1

Canada’s Israel Lobby

By
Peyton Vaughan Lyon
Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Carleton
University
D.Phil., Oxford

This article is an update of a study of the Canada Israel

Committee (CIC) published in the Journal of Canadian
Studies, 1992-3. It benefited by extensive comments from
Professors John Sigler, Joseph Debanné, David Farr and
Diana Ralph, and Rt. Hon Robert Stanfield, Ian Watson, and
Bahija Reghai. I have discussed the Israel Lobby with about
20 foreign affairs officials, 2 former Prime Ministers, 3 former
Secretaries of State for External Affairs, 8 Members of
Parliament, 6 Senators, and 3 officials of the Canada-Israel
Committee.
 3

March 2010

Dr. Lyon is Professor Emeritus Political Science, Carleton University.

He was a Rhodes Scholar, and obtained his D.Phil. from Oxford
University. He served in the RCAF from 1940 to 1945.

He held posts as Foreign Service Officer, Department

of External Affairs in Ottawa, Canada and in Bonn, Germany. He is
the author of five books on Canadian foreign policy, trade and
defence.

Mailing Address:
Peyton V. Lyon
43 Aylmer Ave
Ottawa, ON K1S 5R4
Canada’s Israel Lobby
Canada's relations with the Arab/Muslim world are second in importance
and difficulty only to its relationship with the United States. The one serious
threat to Canadian citizens now stems from the mounting anger of Arabs
and other Muslims, fomented largely by Israel's long-standing occupation
of Palestine. The Mid-East conflict has for sixty years been the principal
issue on the agenda of the UN General Assembly, a body in which
Canadians like to shine. Trade with the Middle East, while modest, is
largely in manufactured goods, the sort favoured by Canadian exporters.
Canada's foreign policy, however, fails to reflect these concerns. Its votes
in the UN General Assembly and other international bodies are closer in
support of Israel than those of any other nation apart from the United
States and its five Pacific satellites. Prime Minister Harper's personal
statements are more biased towards Israel than those of any other leader.
(1) This imbalance does not accord with the advice of the men and women

employed by Canada to determine and implement its interests in the

Middle East. It is also opposed by an increasing number of churches,
unions, and other bodies concerned with peace and justice in Palestine.
Who makes Canada's Mid-East policy? A ranking of influence by a panel
of foreign affairs officials placed the Canadian Jewish Community first at
5.85 compared to 5.40 for each of the Prime Minister and the Department
of External Affairs. The Canadian/Arab Community at 1.80 was ranked
sixteenth out of the eighteen estimated influence inputs. (2) Although the
Arab Community has become better organized in recent years, interviews
with senior officials and case studies suggest that there has been little
change in this ranking.
There is of course nothing illegal or immoral about lobbies, even those
operating in the interest of foreign entities. A significant number of ethnic
groups do in fact lobby for their countries of origin. (3) Canada's Israel lobby
is simply by far the most powerful and effective. It has become customary
to refer to it as "the Lobby", and I shall follow that practice. The Lobby
claims to act on all Canada-Israel matters on behalf of an estimated two-
thirds of the three hundred and fifteen thousand Canadians of Jewish
origin.(4)

For obvious reasons, the American-Israel lobby is far larger, more

powerful, and better known than its Canadian counterpart. (5) There are
further significant differences and I shall begin with them. American Jews
 5

number about three percent of the population whereas the Canadian

equivalent is a more modest one percent. American Jews, having arrived
earlier in North America, are more integrated into the general population
and less united in support of their government's Mid-East policy. Canadian
Jews, in the words of Professors Taras and Weinfeld, "are more Jewish."
Other authorities have said they are more conservative. (6) "Is there,"
asked Gerald Caplan, another prominent Jew, "any act of Israel that will
shame the leaders of Canadian Jewry into saying enough is enough?" (7)
The biggest difference in the tactics followed by the two lobbies lies in
their degrees of openness and use of threats. Because the role of
Congress in making foreign policy is much greater than that of Parliament,
and party discipline is weaker, the American lobby focuses on individual
members of Congress, none of whom can take refuge behind a party line.
Because cabinet solidarity matters more in Ottawa, the Canadian Lobby
makes a greater effort to focus on every minister. Lobbying, moreover, is
more acceptable in the American political culture and can be more open
and hard hitting. A reputation for wealth, ruthlessness and success is in
fact an asset whereas in Canada lobbies operate more discreetly and soft-
pedal their influence. American elections are more frequent than in
Canada; this makes raising funds more difficult, thus increasing the
vulnerability of candidates to lobby pressure. Lobbying in the United
States, however, is subject to greater legal restriction than in Canada. One
authority goes so far as to say that, because of tighter organization, it is
more effective in Canada. (6)
All in all, lobbying in each country is probably about equal in
effectiveness. Elections afford each Lobby the greatest opportunity to
exercise influence. Although most Jewish Americans have voted
Democratic, and Canadian Jews Liberal, neither are formally aligned and
votes can be swung if a party adopts what might appear to many Jews to
be an anti-Israel approach. Jimmy Carter, in making an exceptional effort
to bring peace to the Middle East, angered Israel and its American Lobby.
As a result, Carter lost almost half his Jewish vote between 1976 and
1980, a loss which contributed to his defeat in the 1980 election. Sydney
Spivak, chairman of the Canadian Lobby's 1998 policy conference,
threatened a similar outcome when Joe Clark, then Secretary of State for
External Affairs, criticized Israel's suppression of Palestinian rights.
A particular triumph for the American lobby was the defeat in 1984 of
Charles Percy, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. As Tom Dine, executive director of AIPAC (the American
Israel Public Affairs committee) -- the predominant US-Israel lobby --
boasted to a Toronto audience, "All the Jews in America ... gathered to
defeat Percy. And the American politicians got the message." (8)
A comparable Canadian case was that of Dr. Frank Epp, an outstanding
scholar and President of Waterloo University. In 1979, Epp ran as a Liberal
in what was considered the safe Liberal seat in Waterloo. However, his
desire for a more balanced approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict was
falsely depicted by the Lobby as "anti-Semitic” – a charge the Lobby
frequently uses to discredit critics of Israeli government policies. In Epp’s
case, the attack culminated in a full-page advertisement on election eve. In
a constituency containing several thousand Jews, Epp was defeated by a
mere 155 votes.
In the Toronto riding of Saint-Paul's, with about 20,000 Jewish voters,
the 1979 election featured a Conservative promise to move the Canadian
embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Conservative candidate, Ron
Atkey, won. In the election the following year --after Prime Minister Clark
had abandoned his promise to move the embassy-- the seat swung back
to John Roberts of the Liberals.
In 1984 a Manitoba court ruled that unfair lobbying could have caused the
defeat of Conservative candidate Luba Fedorkiw in Winnipeg North.
Fedorkiw accused the Jewish advocacy group, B'nai Brith, of having
defeated her by suggesting she was anti-Semitic and levelling the false
charge of "Jew-baiting" against her. She was awarded $400,000 in
damages.
The Lobby concentrates on the ten constituencies where most of the
Jewish and Arab/Muslim populations are located. Proportionally more
Jews, however, go to the polls and are more likely to make a difference. It
should also be noted that a substantial minority of the Arabs are Maronite
Christians who are indifferent to the fate of the majority of Arabs.
A trickle of Jews had begun to enter Canada early in the 18th century but
was still insignificant in 1897 when the founding of the Zionist Movement
augmented the political significance of the Jews in both Europe and North
America. A few influential Jews made individual approaches to
government leaders to gain permission for more Jews to enter Canada.
They achieved little success. In the 1930s, Prime Minister Mackenzie
King's government began shutting the door to Jewish refugees from Nazi
Germany. King’s deputy minister for immigration even opined that "None is
too many” and on the eve of the Second World War, a boatload of the
refugees was denied permission to land. (9) This outrageously racist attitude
appears to have been widely shared by the public as well as the prime
minister.
 7

The war, however, and the revelation of the slaughter of six million Jews,
transformed the situation. Sympathy for the Jews became nearly universal.
Any criticism of the newly-created state of Israel came to be branded "anti-
Semitic", one of the ugliest terms in our political vocabulary. Canada's
prominent role in the creation of Israel was accepted with little room for
protest (10)
The Israel Lobby took formal shape in 1967 when the three major
Canadian Jewish organizations, the Canadian Jewish Congress, the
Canadian Zionist Organization and B'nai Brith, established the Canada-
Israel Committee (CIC) to act on behalf of Israel. This is an umbrella
organization with no individual members. It was intended to monopolize
public statements on Canada-Israel matters but officials of B'nai Brith,
notably Frank Dimant, frequently disregard this rule. CIC policy is
determined by a 35-person council representing the founding organizations
and several smaller bodies based in the large cities. It meets about once a
year, its executive much more often.
The CIC reported in 2000 that it had a seven-person office in Ottawa to
deal with the federal government and another seven persons in Toronto to
conduct media relations and research; one person was stationed in
Montreal to handle regional lobbying; and a further two in Jerusalem. The
CIC did not reveal its budget but it was estimated to be at least
$11,000,000. The Lobby certainly commands far greater wealth than
opposing entities, and far easier access through its extensive business
connections to members of the cabinet and other senior decision-makers.
Representatives of Arab/Muslim groups are rarely able to secure senior-
level appointments in government while these are more attainable for the
Lobby. Changes in Canada's Middle East policy go to Cabinet, while other
foreign policy changes do not necessarily need to meet this requirement,
one that clearly favours the Lobby.
The Lobby adopted a more effective if heavy-handed approach in 2002
when a group of exceptionally wealthy Canadian Jews reached the
conclusion that the CIC was failing to give Israel adequate support. Led by
Israel (Izzy) Asper, Gerald Schwartz, Heather Reisman, and Brent
Belzberg, the group established the Canadian Council for Israel and
Jewish Advocacy (CIJA). This council raises substantially greater funds
than other Jewish lobby groups and employs professional lobbyists.
Although professing to collaborate with the CIC, B'nai Brith and the
Canadian Jewish Congress, the new body was not welcomed by them.
One senior CIC official complained that the CIJA is "a group of self-
appointed persons who have very little linkage with the Jewish (grass
roots), and who have their own private agendas." (11) When the councils
differ over policy, it is the CIJA -- the one with the “big bucks”-- that
generally prevails.
In its first year, the CIJA sponsored several conferences and more than
doubled the number of sponsored "study" visits to Israel. They included,
among others, 23 federal politicians with spouses and seven university
presidents. The CIJA claimed to have won the ear of those who make
decisions, and thus gets credit for a sharp shift towards Israel in Canada's
international posture.
The Lobby's tactics are not unlike those of other lobbies. It supports
Canadians who support Israel and criticizes those who don't. It caters to
decision-makers who seem open to persuasion. It addresses articles and
letters to the media. It supplies information to journalists, provides
speakers, and sponsors seminars and conferences as well as subsidizing
tours of Israel. The Lobby's primary attention, of course, is paid to the
officials and politicians who make or influence the decisions of interest to
Israel. They are entertained and briefed frequently. As one deputy minister
put it, they are "all over us, from minister to desk officer." The Arab-
Canadians, he explained, do much the same, but the Lobby "does it
better".(12) He could have added that Jewish-Canadians have easier access
to high places. The Lobby does not employ explicit threats but knows that
MPs and others can count, and the fate of Frank Epp has intimidated many
others. Libby Davies, the NDP member for Vancouver-East, says MP’s live
in what she calls “a climate of fear” on issues dealing with Israel-Palestine.
(13)

The Lobby also seeks to shape the future by extensive activity in the
universities. Officials are placed in all the major institutions to foster Hillel
clubs that promote communal sentiment among Jews and beyond by
means of talks and debates. A separate body,"StandWithUs", provides
students with financial assistance to gain training in how to fight what the
Lobby considers "anti-Israel" actions. Its activity has contributed to serious
strife and extensive publicity in two universities. In 2002, at Concordia, the
administration blocked Arab and Muslim students from attending a planned
speech by Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli leader. This
resulted in anger over perceived discrimination that led to a riot of 2,000
protesters. The speech was subsequently cancelled. At York university, in
February 2009, the administration itself fostered turbulence by excessive
measures to halt peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrations.(14) In other
universities, notably Toronto, McMaster, Ottawa, and Carleton, the Lobby
has backed the administrations in their attempts to ban pro-Palestine
activities such as the annual Israeli Apartheid Week.
 9

Professors are prominent among the Canadians treated in whole or in

part to "study" visits to Israel. About a dozen such visits have been partially
sponsored each year by the "Canadian Professors for Peace in the Middle
East" (CPPME), an organization professing to be neutral and sponsored in
large part by the Social Science Research Council, a body financed from
the federal government treasury. The Israel portion of the CPPME "study"
visits, however, is sponsored by the World Zionist Organization, and
members are likely to be expelled if they fail to accept the party line. (15)
The Lobby professes independence but has solicited and obtained advice
from Israeli officials. Former Israeli Ambassador Alan Baker, who finished
his four-year posting in 2008, was exceptionally bold in his public
statements of Israeli policy.(16) That is in line with an ordinary
ambassadorial function. However, Baker went a step further and told
Jewish Canadians how they should manage their affairs. For example, he
urged the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) in public to pass a by-law that
would make its relationship to Israel advocacy "professional, serious and
practical" and, implicitly, less democratic.
The overall success of the Lobby is best illustrated by Canada's votes in
the annual UN General Assembly's assessment of the 60-year long Mid-
East crisis. The Canadian delegates have often been embarrassed when
the lights on the score panel reveal their country to be one of a minority of
eight, along with Israel, the United States and its five Pacific satellites,
voting against any resolutions deemed critical of Israel and its policies.
Even Britain displays stronger criticism of Israel's illegal occupation of
Palestinian territories despite the fact that the U.K. generally tries to stay in
line with American policy. After his retirement, William Barton, Canadian
ambassador to the United Nations from 1976 to 1979, expressed the
dismay characteristic of Canadian representatives: "We were generally
identified along with the United States as the most pro-Israel delegation in
the UN … most of our delegates felt that this was not in the best Canadian
interest." (17) Barton elaborated that Canada had voted not on the merits of
the case but for political considerations determined in Ottawa.(18) Under
Prime Minister Harper, Canada has further hardened its opposition to the
majority of UN members’ criticism of Israel's occupation of Palestine.
Canada has also stood out in the two UN conferences on racism held in
Durban. At the first, it denounced and then cast a solitary negative vote
against the majority resolution in the Durban conference. At the second, its
opposition was made even more emphatic by refusing to attend. Canada's
bias is further demonstrated by its solitary negative position in the Human
Rights Council, and by refusing to accept the International Court of
Justice’s ruling by a 14-1 vote that the wall being constructed by Israel,
partly on Palestinian land, is illegal. The wall effectively cuts off one part of
the West Bank from the other, dividing families, villages and farms. Earlier,
Canada had been the first to suspend aid to Palestine after its democratic
election resulted in victory for Hamas, the radical party most critical of
Israel. Canada's tilt towards Israel is also evident in conferences of La
Francophonie where it has been the single participant to vote against a
resolution favouring Palestine's right to declare independence without
waiting for negotiations with Israel.
Canada was even slower than the US to recognize the right of the PLO to
speak for the Palestinians. When it did, it did so with a minimum of
cordiality. Canada continued to show marked favouritism towards Israel.
The president of Israel, for example, was accorded the rare honour of an
invitation to address a joint session of both Houses of Parliament, whereas
it was only after a struggle that a PLO official was invited to speak to a
Senate committee. Canada's official rhetoric fails to recognize that the
Palestinians and Jews are equal in humanity. Its formal statements of
objectives in the Arab-Israel dispute regularly lead off with "the security,
well-being and rights" of Israel, but not of the Arab countries. Israeli
casualties are presented in more tragic terms than those of Arabs.
Palestinian suicide bombings are characterized as cowardly and
despicable while Israeli war crimes, such as the massacre of over one
hundred Lebanese civilians in Qana in 1996 and the killing of many
hundreds of civilians during Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2008-2009, are
passed over lightly or ignored. Prime Minister Harper and other ministers
habitually refer to Israel as an "ally" which it is not formally, and which
implies that another is an "enemy".
Arab-Muslim governments and the PLO do heed Canada's UN voting
pattern and official statements. Even before Canada recognized the PLO
at the ambassadorial level, lesser officials had engaged in informal chats
with PLO observers, helping them understand US statements and how
best to respond to them. In the view of Palestinians, however, such
behaviour did not excuse Canada’s habitual pro-Israel posture, as its then
foreign minister, Peter Mackay, discovered during his first ministerial-level
conversations in Palestine in 2007. Arab extremists, moreover, increased
their threats against Canadian lives, and Canada was specifically cited as
a prime target in Al-Qaeda communiqués. Although Canada has not
suffered the loss of life to terrorism inflicted on the US, Britain and Spain,
the RCMP have laid charges against four young Arab Canadians believed
to have been plotting attacks on Canadian buildings.
The clearest success of Canada's Israel lobby was the cancellation in
1970 of Canada's invitation to the UN to hold in Toronto a major
 11

conference on combating crime. All three levels of government had

favoured the invitation until it was realized that, according to UN rules, the
PLO would be entitled to attend as an observer. The Ontario and Toronto
governments then reversed their acceptance and the issue became heated
in Ottawa. Jewish-Canadians were not alone in thinking that it would be
abhorrent to receive "terrorists" at a conference on the prevention of crime.
Threats of violence against PLO observers, even one of assassination,
were heard in Lobby circles and the police worried about the measures
required to guarantee conference security. The Department of External
Affairs (DEA) continued its battle in order to honour Canada's commitment
to the international community but lost. The conference was held in
Geneva with little ado. At one stage the cabinet had decided to proceed
with the conference but it then reversed its position. One of Trudeau’s
senior cabinet ministers at the time has speculated that this resulted from a
call from "Montreal" threatening to cut the substantial Jewish contribution
to the Liberal's national fund. The minister added that he had never seen
Trudeau so agitated. (19)
A similar reversal came under a Conservative government in 1988 when
Joe Clark was Secretary of State for External Affairs. In an address to a
Canada-Israel Committee banquet, Clark joined most other governments
in condemning Israel's breaches of international law in its suppression of
the first Intifada in the West Bank and Gaza. Especially provocative was
his complaint that Israel had manipulated food supplies to exert pressure,
and his tribute to the peaceful disposition of the three Arab countries he
had just visited. This was taken to imply that they were more interested in
peace than Israel. The conference was outraged and responded with
booing, a partial walkout and the singing of the Israeli national anthem.
Loud applause greeted the suggestion from the chair that revenge would
come at the next elections.
Prime Minister Mulroney, who had not read the text in advance, hastened
to inform Jewish leaders that Clark had spoken only for himself. Clark
hurried to address a Jewish-Canadian audience to assure the "community"
that Canadian policy had not changed and that Canada would "protect,
defend, and endorse the State of Israel for ever." Such an extraordinary
assurance, combined with a lack of progress towards a more even-handed
treatment of the Palestinians, did little to appease the Lobby in its attitude
towards the Department of External Affairs and its minister. Even though
the public response to Clark's address was favourable, his successors
were cautious when they recalled the anger that had swept through much
of Canadian Jewry.
A questionable Lobby victory came in the general election of 2008. The
Liberal leader, Stéphane Dion, ordered a duly nominated candidate in
Winnipeg, Lesley Hughes, to step down, claiming that she had expressed
anti-Semitic views in an article written a decade earlier. Dion explained,
along with a spokesman for the Canadian Jewish Congress, that he was
acting under pressure from B'nai Brith. Hughes, however, had no difficulty
demonstrating that the article in question was in no sense anti-Semitic and
that her record over the years had shown consistent support for valid
Jewish interests. The public overwhelmingly endorsed Hughes. (20)
Another revealing incident occurred in 1991 when Norman Spector was
appointed Ambassador to Israel to replace Michael Bell, an experienced
diplomat who had barely completed half his term. The reason for Spector's
posting, offered by both Prime Minister Mulroney and Spector, was that
there had been a policy against posting Jews as ambassador to Israel. The
appointment was said to be "affirmative action" to remedy this
discrimination. In fact, there had never been any such policy(21) but the
appointment certainly pleased the Lobby. In Tel Aviv, Spector explained to
a delegation from the Canadian Jewish Congress that his function was to
repair the damage created by his minister, Joe Clark, because of the
latter’s criticism of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Spector pushed through a free trade agreement with Israel that had been
strongly opposed by DEA and the Department of Trade and Commerce.
Since it was the only such agreement in the area at the time, and had only
modest trade implications, it was regarded by Israel's Arab neighbours as
a strictly political measure and was resented by them. Back in Ottawa,
Spector falsely accused his DEA colleagues of having lied in order to
frustrate the negotiation of the agreement.
Another trade issue had a different outcome. In 1978, Ontario had passed
legislation to block the Arab-Muslim boycott of firms trading with Israel, and
all three federal parties promised to introduce similar legislation. Trade
and Commerce Minister Herb Gray was an enthusiastic supporter of the
Lobby. However, he yielded to business pressure to ignore the demand for
the anti-boycott legislation. Firms wanted to continue to trade not only with
Israel but with all other countries in the region, even though some
individual firms, both Jewish and non- Jewish, contribute substantially to
the Lobby.
Although it has no formal links with the Lobby, the Evangelical branch of
the Christian church -- about three million strong in Canada-- lends great
strength to the Lobby by its interpretation of the Bible. In its view the
second coming of Christ will take place in a Jewish Palestine where,
according to many Evangelicals, Jews must at that time control all of the
 13

“Holy Land.” As a result, Evangelicals tend to zealously support Israel and

its occupation of the West Bank. They are exceptionally strong in Alberta,
where they may have influenced Prime Minister Harper, who himself is an
Evangelical.
Several bodies oppose the Lobby. One of the most obvious is the
National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR) that speaks for most
of the Arab-Canadian population. Although now approximately as strong
numerically as the Jewish Canadian community, Arab/Muslim-Canadians
are generally far less wealthy and much less cohesive. NCCAR maintains
two representatives in Montreal and several volunteers in Ottawa. It works
to promote Canada-Middle East relations, and lobbies for peace with
justice in the region.
Other significant groups are the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF, which
represents over forty organizations), and the Canadian Islamic Congress
(CIC). Both command articulate leadership and are gaining in influence as
Arab/Muslim-Canadians advance in numbers, political sophistication and
resolve. A newer group, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle
East (CJPME), comprises Canadians of all backgrounds. However, all
these organizations remain far less influential than the Israel lobby.
The most serious challenge to the Lobby comes from within the Jewish-
Canadian community itself. A rapidly increasing number -- perhaps one-
third of the community-- is now critical of Israel's occupation of the
Palestinian territories. For understandable reasons it is not easy for Jews
to criticize Israel, which many see as their biblical home and their promised
refuge. Survivors of the Holocaust cannot be expected to take communal
bonds lightly. The charge "anti-Semite", or "self-hating Jew", is especially
hard to face. The Jews who do speak out against Israel's occupation
include some of the most talented members of the Jewish community.
They are now led by an umbrella organization named Independent Jewish
Voices, which is seen as a growing threat by the Lobby.
Less influential but still significant are voluntary organizations in Ottawa,
Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere that are dedicated to challenging Israel’s
military occupation. One is the Ottawa-based Middle East Discussion
Group (MEDG). Despite its disarming name, it was established thirty years
ago by a group led by the Rt. Hon. Robert Stanfield, Professor John Sigler
and others, with the purpose of correcting the pro-Israel bias in Canada's
Middle East policy. Its membership now includes several dozen of
Canada’s most distinguished academics, journalists and a number of ex-
Ambassadors who have served in the region or in the UN. The MEDG
keeps abreast of events in the Middle East and has presented briefs to the
government. A growing number of other groups are now voicing opposition
to Canada's policy and have considered sanctions against Israel. These
include churches (notably United, Unitarian, Anglican and Roman Catholic)
and unions of which the largest and most vocal is the Ontario branch of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE ).
At least one authority contends that Canada lacks sufficient influence to
render the ME peace process a significant element in its foreign policy(22).
This overlooks the fact that Canada has substantial influence in
Washington, and Washington is the one capital that could impose a Mid-
East settlement. Acting alone Canada might well accomplish little, but in
concert with like-minded nations such as the Scandinavians and American
supporters of a just ME peace, it could make a difference. However, there
is little evidence that Canada has tried to influence Israeli or American
policy(23). Norway, with but a sixth of Canada's population, initiated the
negotiation of the Oslo Pact, the most serious attempt thus far to resolve
the long-standing ME crisis.
Canada's influence was demonstrated at the very beginning of Israeli
nationhood when Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand dominated the UN
commission that recommended the partition of Palestine, leading to the
legal creation of Israel. Lester Pearson, then the most influential diplomat
in the UN, was instrumental in steering the relevant UN resolution through
the General Assembly without adequate provision for the displaced
Palestinians. Samuel Bronfman, at the time president of the Canadian
Jewish Congress, stated that "Canada has played the most important role
in partitioning Palestine.” (24) David Horowitz, the representative of the
Jewish Agency in the UN negotiations, concurred that " Canada more than
any other country played a decisive part in all stages of the discussion of
Palestine." (25) Leading Canadian historians agreed, and prominent Zionists
called Pearson the "Balfour of Canada." Pearson attained even greater
recognition in 1967 when he earned the Nobel Prize for initiating UNEF,
the peacekeeping force that helped to end the Suez Crisis. Canada also
led in establishing UNRWA, the relief and works agency that helps
refugees in the Middle East, and subsequently took over the chair of the
relevant multi-national working group.
Canada's extraordinarily strong support of Israel is partially explained by
the editorial bias of its media, which face intense pressure to conform.
Almost half of Canadian newspapers and the popular television network,
Global, were owned by the Asper family. The late Israel (Izzy) Asper,
billionaire founder of the CanWest media empire, was a prominent leader
of the Lobby. Although not a practising Jew, he travelled frequently to
Israel, became a friend of its leaders and supported its policies. Israel,
 15

Asper once told a Toronto audience, "was an isolated island of

democracy... in a sea of terrorism, corruption, dictatorship and human
enslavement. Palestinian leaders ... in their deadly campaign to destroy
Israel ... are aiming their bombs at innocent civilians or blowing up planes
over Lockerbie..." (26) Given such views, it is not surprising that the Asper
employed his media to urge Canadians to treat Arab leaders as "gangster
terrorists", and disciplined the editors and journalists of his papers who
strayed far from his beliefs. (26)
Leonard Asper, who took command of CanWest on Izzy’s death in 2003,
shares his father's beliefs but expresses them more moderately. In a
prepared text he attributed what he sees as the pro-Muslim bias of most
journalists to left-wing views, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and failure to
recognize Israel as a bulwark to protect Jews. He complains that most
reporters writing about the Middle East are ignorant, lazy and prone to
accept "Arab coddling." (27) The Asper bias shows not only in CanWest
reports and editorials, but also in the near-exclusion of columns and letters
critical of Israel. In 2002, Montreal Gazette reporter Bill Marsden stated
“we do not run in our newspaper op-ed pieces that express criticism of
Israel and what it is doing in the Middle East.” (28)
In 2004, the Reuters news agency complained that CanWest altered its
reports on the Middle East, substituting the word “terrorist” for different
words used by the wire service(29) to describe Arabs. In another example, a
2006 study concluded that an Israeli child killed by Arabs was 83.3 times
more likely to be reported than a Palestinian child killed by Israelis in the
headlines or lead paragraphs of Canwest’s National Post.(30)
There appears to have been no systematic survey of media coverage of
the Middle East. The Jerusalem-based correspondents of the Globe and
Mail and Toronto Star, as well as French-language Quebec newspapers,
generally offer a more balanced approach to Israel-Palestine issues. The
CBC has usually been objective, much to the dismay of the Lobby. But
under relentless pressure in recent years, CBC television has tended to
steer clear of reporting that might offend the Lobby. Many Canadians
obtain their information from American media, much of which reflect the
pro-Israel slant best characterized by Fox News. While the Lobby generally
can take comfort from the editorial slant of the Canadian media on Middle
East issues, it is often less pleased by the more objective analysis passed
on to the government by Canada's ten embassies in the area. Prime
Minister Harper and his associates tend to take the same line as the
Lobby, regarding foreign affairs officials as "Arabists" who can largely be
ignored.(31)
 Since prime ministers play a decisive role in determining Middle East
policy, it may be in order to consider some of their quite different attitudes.
Mackenzie King disliked Jews and even expressed some admiration for
Hitler. (32). He was uneasy about Lester Pearson's exceptional activity in
the new-born United Nations but did not block his promotion of the partition
resolution that gave birth to Israel. Pearson enjoyed full support from Prime
Minister St. Laurent. Pearson attributed his sympathy for Israel to his
Sunday school teaching and also found most Arab spokesmen brash. In
later years he conceded that Canada had been unfair to the Palestinians.
(33)

Pierre Trudeau strongly resented the pressure of the Lobby and of

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.(35) Trudeau recounts in his
Memoirs how Begin, during a visit to Canada in 1978, threatened to turn
Jewish voters against the Liberals unless Trudeau supported
Conservative Leader Joe Clark’s promise to transfer the Canadian
Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trudeau refused, noting that
Jerusalem was “defined by the United Nations as one of the occupied
territories.” (36) Later, in an interview when he was opposition leader in 1979,
Trudeau said “Zionist” pressure groups in the U.S. and Canada were
undermining the prospects for Middle East peace. He added that Canadian
Jewish leaders who had pressured the Conservatives to transfer the
Canadian embassy to Jerusalem, and who urged much tougher legislation
against an Arab economic boycott of Israel, had hurt Canada
economically. Moreover, he said, “they have opened the way to a growing
anti-semitism.” (37)
In his brief tenure as prime minister, Joe Clark came to realize the
political and legal impropriety of moving the embassy to Jerusalem. He
abandoned the policy, adopting the views of Robert Stanfield, his
predecessor as Tory leader whom he had appointed to study and report on
Canada’s Middle East policy. Stanfield became a strong supporter of
Palestinian rights, insisting that “when the Israelis do something wrong,
we should be prepared to say so.” (38)
Prime Minister Mulroney was much more pro-Israel and much more
susceptible to Lobby influence. He stirred up a storm of protest in the Arab
world when he praised the Israelis for “showing restraint” after they had
killed twenty Palestinians and wounded dozens of others in the
suppression of the first Intifada. Irving Abella of the Canadian Jewish
Congress praised him for his “visceral attachment to Israel.” (39)
However, no previous Canadian prime minister has matched the near
total support for Israel offered by Stephen Harper who has adopted the
 17

“Israel-right-or-wrong” approach of the Israel Lobby and shown minimal

concern for Palestinians. He described Israel’s 2006 invasion of Lebanon
as ”measured” despite the fact that over a thousand civilians were killed
by Israeli bombs and shell-fire. In his effort to win over Jewish voters,
Harper approved the distribution of political pamphlets suggesting Liberals
are anti-Semitic because of their lack of unconditional support for Israel.
He has also moved aggressively to cut funding for aid and human rights
organizations considered too sympathetic towards Palestinians.
In Israel itself the strength of the Canadian lsrael lobby is widely
known and appreciated. Canadians are among the most popular foreigners
in Israel. In part this is due to our pro-Israel votes and statements in
international bodies. Yet it probably owes more to the fact that Canadians,
per capita, have been the most generous towards Israel, notably in
building legal university structures and subsidizing illegal settlement
activities. "Canada Park" is the name of a prominent recreation area
situated between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. (Mention is seldom made of the
three Palestinian villages ploughed under to make way for the park after
the Six-Day War). Trade with Canada has been enhanced by our free
trade agreement. Israelis with knowledge of the history of their country
recall Canada's role in its creation and also its lead in peacekeeping.
Pressure from Canada for a just (and legal) peace settlement would
probably be more acceptable than from almost any other country apart
from the United States.
A clear indication of the price Canada has paid in the international arena
for its pro-Israel stance was its failure in 2007 to be elected to the UN
Security Council. It had previously been elected every ten years to fill the
two-year seat reserved for a western member, and cherished this
influential position. Canada is currently running again for a council seat but
its pro-Israel stance is considered to be jeopardising its chances. As one
UN official said, “If Canada is to play a constructive role, it has to re-
establish its credentials as a fair and balanced interpreter of the
developments that affect both sides.” (40)
A Senate committee report issued on June 19, 2007, warned that
Canada's uncritical support for Israel in the United Nations Human Rights
Council had led to the isolation of Canada. Prime Minister Harper vowed
that Canada would not be "bullied" into changing its position “ whatever the
diplomatic or political cost.” However, the obvious decline in our influence
was regretted by many of the architects of Canada's foreign policy who
believe we should be pushing harder for Israel’s withdrawal from
occupied Palestine in return for a binding guarantee of Israel’s security.
 Canada can hardly be said to lack influence or interest in the Middle East,
but in what matters most to the Palestinians -- their freedom and
independence -- we lag far behind every other western country. Our
extremely pro-Israel posture may please the Lobby but it is contrary to
Canada’s interests, those of the United States, those of the United
Nations, those of Palestine, and those of Israel itself.

_________

Notes
1. It does not appear that any other leader, apart from Israel's, described
as "measured" Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon in which over a thousand
civilians were killed. Harper's branding of all criticism of Israel as "anti-
Semitic" appears to be unique.
2. "Ranking of DEA Officials of Weight of Inputs (influence) in the
Making of Canadian Foreign Policy” (scale of 1 to 7) from a study by John
Kirton and Peyton Lyon in the Journal of Canadian Studies, winter, 1992-3.
Group Influence Ranking

Canadian Jewish Community 5.85

 19

Prime Minister 5.04

DEA 5.04

Israel 4.92

Cabinet 4.68

United States 4.68

Media 4.24

Public opinion 3.58

Business 2.92

United Nations 2.84

Arab States 2.76

Dept. of National Defence 2.58

Other allies 2.50

Dept. of Finance 1.88

Arab/Canadian community 1.80

PLO 1.52

Provinces 1.20

3. Other ethnic groups that lobby include Haitian, Sikh, Armenian,

Cambodian, Tamil and Lebanese.
4. The latest census shows a drop in the number of Canadians claiming to
be Jewish from 348,605 in 2001 to 315,120 in 2007. No explanation was offered
for this10% drop. During this time, the size of the Jewish community dropped to
25th among ethnic communities in terms of numbers, down from 17 in 2001.

5. John J. Mearsheimer and Steven M. Walt, “The Israel Lobby and US

Foreign Policy,” Viking, Canada, 2007
6. John Sigler "Canada and the Arab Conflict" in The Domestic
Battleground". David Taras and David Goldberg, McGill-Queens University
Press, Kingston, 1989. John Sigler "Canada and the Arab Conflict" in
The Domestic Battleground". David Taras and David Goldberg, McGill-
Queens University Press, Kingston, 1989
7. “Mindless Cheerleaders for Israel?", Toronto Star, May 13, 1960.
8. In a talk to a meeting in Toronto of the Canadian Professors for
Peace in the Middle East.
9. Irving Abella and Harold Troper, “None is too Many”, Key Porter
Books, Toronto, 2000
10. Elizabeth MacCallum, the government's sole Mid-East expert at the
time, was a strenuous objector. She told Pearson that "We have created
40 years of chaos."
11. Cited by Professor David Noble in "The New Israel Lobby in Action,"
The Dimension, Nov.1, 2005.
12. Letter from Dr. Gordon Smith, University of Victoria, former deputy
minister of foreign affairs, 1994 -1997. Letter dated Aug. 4, 2008.
13. Libby Davies, MP, “Conference of Hon. Libby Davies, MP & Hon.
Richard Nadeau on their visit to the Gaza Strip and Occupied Territories,”
Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Nov. 5, 2009
14. Daniel Freeman-Moloy, a Jewish-Canadian York student, was
suspended for 3 years by the university’s president, Lorna Marsden, for
having organized a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration. The
suspension was soon lifted and a court awarded Freeman-Moloy
damages.
15. The author was expelled for having questioned the propriety of
money being spent from the national treasury for an organization
dedicated to a foreign entity.
16. “Israel Ambassadors Comments Unjustified: Critics.” CTV, May. 8
2008 10:00 PM ET
17. William Barton in testimony to the Senate Foreign Affairs
Committee.
18. Ibid
19. In conversation with Geoffrey Pearson.
20. The CBC received 604 calls in the first hour of the announcement,
almost all of which were in support of Hughes and were angry in tone.
21. Spector and Prime Minister Mulroney each claimed that it had been
customary to post as ambassador individuals of the ethnic origin of the
country to which they were posted and, since there had never been a
Jewish-Canadian ambassador in Israel, Spector's posting was presented
 21

as an act of fairness. But they were wrong. Apart from a French-Canadian

in Paris, ambassadors are almost never posted to a country of their ethnic
origin.
22. Denis Stairs, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Dalhousie.
23. Allan Gotlieb’s 656 page memoir of his six years as Ambassador in
Washington contains scarcely a mention of the Middle East. Washington
Diaries 1986-1989. A member of his staff reported on American policy but
did not, it appears, attempt to influence it.
24. See Peyton Lyon, “Canada’s Responsibility for Palestine”, in Behind the
Headlines, autumn, 1998, pp 4-9.
25. Ibid

26. For an indication how the Aspers treat independent minded editors
see Marc Edge, “Asper Nation: Canada’s most dangerous media
company.” New Star Books. Vancouver, 152-169.
27. Leonard Asper, “Media Bias and the Middle East.” National Post,
October 1, 2003
28. Robert Fisk, “Journalists are under fire for telling the truth.” The
Independent, December 18, 2002
29. Ian Austen, “Reuters Asks a Chain to Remove Its Bylines,” New
York Times, September 20, 2004

30. Annual Report, 2006. The Near East Cultural and Educational
Foundation of Canada.
31. “Arabist" is properly a scholar of the Arab language or civilization but
has become a term for Arab sympathizer. Students in the first sense do
tend to become Arabists in the second sense. "Lobbyists" often claim that
diplomats who serve in a Mid-East post become Arab sympathizers and
unreliable guides to Canadian policy. There is some slight truth in this, but
a study revealed that officers who served in Israel become the most critical
of Israel.”
32. " Irving Abella and Harold Troper, “None is too many,” Key Porter
Books, Toronto 2000
33. Pearson in his seminar in the School of International Affairs,
Carleton University.
35. Trudeau's constituency contained the largest number of Jewish
Canadians in Canada and he deemed it unwise to criticize Israel in public.
He engaged, however, in an angry exchange with Prime Minister Begin of
Israel over its 1992 invasion of Lebanon, and was outspokenly critical in
conversation with friends
36. Pierre Trudeau, “Memoirs,” McClelland and Stewart, Toronto 1993.
pp 215-216
37. Claude Henault, ““Zionists Block Peace, Trudeau Says”, the Toronto
Star, October 24 ,1979. Page A6
38. Robert Stanfield, Address to the Canadian-Arab Relations
Conference, Calgary 1981
39. John Dirlik, “Mulroney Resignation Saddens Mainstream Jewish
Leaders,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April/May 1993, p.38
40. Richard Falk, quoted in Laura Payton, “Tory's Israel Policy
Damaging: UN Rapporteur” Embassy Magazine, September 30, 2009.