Hours after the unprovoked attack by Israel on Iran, Prime Minister Mark Carney repeated the tired script: “Canada reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and to ensure its security.” In the same breath, he hypocritically called for “maximum restraint” from all parties, and said that Iran was the biggest threat to regional peace. Not a single word about Israel’s blatant aggression.
And as night follows day, the retaliation by Iran was met with strong words by Canada’s foreign affairs minister: “Canada condemns Iran’s attack on Israel, and urges restraint on both sides.”
When Israel bombs and attacks, Canada is “closely following” the “escalation of tensions”. When Iran retaliates, Canada condemns them and accuses them of being the root of all evil in the Middle East.
Carney aligned himself with the Israeli government and other Western imperialist powers by repeating concerns over the “grave dangers” of Iran’s nuclear program. In doing so, he offered tacit justification for Netanyahu’s decision to launch massive strikes on Tehran based on the lie that Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon. Even U.S. intelligence assessments suggest this was false.
Maybe some people expected a different tune from the Canadian government. Only a few weeks ago, Canada signed a joint statement with France and the U.K., saying they “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza” and calling the suffering in Gaza “intolerable”.
But the only reason they felt confident to do this was because it happened at a time of open conflict between Netanyahu and Trump. Since the big imperialist was signaling a loosening of support for Israel, the small imperialists suddenly had the diplomatic space to say some empty words to try to wash their hands of the genocide. Naturally, these words had no real consequences whatsoever. Canada still hasn’t imposed a genuine arms embargo on Israel.
But a war between Israel and Iran is another matter. Iran is a major power in the region and is aligned with Russia and China—the main rivals to western imperialism. This is why, when push comes to shove, Canada takes the side of Israel against Iran—regardless of how hypocritical and ridiculous it is.
While painting themselves as the champions of peace, democracy and the “rules-based order”, the western imperialists continue to let the madman Netanyahu carry out his genocidal war and attack his neighbours, bombing Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and now Iran.
It is clear that the main destabilizing force in the Middle East is not Iran, but the U.S. and Israeli ruling classes, aided and abetted by their lapdogs in Paris, London and Ottawa. Do not let the hypocritical, lying Canadian government tell us otherwise.
