Canadian PM Carney Has an Israel Problem
Quiet and gentle with Islamists, he saves his harshest criticism for Israel
It is now just over one month since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected, missing a majority mandate by a whisker.
Until very recently, the neutral government body mandated to operate free and fair elections—Elections Canada—seemed particularly challenged. For weeks after E-Day, there were still manual recounts ongoing. Ridings flipped based on one vote. Twelve votes. I cannot recall such—I’ll call it sloppy—management of the most sacred of rituals in a democracy. And the reputation of Elections Canada has taken quite a hit—for this and other reasons.
Carney redefines overweening hubris and seems to have bewitched much of official Ottawa, including the media. He talks big. Lots of growth, becoming an economic superpower, work with others, eradicate inter-provincial trade barriers. But he’s light on particulars.
Except, of course, when it comes to Israel and its place in the Middle East. Carney is hard-edged, and his statements and what seems to be his policy admit no nuance. It’s crisp. One-sided.
Justin Trudeau was the warm-up act. Carney is main stage. He’s intelligent. Well-connected. Highly regarded in some circles. He has purpose, an agenda, and he also works hard. None of those attributes applied to Justin Trudeau. Mark Carney is a serious person.
Shortly after the election, Carney teamed up with French President Emmanuel Macron and UK PM Keir Starmer to publicly lambaste Israel for all that has gone wrong in the war with Gaza. As my subscribers know, I am not shy to be critical of this coalition government in Israel, but this latest move is next level. There is a malevolence and total lack of balance in the statement of these three leaders that should make your blood run cold. Does mine.
My op-ed, which ran on Saturday in the National Post, is below. As always, we print the first few paragraphs and provide the link to the paper’s site to read the full piece.
Apologies for not having gotten it out sooner. But it’s all highly relevant. Still.
Over the last few days, it’s been a busy time in Israel and my life. Lots of holiday visits and driving, and it never stops. That’s the good part.
And tomorrow, we will drop a podcast chat with a State of Tel Aviv favorite, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, former IDF spokesperson and current FDD Senior Fellow, to discuss the food aid situation in the Gaza Strip and more.
Here’s the National Post piece:
SDEROT, Israel — Wednesday marked 600 days since the Hamas attack on Israel. War still rages, civilians suffer and die, hostages languish and no end is in sight.
In recent weeks, demands from even the staunchest allies of Israel, including the United States, have been mounting — demands for Israel to allow greater supplies of humanitarian aid to flow into the Strip, demands to end the war.
Perhaps surprising to some is that nearly 70 per cent of Israelis agree with those demands. They want an end to the war and an end to the barbaric captivity of the hostages languishing in Hamas tunnels. They want an end to the intolerable strain with which Israelis and Palestinians have been living since October 7.
The challenge, of course, is how to bring this about. It is a geopolitical mess requiring the deftest of touches — sticks brandished at the right times, and carrots presented with care. The Middle East is not a region that responds to subtlety. But, paradoxically, complex nuance permeates every speck of land.
This is a historic moment suited only to the most thoughtful of diplomatic efforts, and it appears that Prime Minister Mark Carney could learn a thing or two, possibly even from the Trump administration.
On May 19, Carney joined with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in issuing a statement that earned them praise and gratitude from Hamas’s leadership. The western troika emphasized their view that sole responsibility for the allegedly imminent famine in the Gaza Strip was attributable to Israel.