to be a "light in the midst of the darkness" of world-wide anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment.
Despite intense pressure, Harper blocked calls to force Israel into final status talks based on accepting the 1949-1967 Armistice lines, with land swaps. He also opposed major aid packages to Egypt and Tunisia, where continued unrest has dogged transitional governments after the “Arab Spring” uprisings toppled decades-long regimes.
No Canadian aid will go to either country – an important point particularly in the case of Egypt, which has just opened its Rafiah border crossing with Gaza.
He originally drew his line in the sand while speaking at an Ottawa conference on fighting antisemitism that was part of Holocaust Education Week. At the conference, the Canadian leader implicitly agreed with a common analysis that the United Nations recently turned down Canada's bid for a temporary seat on the Security Council because of its solid pro-Israel stand.
From his original speech at the Ottawa conference:
"And I know, by the way, because I have the bruises to show for it, that whether it is at the United Nations or any other international forum, the easiest thing to do is simply to just get along and go along with this anti-Israel rhetoric, to pretend it is just about being even-handed, and to excuse oneself with the label of honest broker...History shows us, and the ideology of the anti-Israel mob tells us all too well, that those who threaten the existence of the Jewish people are in the longer term a threat to all of us...There are, after all, a lot more votes in being anti-Israeli than in taking a stand...But as long as I am Prime Minister, whether it is at the United Nations, the Francophone or anywhere else, Canada will take that stand, whatever the cost. Let us not forget that even now, there are those who choose evil, and would launch another Holocaust if left unchecked.”
Here is part of his speech:
You can also view an article on Prime Minister Netanyahu's appreciation for Canadian support at:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137784
