TORONTO – Canada decided to enter the morass of complexity known as the Middle East. Pick a “side”; five minutes later, it is time for reassessment because the standards of right and wrong are rarely the ones one expects. On moral or ethical grounds, they are unrecognizable to outsiders who may be prone to impose their own sets on others – from a safe distance. There is always “the other factor” (material interest), hidden from view or obfuscated by webs and veils structured to achieve a goal for a purpose that may not be that of the observer.
And so Canada has publicly announced that, at the next Assembly of the United Nations (in September), it will “officially” recognize the State of Palestine. That is a de facto declaration to our allies that we will henceforth adopt the Two State solution to the Israel- Palestine dynamic, one soon to be espoused also by both France and England. It is also as close a rebuke of the tactics of the State of Israel as one can dare express. Not to place too fine a point on the distinction, it is a rejection of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s view and [impugned] goals for Gaza and the West Bank.
The “fallout” was just short of instantaneous. The Ambassador of Israel in Ottawa could barely mask his disdain for the initiative. The former Head of the Palestinian Delegation to Ottawa, now assigned to Rome, by contrast, could barely contain her joy and excitement. Donald Trump threatened that this “move” might jeopardize negotiations with Canada on tariffs scheduled to “kick in” today. More on this in a moment, but the main issue is the total isolation of the Jewish Diaspora, which, in Canada, has been protesting the alleged “growth of antisemitism” in our country. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations, objecting to the destruction of property and people, have proven increasingly uncomfortable for Jews and their sympathizers.
It is an unequal power balance. Palestinians call for humanitarian aid, physical security and self-determination. Bibi Netanyahu screams accusations of existential threats to Israel by Hamas, a “terrorist governing body” of Gaza, justifying “punitive actions since October of 2023. Stark pictures of widespread destruction in Gaza by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), authenticated tallies of the dead in the tens of thousands. IDF sorties into other Greater Middle Eastern States, some being thousands of kilometers from Gaza, or in churches and hospitals just within the borders of Gaza ( a territory barely larger than Mississauga, Ontario) borders.
Pope Leo, as his predecessor before him, has called for a cessation of hostilities. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called Bibi Netanyahu, again, after the latest reports of death and mayhem, to berate him about the actions unbefitting a leader of a civilized society.
Donald Trump, supports Bibi. Canada, as far as I can discern, supports the Jewish Diaspora in Canada and speaks for a more equitable paradigm for Gaza. In some respects, it is a courageous move. The number of States trending toward the Palestinians and calling for a ceasefire (only the IDF appears equipped with modern weaponry) seems to increase daily. However, on the eve of the deadline for negotiating a tariff agreement, the apparent message that the USA was now isolated politically on the world stage will have struck Trump as an unnecessary and untimely “act of independence” from his orbit.
