Michael Higgins: Arab countries support Israel more than Canada does

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Canada stands with Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Monday, living up to the Trudeau government’s tradition of empty rhetoric and meaningless bromides.

Joly and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been spouting such banality since the horrendous Oct. 7 massacre.

Yet if the Trudeau government stood with Israel, it wouldn’t have supported an NDP motion to ban arms exports to Israel. And it wouldn’t have agreed to restart funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

But it most certainly would have listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity — something that Trudeau and Joly voted to do six years ago.

The Economist might have had the Liberals in mind when, last month, it published a piece saying that western allies were becoming estranged from Israel.

Featuring a cover headlined, Israel Alone, and illustrated with a solitary Israeli flag waving amid a grim desert scene, The Economist lamented Israel’s “estrangement from the West” and the Gulf Arab states.

And yet, at the moment of Israel’s military need, it wasn’t so alone after all.

As Iran fired more than 300 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at Israel last weekend, a strange alliance came to its aid.

The Wall Street Journal describes the making of that coalition in an in-depth piece titled, How the U.S. Forged a Fragile Middle Eastern Alliance to Repel Iran’s Israel Attack.

While Jordanian involvement in shooting down Iranian drones and missiles aimed at Israel is well-known, the WSJ makes clear that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also played a part.

According to the Journal, the Saudis and the UAE were told by Iran about the plan to attack Israel and the Arab states then shared that intelligence with the United States.

It was vital information that allowed the Israelis, U.S., British and Jordanians to shoot down the barrage of projectiles fired from Iran.

As reported by the WSJ, the U.S. has spent decades working with Israel’s Arab adversaries, in a bid to craft some kind of military alliance should the need arise. And when the need arose, the Jordanians, Saudis and the U.A.E. stepped up.

Their motivation may be less altruistic and more self-interested — more a cozying up to the U.S. than to Israel. The fragile coalition probably doesn’t herald a new era in Middle East relations.

But it was still a remarkable display of solidarity when Israel needed it most.

Canada, unfortunately, hasn’t been as robust in its support of Israel since the war in Gaza began.

On Monday, Joly seemed to be just going through the motions with the usual platitudes. “Canada unequivocally condemns the attacks by Iran against Israel,” she said. “We stand with the people of Israel.”

Quickly tiring of expressing support for Israel in the light of Iranian aggression, she added that, “Canada is pushing diplomatically to stop further escalation and at the same time, we are still calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, it is important that hostages be released and it is important also that aid be sent to Palestinians in Gaza.”

Joly and Trudeau have been at pains to call for a ceasefire first, and then add that hostages be released. Surely, a better framing would be to demand that the terrorist group Hamas release its hostages so a ceasefire can be enacted.

If the Trudeau government truly does want to stand with Israel, one option is to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

It was the IRGC that shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in 2020, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadians and another 30 permanent residents.

It is the IRGC that continues to provide training and funding to Hamas, Hezbollah other terrorist groups around the world.

Thanks to IRGC backing, Hezbollah has fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks.

On Sunday, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, told the CBC that Canada urgently needs to list the IRGC as terrorists.

In 2018, a motion tabled by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis called for the government to “immediately designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada.” It passed overwhelmingly with 248 votes.

Among those voting for the motion were Trudeau, Joly, Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister, Dominic LaBlanc, now minister for public safety, and a host of others who sit in cabinet.

Six years later, the IRGC is still not listed, and no one wants the buck to stop with them.

On Monday, Joly said it isn’t her job to get the IRGC listed, it’s the purview of the minister of public safety. That same day, LeBlanc said that listing a terrorist entity was the job of the national security agencies, but added that he had “asked the national security community to quickly provide the government with that advice.”

So, six years after voting to list the IRGC as terrorists, the minister of public safety has finally gotten around to asking the security agencies whether they think it’s appropriate. And some people wonder why nothing gets done in Canada.

As events have shown, Israel doesn’t stand alone. But as more events unfold, where will Canada stand? And, more importantly, what does Canada stand for?

National Post