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Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=2534
Canada's Moral Leadership
(Israel Hayom) David M. Weinberg - Canada has become arguably the most pro-Israel country in the world. From being the first world leader to cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority in 2006 when it was taken over by Hamas, to speaking out against growing global anti-Semitism, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has embraced Israel as no Canadian leader did before him. He blamed Hizbullah for the war and civilian deaths in Lebanon during the summer war of 2006, and rejected widespread calls for an immediate ceasefire. He led the boycott of the Durban II conference. He blocked a G-8 statement that would have called for a return to Israel's 1967 borders. Over the three years that it sat on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Canada stood alone in defense of Israel - eight times casting the only "no" vote against unfair condemnations of Israel. After Canada lost its bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, Harper suggested that the country's stalwart defense of Israel was a contributing factor. Canada's bold words and actions give us Israelis hope that there are indeed many decent people, some of them in positions of power, who will not bow to demonization or to the Orwellian twisting of history and language that often pertains to Israel these days. The writer is director of the Israel office of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the central advocacy agency of the Canadian Jewish community.