Israel dictates Canada’s foreign policy

Canada appears to have a new foreign minister. His name is Benjamin Netanyahu. His day job may be prime minister of Israel, but Canada’s abrupt actions against Iran seem to confirm that the Harper government’s outsourcing of Canada’s Middle East policy to Jerusalem is now complete.
This is the opinion of Tony Burman, former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News, who teaches journalism at Ryerson University.
I agree with Mr. Burman that the Harper government’s decision to sever diplomatic relations with Iran has made Canada a laughing stock in diplomatic circles. It has also met with a barrage of criticism from academics, members of the diplomatic corps and the Iranian diaspora.
Canada has lost its listening post. No contact with Tehran means loss of dialogue with that government. We have lost an opportunity to negotiate and deal with that government. What would be the fate of those Iranian Canadians languishing in Tehran jails? Who will now speak on their behalf?
Canada’s announcement that it was cutting links with Iran was surprising and unprecedented. The announcement, made by Foreign Minister John Baird while in Russia, wasn’t tied to any specific event or linked to any crisis in relationship. Baird only cited safety of Canadian diplomats, concern over Iran’s nuclear programme, and Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as the main causes for the break-up.
As expected, the only country that really applauded Canada’s move to recall its diplomats from Tehran and expel Iranian diplomats from Ottawa was the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. “I call on the entire international community, or at least on its responsible members, to follow in Canada’s determined path and set Iran moral and practical red lines, lines that will stop its race to achieve nuclear weapons,” he said.
Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly called for tougher international action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and has hinted that Israel was considering military options to stop it. Iranian leaders insist their nuclear program is for peaceful power-generation purposes.
Derek Burney, a widely respected former ambassador to the U.S., has come out in support of Canada forcefully. He said that the Iranian regime has flouted “every accepted norm and principle of civilized nations.
Canada’s influence with the Iranian government was nothing to write about home; despite efforts made by Canadian diplomats, we lost Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian-Iranian photojournalist who was brutally murdered in 2003.
Canadian-Iranians were distraught at learning the news of the break-up. They will not only have difficulty in obtaining visa to go home but will also have no representation when in difficulty from the Canadian government. The news came as a personal blow to Antonella Mega, whose husband, Hamid Ghasse-mi-Shall, has been sentenced to death and is awaiting execution any time.
Canada’s withdrawal from the Iranian scene becomes more serious when you take into account the absence of the U.S. and Britain who also have no physical presence in Iran. Among the western countries who have imposed sanctions on Iran but still have embassies there are France, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany. Canada and other nations will have to rely on these western countries to obtain intelligence and other information from Iran.
One of the strongest critics of the embassy closure has been James George, who served as Canada’s ambassador to Iran between 1972 and 1977. “Its stupid to close an embassy in these circumstances. We need to keep an ear open there – our own ear.” He added the closure puts Canada “on the wrong side of the fence.”
“The way I read it, it suggests Canada has some inside information,” he said.
The Canadian decision simply “fuels speculation about a possible attack, adds to the tension and the likelihood that something will happen.”
As the Globe & Mail said in its editorial: “The presence of an embassy and the retention of diplomatic relations is not evidence of support for or approval of a regime, it is an acknowledgment that it is better to talk, even to an enemy, than not.”
It is unfortunate that Canada has withdrawn from its international obligations. If and when Israel attacks Iran, with or without U.S. support, we hope Canada doesn’t become a part of Israel’s war effort. We are already witnessing fruitless, meaningless and expensive war efforts underway in Iraq and Afghanistan and the world doesn’t need any more wars. Canada is not a warring nation; Canada takes pride in solving problems between nations and in maintaining world peace. Let’s have that as one of the fundamental principles of Canadian foreign policy. It seems Mr. Harper and his new foreign minister has to be reminded about it.