Israel News

The first time I met Benjamin Netanyahu was on Sept. 9, 2002, in the lobby of a Montreal hotel. The former Israeli prime minister (as he then was) and his entourage had just retreated from Concordia University, where violent street protesters screaming slogans in Arabic had shut down his scheduled speech. While aides jabbered into cellphones, trying (unsuccessfully) to arrange another venue, Mr. Netanyahu wondered aloud to me and a half dozen other hangers-on how a democracy such as Canada had permitted a street mob to shut down a major speaking event. Ominous comparisons were made to Europe, where similarly ugly scenes had become common in the wake of Israel’s 2002 West Bank  offensive.

Seven years later, as Mr. Netanyahu visits Canada once again, everything has changed.

The Israeli Prime Minister retains clear memories of his 2002 trip: He still speaks ruefully of the “Concordia-Berkeley axis” of bien-pensant Western opinion that seizes any pretext to attack Israel. But the Canadian end of that axis is much withered: As Mr. Netanyahu told Peter Mansbridge in an interview for yesterday’s edition of CBC’s The National, Stephen Harper has defined himself in Israeli eyes as a “champion” of the Jewish state’s right to defend itself. Some observers, Mr. Mansbridge noted, now describe Canada as Israel’s strongest supporter in the entire world.