On Saturday, Canada put itself at the forefront of the struggle against a nuclear Iran. Suspending diplomatic ties is not a simple move. It's not every day that a country, especially a Western country, closes an embassy, expels foreign representatives and brings its diplomats home. The U.S. and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Iran. Canada went one significant step further. Ottawa made the rare move exactly one week after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon took part in the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran. Vive la difference. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a brave man. Iran poses a threat to world peace, supports terrorism, helps the Syrian regime slaughter its citizens and poses a direct threat to Israel. These are four good reasons to close an embassy, not to mention what happened in Tehran 10 months ago, when an angry mob invaded the British Embassy while Iranian security forces exercised deliberate incompetence, doing absolutely nothing to prevent it. For a long time, we have been made to believe that we are alone in the world. Last September, during the Palestinians' unilateral attempt to win U.N. recognition, we saw that we are not exactly alone. Israel does have friends, and Canada appears to be more and more of a true ally, especially since Harper's Conservative Party returned to power in 2006. Canada has adopted a clear pro-Israel policy. Canada was the first country in the world to announce a ban on Hamas, right after the 2006 Palestinian elections. Harper himself was always well known for his warm attitude toward Israel. During the 2006 Second Lebanon War he did not hesitate to express support for Israeli operations against Hezbollah, despite harsh criticism from the Canadian opposition arguing that he was taking a one-sided stance in clear favor of Israel. Canada also ensured that the concluding statement of the 2011 G-8 summit made no explicit mention of 1967 borders or hope that Israel would return to those borders in the near future. For Ottawa, Israel's security needs come first. My rabbi friends will have to forgive me, because this year, alongside the apples, dates, pomegranates and honey that will grace my family's Rosh Hashanah table, I will also be serving maple syrup. Apples in maple syrup has never sounded so good.
