Canadian FM: Shoulder to Shoulder with Israel

By Julie Stahl

CBN News Middle East Correspondent

Monday, January 19, 2015

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Canada has more than Israel's back. It's standing by Israel's side, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said on Monday.

Canada -- whose prime minister, Stephen Harper, is an evangelical Christian -- is one of the most pro-Israel countries in the world right now.

"As I've said before, Canada doesn't stand behind Israel; we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it," Baird said during a press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu welcomed Baird as "a great champion of peace and security and as a great champion of the truth." He said Baird had consistently "demonstrated a willingness to stand up for what is right and to oppose what is wrong."

"We're all engaged in a great battle against the terrorism of militant Islam. Israel has been continually attacked by this scourge and so has Canada recently. Indeed many parts of the world are suffering from this violent attack,' Netanyahu said.

"To fight Islamist terrorism, we need clarity and courage. Canada has both. You know who is the aggressor; you know who is the defender. You know that Israel legitimately defends itself against the war crimes of Hamas and other terrorist groups," he continued.

"You know that it's a travesty of justice to haul Israel to the dock in The Hague, and you know that the entire system of international law could unravel because of this travesty," he said.

Netanyahu repeated an earlier statement that Israel would not have its hands tied by the International Criminal Court in its fight to defend itself against terrorism.

The ICC announced it was launching a preliminary investigation against Israel on possible war crimes charges relating to its 50-day war against Hamas last summer. There have been no attempts to investigate Hamas despite its rocket fire against Israeli civilians and using its own civilians as human shields.

Baird said that his grandfather had fought in World War II and stayed in the Canadian armed forces for decades after that.

"The great struggles of his generation were fighting fascism and then in the Canadian forces during the Cold War fighting communism. Well the great struggle of our generation is terrorism," Baird said.

"And far too often the State of Israel and the Jewish people around the world are on the front lines of that struggle. And as I've said before, Canada doesn't stand behind Israel; we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it."