Israel is taking advantage of “Operation Epstein Fury” to invade and occupy Lebanon (for the seventh time in 50 years). Twenty per cent of the Lebanese population, 1.2 million people, have been displaced. Since March 2 Israeli attacks have killed 2,000 people, including a Canadian citizen on April 10—Hassan Haidar, from Windsor, Ontario.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was asked a week after Haidar’s murder if the Canadian government would impose sanctions on Israel, for what Mark Carney himself called an “illegal invasion”. Curiously, Anand said this was out of the question. “We will continue to look at how we can be positive, a positive country, in the region,” she said.
It was not five years ago that the Liberals, following the U.S. and NATO, called for unconditional defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty, in the face of an all-out invasion by Russia. In the name of international law, democracy, and self-determination, they imposed historic sanctions on Russia and sent billions of dollars in “lethal aid” to the Ukrainian military. Now that Israel is invading Lebanon—with stated ambitions to annex and ethnically cleanse one third of its territory—the Canadian government calls for toothless diplomacy.
The Liberals have issued empty condemnations and calls for a ceasefire. It seems, however, that their pacifism only cuts one way. Despite restrictions on direct arms exports, Canadian military equipment is still flowing to Israel unimpeded, via the U.S. and its proxies. Last month, Anand fiercely opposed a bill to close such loopholes, saying it “would decimate Canada’s defence industry”, among other things.
War means good business for the arms industry, which Carney has big plans for. The bill was defeated. Meanwhile, both Carney and Anand are insisting that Hezbollah—the only force repelling Israel’s ground invasion—must lay down their weapons. Unlike in Ukraine, they do not call for the defence of the victims but rather their disarmament! The Liberals want to be a “positive” factor in negotiations, so long as negotiations with Israel are, as Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani put it, a “conversation between the sword and the neck.”
The double-standard is plain to see. Impunity for Israel is a requirement for entry in the western imperialist club. Carney can wag his finger and send strongly worded letters, but he knows any concrete measure against Israel would cause a serious falling out with Trump, which he cannot afford as CUSMA negotiations loom ahead. The fate of Canadian capitalism itself rests on Carney’s ability not to stand up to Trump, but rather to appease him.
The hypocrisy of so-called international law—which Carney’s much-vaunted Davos speech openly acknowledged—is just a veil for the naked interests of the big imperialist powers. But the Liberals can’t give it up, even as Canadian citizens are being butchered by Israel.
