Canada's pro-Israel stance backfires on Harper

Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is paying the price for his support of Israel in the current war. The 250,000-strong -Lebanese-Canadian community is furious with his description of Israel's strikes as a "moderate response" to Hizbullah's activities. Polls now indicate that 77% of Canadians want to remain neutral on this war while 61% of people in Quebec, where Harper's conservatives were hoping for a breakthrough, are resolutely against supporting Israel. A coalition of 60 NGOs will be protesting on Sunday against the government's position. As many as 50,000 Lebanese-Canadian were believed to be in Lebanon when the war started, and several have already been killed by Israel strikes.

Also see this Le Monde article [$].