The minority Conservative government of Stephen Harper has drawn popular and media attention for its policies and statements relating to Israel/Palestine. As Yves Engler notes in his new book, the Conservatives have publicly claimed for Canada the role of being the most “pro-Israel” country in the world (94). But what happened before Prime Minister Harper? Engler’s concise and informative history of Canada’s foreign policy towards Israel answers this in ways that will be disquieting for Canadians who support the image of their country as a middle power, peacekeeper and helpful fixer on the international stage. Far from being an “honest broker,” this accessibly written account shows that well before Harper there was “Canadian support for the dispossession of the Palestinians, for a state building a nation based on one religion, and for the last major European colonial project” (4). 

 

In a tightly packed Introduction, Engler argues that Israel is an “apartheid state,” (5) due to the absence of formal equality accorded the non-Jewish indigenous inhabitants and their descendants of historic Palestine – that is Palestinian Arabs who may be Muslim or Christian. The denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees stands in dramatic contrast to Israel’s “Law of Return” which privileges those that are defined as Jews – wherever they may be – for settlement and Israeli citizenship. The deprivation, human rights abuses, and bantustan-like conditions experienced by Palestinians living under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, contrast with the mantra of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East. In Israel proper, laws privilege Jewish land ownership such that Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship are legally excluded from owning a whopping 93% of the land (7). The ten chapters that follow the Introduction concentrate on delineating the role played by the Canadian state, Canadian officials and Canadian citizens in, as the book’s subtitle suggests, “building apartheid.” The book concludes with consideration of how the course might be changed. 

 

A specific strength of Engler’s account is that he illustrates that going back to the nineteenth century there was strong support by Canadian state officials for modern Zionism, a political project that came to coalesce around the goal of forming a Jewish state in historic Palestine. This, he suggests, was because in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some of the most active and vocal Zionists in Canada were Christian and their views, based on a particular biblical interpretation, were linked to British-Canadian nationalism. Thus, illustrating the erasure of the presence and claims of the non-Jewish inhabitants in historic Palestine, Engler cites future Prime Minister Arthur Meighen, then Solicitor General, declaring in 1915 that “I think I can speak for those of the Christian faith when I express the wish that God speed the day when the land of your forefathers shall be yours again. This task I hope will be performed by that champion of liberty the world over – the British Empire” (14). Likewise, a slew of twentieth century Prime Ministers, including William Lyon Mackenzie King, R.B. Bennett and Lester Pearson expressed similar views. Indeed, so instrumental was Lester B. Pearson in forging support for the partition of Palestine within the fledgling United Nations that Engler notes he was dubbed by some the “‘Lord Balfour’ of Canada” (24), in reference to British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour whose 1917 declaration promised British support of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine. It is interesting that Pearson also credited his Sunday school lessons for learning that “the Jews belonged in Palestine” (25). 

 

After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, Engler traces how official Canadian support for the Zionist project continued to the present. This support is sustained not only by a Christian evangelical tradition that links with Israel, but by real ties between Canada and Israel in the spheres of intelligence, military and business, as well as by geopolitical considerations stemming from American empire. As summarized by Engler, “Canadian policy towards the Middle East has largely been designed to enable U.S. imperial designs on a strategic part of the planet” (133). Thus, in his account, the post-World War Two Canadian Prime Ministers whose policies were relatively more independent of the United States (Trudeau and Chrétien) also presided over “the least ‘Israel no matter what it does’ governments in Canadian history” (134). An entire chapter devoted to the Harper Conservatives illustrates how the current government has provided justifications of Israel’s bombing of Lebanon (2006) and Gaza (2008-2009) as well as having engaged in stronger patterns of voting in the United Nations in support of Israel. While not covered, events around the time of the release of the book suggest the trend continues. In particular, the Conservative government also defunded organizations advocating for, or aiding, Palestinian refugees (for example, Canada’s Christian multi-denominational human rights group KAIROS, as well as UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which has traditionally garnered support from Canada). 

 

Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid is an intervention designed to capture Canada’s role in Israel/Palestine in a way that counters “a pro-Israel perspective” suggested in other books (4). It is not a standard scholarly book which painstakingly outlines supporting and/or competing theories, evidence and interpretation from a variety of sources. It also lacks an index. But it succeeds in providing a strong, clear and compelling narrative that scholars, especially those who address Canadian foreign policy, really need to contend with in scholarship. The work is highly readable and will certainly appeal to a wide audience, perhaps precisely because it is not a standard scholarly book. The author’s knack for picking pithy quotes and examples to substantiate his claims make for memorable reading. I suspect that Engler is right that many Canadian readers on finishing the account provided may be “troubled, upset and even angry at what is being done in their name” (139). 

 

The book’s most formidable value lies in how it identifies ways forward for unions, for activists, and for Canadians of all backgrounds – including Arab and Jewish – to deal with issues relating to Palestinian rights along with the democratization of Canadian foreign policy. It is perhaps not surprising, given its increasing traction, that supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) campaign designed to compel the Israeli state’s compliance with international law is featured. But so too are such issues as halting weapons sales to Israel, revoking the Jewish National Fund’s charitable status in Canada in light of its support given to West Bank settlers, and re-formulating Canadian foreign policy so social justice, rather than empire, comes first. For those committed to progressive social change, this is an important and timely book. 

—Reviewed by Yasmeen Abu-Laban, University of Alberta

Socialist Studies 6(2) Fall 2010

 

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Engler’s writing is clear and concise without wasted rhetoric. In the introduction he outlines what he wishes to demonstrate to the reader:

 

Canada has supported all but one of Israel’s military adventures (Egypt);

 

Biblical literalism and European nationalism played significant roles in the formation and ideology of both countries; both are “settler states;”

 

“Uninterested in the welfare of the indigenous population,” Canada gave strong support to and helped shape the UN partition plan; followed by continued one- sided diplomacy supporting Israel–from Mossad/CSIS relations, to military, business, and private subsidized donations;

 

Both main political parties–Conservatives and Liberals, akin to the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.–lead to Canada being “the most pro-Israel country in the world.”

 

Finally, the main thrust of this one sided support is Canada’s role as a sycophantic admirer of the U.S. empire–at least at the level of the political-corporate elites.

 

Form those originating outlines, Engler delivers a hard driving compilation of facts, tendencies, and quotable quotes that do demonstrate Canada’s strong support of the Israeli dispossession of the Palestinian people.

 

Canada has supported Israel for the six decades of its existence, having previously given large support to the idea of Zionism (note that Canada, along with many other western countries, limited Jewish immigration to Canada after WW II) under the guidance of the British Empire. Having adopted the U.S. empire after the collapse of the British, Canada under Harper’s conservative government (which follows many of the U.S. Republican ideals) proclaimed in 2008 “that Canada was the most pro-Israel country in the world. So did Israeli officials.” While Canadian officials “pretend that Israel is working towards a Palestinian state,” their votes and actions give support to ongoing Israeli occupation and settlement against all international law.

 

Engler wonders how Canada’s credibility has been hurt or not. With our position on Israel, our support of the Washington consensus politically, our involvement in the U.S. imperial wars in Afghanistan, Canada’s political credibility should be very low, at least outside of areas that kowtow to U.S. imperial directives–Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He states that “every Canadian who believes in the principles of human rights, even-handedness and peacekeeping in foreign affairs should be embarrassed by our government’s record.” Count me in on that one.

 

In summing up the reasons for Canada’s “overwhelming pro-Israel bias” Engler succinctly states his observations: the influence of religion (Harper is fundamentalist Christian as are many of his followers); the new threat of being called anti-Semitic (although the unreality of it hardly makes it a threat unless one is within the elite political/corporate system); the strength of the Jewish lobby in Canada (parallel with the U.S.) and the power of the U.S. empire in business and politics (most of Canada’s trade is with the U.S., as their economy goes, so goes ours).

 

In the final section of his “will demonstrate that” format Engler quickly outlines these various influences. While they are all significant, the most important one–Canada’s adherence to the U.S. empire–is discussed last. Essentially Canada is enamoured of empire, at least the elites are, “Canada has long sided with empire” as in Afghanistan where “the occupation [is] largely about supporting the Washington led West’s geo-strategic position vis-a-vis Russia, China and Iran.”

 

The nature of Canada’s policy is such that “Social justice, humanism and morality rarely motivate Canadian foreign policy.” After listening to Canada’s new Governor General speak today on this same topic, I hope he will find the time to read this book. Further, another reiteration of the same idea is that “Canadian policy towards the Middle East has largely been designed to enable U.S. imperial designs on a strategic part of the planet.” (and to reiterate, as their wars go, so goes our economy.)

 

Unfortunately, as long as Israel continues in its geo-strategic role as “a secure bastion for Western interests,” and any threat to Israel is considered “a threat to Canada’s interests” and to “the broader Western civilization,” there will continue to be “ a powerful force pushing Canada to be one-sidedly pro-Israel.” That force, to say it again in another form, are the political and corporate interests of the U.S. empire of which Canada is a very willing participant, perhaps ignorantly so in that Canadians do not see themselves as being like “Americans.”

 

Engler offers some hope after all that. After the Gaza onslaught, 52 per cent of Canadians believe Israel plays a negative role in the world, and only 28 per cent believe it played a positive role. He states, “We need to create a political climate where justifying killing Palestinians and stealing their land is no longer acceptable.” Further for Canada in particular, “The point of our protests must not just be Palestinian suffering but rather Canadian complicity with that suffering.”

 

Engler suggests a variety of means to support the Palestinian cause, ranging from the current boycott divestment sanctions through to constitutional challenges on policies that contravene the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Finally he recognizes that Canadian foreign affairs policy “is dominated by a small elite…and until that changes the interests of the foreign policy establishment will take precedence over social justice.” In other words, foreign policy needs to be “democratized” and not left to the elites who pretend to be savants with special knowledge that make policy complex and beyond the average persons comprehension–the ‘average person’ shows considerable compassion and social intelligence when educated to the realities of Israeli occupation and settlement of Palestine.

 

The first step, mentioned last, “is to educate ourselves so that we can educate others.“ Works like his own excellent little book, Canada and Israel, will provide a solid basis for educating the reading public concerning Canada‘s role in Building Apartheid, and should be mandatory to be read by the politicians of the country.

—Jim Miles, Pacific Free Press

 

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 Innocents Abroad

Reviewed by Leila Marshy Countries, like people, can go a long way on their reputations. But according to Yves Engler, Canada’s reputation as peacekeeper, honest broker, friend to the disenfranchised, and so on, is hardly deserved.

 

Having written such books as Canada in Haiti and The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, Engler, former Concordia Student Union president and all-round activist, is creating a niche for himself by dissecting the unknown, nefarious, or hypocritical deeds that define Canada’s foreign policy. Want to tour the world with a Canadian flag on your backpack? Hold that thought. With Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, Engler wades into the murky waters of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Almost every major event, milestone, and sector is explored for its Canadian angle. Keeping his editorial voice to a minimum and eschewing rhetoric and moral one-upmanship, Engler relies almost exclusively on documents in the public domain, archived media reports, and an extensive bibliography.

 

According to these documents, Canadians played a significant role from the beginning: among other things, leading a brigade in the new Israeli army (Ben Dunkelman), designing the partition plan (Justice Ivan C. Rand), and being credited for negotiating the final vote in the United Nations (Lester B. Pearson). Meanwhile, Elizabeth MacCallum, the only Middle East expert in the Department of Foreign Affairs at the time, was often purposefully left out of meetings and her protestations went ignored: “At the time of partition MacCallum scribbled a note and passed it to Pearson saying the Middle East was now in for ‘forty years’ of war due to the lack of consultation with the Arab countries. She underestimated the duration of the conflict.”

 

Unlike its British or American counterparts, Canada seems to always have the benefit of the dark. Engler’s book demonstrates that working in the background allows Canada to carry out a foreign policy without it actually having to be policy. Israel is, after all, the only other country besides the United States with whom Canada shares a “border management and security agreement.” Engler reveals the breadth of Canada’s relationship with Israel to be staggering: over 140 Canadian weapons makers export arms directly to Israel; Canada consistently blocks the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty from demanding accountability from Israel’s nuclear weapons industry; in 1997, Israel became Canada’s fourth free trade partner, after the U.S., Mexico and Chile; after the March and December 2008 incursions into Gaza, which claimed over 1,200 lives, Canada was the only country to oppose a un resolution accusing Israel of war crimes.

 

Engler goes refreshingly beyond the knee-jerk “Jewish lobby” theories as to why Canada is so supportive and intransigent, and explores some interesting avenues: Canada’s historical willingness to accept the mistreatment of indigenous peoples; the desire to have a “western outpost” in the Middle East; a belief in Israel rooted in a Christian literalist reading of the bible; the need to be aligned with an “Empire” (whether British or American or Israeli) and all that it entails. In 1948 Elizabeth MacCallum said Ottawa supported partition because “we didn’t give a hoot about democracy.”

 

Belying the author’s activist bent, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid is a neat little book, something you want to mark up and tuck into your back pocket. But the haphazardness and errors in the footnotes and bibliography don’t help it graduate to serious scholarship. Engler should know better: given the contentiousness of the topic, it doesn’t take many factual errors or sloppy sourcing to decimate an argument. Engler’s conclusion, however, that Canadians must educate themselves about their own country’s policies, couldn’t come at a better time. Harper’s government is easily the most fundamentalist and least transparent administration we’ve ever had. Just a few days of reading newspaper headlines confirms what we still have a hard time hearing: Canada’s reputation is in tatters.

 

—Leila Marshy is a regular contributor to Rover Arts and is the Managing Editor of the online literary journal carte blanche.

 

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“Thousands of books describe various aspects of the Palestinian /Israeli conflict…This is the first book to focus on Canadian support for the dispossession of Palestinians, for a state based on one religion, and for the last major European colonial project.”

Several years ago, Yves Engler co-wrote Canada in Haiti and last year, The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy; now he focuses on the history of Canada’s relationship with the state of Israel. Engler is a full-time writer and speaker, living simply and travelling by bus across Canada to make his work known. Fortunately, there are still publishers that will take on writers like Engler. He writes a primer on how Israel came to be. Israel fits the definition of apartheid: one privileged ethnic group occupying land and denying rights to millions. Not only successive generations of Canadian politicians and the corporate media have supported Israel but also Christian evangelical churches.

 

In Engler’s view, the reason for Canada’s support of Israel, beyond the religious context, was and is the need to defend and expand first the British Empire and now the American Empire. He writes, “Canada gains little from Israel’s occupation, which costs Palestinians so dearly” as we willingly participate in the defense of the Empire. Trudeau, who saw more value in doing business with Arab countries than with Israel, was the first prime minister to distance himself from pro-Israel support – even though half of his Montreal riding was Jewish. Chapter ten, “Changing Course,” discusses the rising awareness of and increasing solidarity actions for Palestinians rights in Canada including major demonstrations for Gaza and positive responses to polls, including those that suggest “the more Canadians know about the conflict, the greater their sympathy for Palestine.” He says, “educating Canadians is key to changing our foreign policy.” Speak out publicly and fearlessly; “there is no need to pander to manufactured fears.”

 

The BDS movement, in response to calls from about 200 Palestinian organizations, joined by more and others in the rest of the world since 2005, is gaining ground on many levels. Canadian activists are boycotting Chapters-Indigo (where this book is not available at the author’s request).

 

Engler says we should focus on ending weapons sales to Israel, revoke charitable status of organizations which support and fun pro-Israeli state policies that oppress Palestinians, and rescind our CSIS security agreements with Mossad.

 

“We want to ‘de-ethnicize’ the conflict. This is not an Arab or Jewish issue but rather one of global importance about basic human dignity. Many Jewish groups do not support Israeli policy or Zionism.

 

Finally he writes, “On a broader level lit is essential to democratize Canadian foreign policy. More than other aspects of government policy, foreign policy is dominated by a small elite. Most of the population is simply shut out of the discussion and until that changes the interests of the foreign policy establishment will take precedence over social justice…”

 

-Review by Theresa Wolfwood, Canadian Dimension, June 22, 2010

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In “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid”, Yves Engler argues that “Canada is not, nor has ever been, an ‘honest broker’ in the Palestine-Israel conflict.“ Engler gets right to work reviewing Canadian support for the murder of Palestinians and the theft of their land – support that goes back to the days of Israel’s creation in 1947. 

Citing careful studies of the Canadian voting record at the UN, Engler shows that Canadian governments have only differed in the extent and the openness with which they have backed Israel. One very useful chapter lists the myriad business, intelligence and military links between the Israeli and Canadian elite that have developed over many years. Those opposed to Israeli apartheid will have to work long and hard to break those links. 

Canada’s current government under Stephen Harper is, as Engler shows, at the extreme end of the spectrum in its support for Israel. In 2008, Ottawa signed a “border management and security” agreement with Israel even though Canada obviously does not share a border with Israel. Harper’s government barred British MP George Galloway from entering Canada because of his support for Palestinian rights – something the United States did not even do. However, it is worth remembering that Harper has done all this despite leading a minority government. Engler points out that the NDP (social democrats) and the Green party both supported the Harper government’s withdraw from the second World Conference Against Racism (“Durban II) in 2008. Criticism of Israel at the conference was equated to anti- Semitism. 

Looking over the historical record, Engler uncovered a rare example of common sense among Canadian officials in Elizabeth MacCallum. She stated bluntly in 1947 that Canada, led by Lester Pearson (a future Prime Minster and Nobel Laureate), supported the partition of Palestine “because we didn’t give two hoots for democracy” – obvious enough given that the majority of the inhabitants opposed partition. 

MacCallum argued that if making amends for the Holocaust were really the issue then it would have made much more sense to force Germans to give up territory, not Palestinians. 

Engler wrote 

“Despite failing to convince her superiors MacCallum displayed sharp foresight. At the time of partition, ‘MacCallum scribbled a note and passed it to Pearson saying the Middle East was now in for ‘forty years’ of war, due to the lack of consultation with the Arab countries.’…She underestimated the duration of the conflict.”

Pearson chaired the committee that established the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) in 1947. Canada’s representative to UNSCOP was another widely admired Canadian, Supreme Court Justice Ivan C. Rand, who worked successfully within UNSCOP to thwart efforts to have the International Court of Justice rule on whether the partition violated the UN Charter (which it clearly did). 

Engler details decades of support Lester Pearson went on to provide for Israeli aggression. Pearson was, understandably enough, revered by Zionists. In 1960, Pearson was awarded Israel’s Medallion of Valour and, in 1968, the Theodore Herzl award from the Zionist Organization of America. 

Engler argues that the main thing driving Canada’s support for Israel has been support for US imperialism. He suggests, quite persuasively, that the “way to understand Jewish Zionist lobbying is that it pressed against an almost open door.” He wrote 

“Leading External Affairs mandarins Hume Wrong and Norman Robertson believed that ‘if handled properly’ the State of Israel could become a useful and friendly ally of the Western powers which would help resist Soviet penetration in the area.” 

Ironically, the Soviet Union made a similar but opposite calculation in 1947 – a miscalculation in the Soviet case–and also supported partition. The Soviets were not the only members of the broad international Left to have, at one time or another, supported Zionism over the past five decades. 

Perhaps the most compelling chapter in Engler’s book discusses support that Israel has received from Canadian progressives – often driven by overlooked “Christian Zionism” and nurtured by effective lobbying by Israeli unions. 

NDP leader Tommy Douglas – who is, justifiably, praised for his role in winning Canadians universal health care – criticized Prime Minister Lester Pearson, who was a staunch Zionist as already mentioned, for not supporting Israel strongly enough. In 1975, years into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, Tommy Douglas stated that 

“The main enmity against Israel is that she has been an affront to those nations who do not treat their people and their workers as well as Israel has treated hers.” 

This statement negates not only that Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are workers but that they exist at all. The same year Douglas made this outlandish remark, the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC) opposed the admission of the PLO to the International Labor Organisation and strongly condemned the UN General Assembly for calling Zionism a form of racism. 

Long after Israel’s shift to the right, the CLC’s support for Israeli aggression remained solid. In 1985, it denounced a Canadian Senate report which rebuked Israel for invading Lebanon in 1982. 

Engler acknowledges a significant, and long overdue, shift within the Canadian Left since the mid 1980s which is revealed by the massive demonstrations against the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008, the holding of Israel Apartheid Week across Canadian campuses, and the growing BDS (boycott divestment sanctions) campaign which has been supported by some Canadian unions. However, he also shows that the Canadian Left still has work to do in eradicating support for Israeli apartheid from within its own ranks. Canadian unions still purchase $20 million a year worth of State of Israel Bonds. Engler noted 

“During Israel’s December 2008/January 2009 assault on Gaza Manitoba NDP Justice Minister Dave Chomiak took part in a Stand With Israel event in Winnipeg alongside Conservative and Liberal MPs. Chomiak told those gathered that ‘The enemy and the fear are terrorists who know no limits.’…He was referring to Hamas operatives with their homemade rockets and machine guns, not the U.S./Canada equipped IDF responsible for a hundred times more deaths than the few killed in Israel.” 

The high level of Canadian support for Isreali crimes bolsters Engler’s reply to objections that Israel has been unfairly “singled out” for abuses that are not as bad as others in the world: 

“… it is true that Palestinian suffering receives more attention than other world atrocities (such as the millions killed in Eastern Congo or the thousands killed in the aftermath of the Canadian backed coup in Haiti). The point of our protests must not just be Palestianian suffering but rather Canadian complicity with that suffering. That complicity is what compels Canadians to focus on what is happening in Israel.” 

In other words, Canadian governments and other institutions have “singled out” Israeli apartheid for tremendous support. Canadians are therefore responsible for putting a stop to it. 

The very use of the word “apartheid” provokes anger among apologists for Israel. Engler provides a thorough explanation of why the term is appropriate and reminds us that 

“The Canadian media largely opposed the boycott of South Africa even though Canada was less complicit with that form of apartheid than the current Israeli version…More than two decades after the Sharpeville massacre and six years after Soweto exploded, the Globe and Mail argued that ‘disinvestment would be unwittingly an ally of apartheid’ since Canadian investments brought progressive ideas.” 

Many who complain the loudest about the use of the word “apartheid” to describe Israel do not have a track record of opposition to South African apartheid. In his previous book, (The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy) Engler revealed that Canadian public and private support for South African apartheid was obscured by policies that officially opposed it. Opponents of Israeli apartheid have many important lessons to learn from that struggle and from Engler’s fine work.

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