Trudeau's Dilemma: Canada's American-Style Foreign Policy
Why won't the Prime Minister won't call for a ceasefire?
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was dining in a Chinatown restaurant Tuesday night in Vancouver BC, he was confronted by pro-Palestine protesters.
Chants of “ceasefire now” and “shame on you” surrounded the Prime Minister as he got up and left the restaurant.
Ironically, it is not just pro-Palestinian anti-war protesters who are mad at Justin Trudeau. On Tuesday evening, the Canadian Prime Minister was also the subject of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who tweeted this…
Of course, Israel is not “doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way.”
Earlier this month UN Chief, Antonio Guterres, said the amount of civilian deaths in Gaza indicates something is clearly “wrong” with Israel’s military tactics.
An emergency room worker at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Omar Zaqout, told Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers “detained and brutally assaulted” some of those seeking shelter at the hospital.
Al-Shifa is the central hospital in Gaza that the IDF began to raid this week.
All of this seems to indicate that Trudeau’s fence-sitting since Israel began its military operations in Gaza has made him zero friends domestically and internationally.
On the one hand, while Trudeau has repeatedly affirmed Israel’s right to “defend” itself, he has not offered the same level of full-throttled support that his US counterpart, President Joe Biden, has.
On the other hand, his measured criticisms of Israel have not gone far enough to end the violence.
Although Trudeau has almost called for a ceasefire, he is still hesitant to actually do so. Perhaps for fears of legitimizing the, rapidly growing, anti-war movement that has been brewing in Canada.
Or perhaps it is more likely that he fears the risk of hurting his relationship with the United States.
THE UNITED STATES ISRAEL STANCE
Yesterday President Joe Biden gave a speech after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
After his remarks on the meeting, he took questions from the press.
Naturally, he was asked about Israel’s claims that Hamas has a headquarters underneath al-Shifa.
Biden reaffirmed his confidence in Israeli and US intelligence and said the conflict will not stop until Hamas is fully incapacitated and can no longer “do horrific things to the Israelis.”
This can be interpreted as the United States will continue to unconditionally support Israel during its campaign in Gaza while also justifying the IDF’s raid of al-Shifa.
This is happening despite the fact that, according to US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, the US “did not give an OK to [Israel’s] military operations around the hospital.”
At the end of Biden’s press conference, a reporter asks him if he can detail the evidence he has seen regarding Hamas having headquarters underneath al-Shifa.
The president responds “No I can’t tell you, I won’t tell you.”
TRUDEAU’S DILEMMA
It is unclear whether Prime Minister Trudeau, on a personal level, wants or does not want to call for a ceasefire.
It is also unclear whether or not the Prime Minister, on a personal level, condemns Israel’s bombing campaign or raid on al-Shifa.
He certainly has not said so one way or the other.
What is clear is that Canada’s closest ally, the United States, is fully on board with how Israel has handled the situation thus far.
So where does that leave Canada?
Israel seemingly protects Canada’s interests in the region, as it does with the US.
Much like the US, Canada has not made many friends in the Middle East over the past two decades.
Canada fought alongside the US in Afghanistan.
While Canada was not a part of the “Coalition of the Willing,” a secret US diplomatic cable leak, published by Wikileaks, shows that at the time of the invasion of Iraq, Canada intended to leave its “1,280 military personnel ships and aircraft in the region to continue to contribute to the campaign against terrorism.”
Most notably, on September 7th, 2012, Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Iran. Expelling Iranian diplomats from the country. The Canadian government also formally listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.
This is Trudeau’s dilemma.
Over the past two decades, Canada’s foreign policy has begun to look more and more similar to US foreign policy.
The effort to protect its interests neuters Canada’s perceived position as a quote-on-quote “peacekeeping nation.”
The Prime Minister also risks hurting his relationship with Biden should he go against the grain and call for a ceasefire.
All of this seemingly takes precedence in Canada’s approach to Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
Meanwhile, the lives of innocent Palestinians stand the most to gain from an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s occupation.