Raymond J. de Souza: Trudeau and Joly have made Canada into Hamas’s greatest G7 ally

The actions of our government are surely being well received in the dank tunnels underneath Gaza

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Published Oct 13, 2024  •  Last updated 18 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, back right, and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

For a year, Canada’s response to the Hamas massacre in Israel was feckless in government and frightening on the streets. Monday’s anniversary highlighted both in disturbing measure.

The scenes in Vancouver — “We are Hezbollah and we are Hamas!” —  revealed a distressing level of hatred, including for Canada, complete with flag-burning. There is plenty of darkness in the land of sunny ways.

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Meanwhile in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly took great offence at being accused by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of “pandering to Hamas supporters.” She declared that out-of-bounds, and the Speaker of the House of Commons, the hapless Greg Fergus, agreed.

Leave aside the question of pandering. Leave aside — if only it were possible! — Joly altogether. Ask a different question: from the point of view of Hamas, which G7 country has conducted itself in the most agreeable fashion? Who, amongst their leaders, is Hamas’s preferred president or prime minister?

The ancient proverb proposes that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Rework that for the past year. Canada is Israel’s ally and friend. Canada regards Hamas as an enemy, listing it as a terror organization. But Hamas may well observe Canada’s conduct and think that the less friendly friends (Canada) of their enemy (Israel) may be not be their friends exactly, but moderately useful enemies. That is not about pandering. It’s worse.

When news of last Monday made its way into the tunnels under Gaza, the surviving Hamas leadership may well have concluded that, “Their government is feeble and we have friends on the streets.”

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Consider the assessment of Irwin Cotler, stalwart Montreal Liberal, attorney general in Prime Minister Paul Martin’s government, eminent international human rights lawyer and advocate against antisemitism. In an interview with the Jewish News Syndicate last month, Cotler spoke of his fellow Liberals.

“The Canadian government made some important and timely statements but the actions it has taken have not been supportive,” Cotler said. Regarding the arms embargo on Israel announced by Joly: “Doing that, in the midst of a just war that Israel is prosecuting as it exerts its right to self-defence, means rewarding Hamas. While it is not the intention, it ends up being the effect.”

In the same interview, Cotler spoke of his own situation, an 84-year-old distinguished elder statesman.

“I am under constant security protection,” Cotler said. “After October 7, my wife and I attended the March for Israel in Washington, D.C. When we flew back to Montreal, security asked us not to leave the airport. Security personnel spoke to me and informed me of what has been characterized as imminent and lethal threats.”

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In Montreal, it is not safe for Irwin Cotler to walk the streets. Could Hamas have imagined that outcome on October 7?

“We are engaged in a battle between democracies and tyrannies,” said Cotler. “Democracies should stand together. In that sense, Canada has not been sufficiently supportive.”

Consider how those leading democracies were acting exactly a year ago, in the days after the Hamas invasion. Amongst Israel’s friends, the discussion quickly turned to how quickly solidarity visits to Israel could be arranged.

Israeli officials were keen for the visits, especially that of U.S. President Joe Biden. They requested a visit and Biden agreed. Within roughly a fortnight of the attacks, Biden was on the ground in Tel Aviv.

The heads of government of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and the United Kingdom visited in the first three weeks, as well as the head of the European Union. That’s five of the G7 countries. The sixth, Japan’s prime minister, met with Israel’s president in Dubai in December. That leaves the seventh, Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided not to visit. He still hasn’t. Indeed, in nine years as prime minister, Trudeau has only made one visit to Israel, for the 2016 funeral of former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres. He could hardly have stayed away from that. Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was present, as well as the Prince of Wales; two U.S. presidents spoke at the memorial.

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More remarkable still, Israeli officials have not been keen for Trudeau to come. Friends of Israel in Canada, including leading Jewish organizations, have not been encouraging him to visit, either. Better to keep a lukewarm friend at a distance.

Whether Trudeau and Joly are accused of pandering by their partisan rivals is not of great import. Pandering, after all, is a negative term for virtue signalling, which the Liberals pride themselves on doing, at the ready to take a knee for the cameras. They just do so without a clear moral compass.

Joly objects to Poilievre’s criticism that she panders to Hamas supporters. But would she object as strongly if she realized what Hamas itself thought of her?

National Post

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