How Canada’s relationship with Israel went from ‘best friend’ to breakdown [Video]

Warning: This story includes an archival image of dead bodies.

Canada’s relationship with Israel has travelled a long way since 2015, when prime minister Stephen Harper and aspiring rival Justin Trudeau competed to claim the title of best friend of the Jewish state.

After winning his majority in 2011, Harper realigned Canada’s votes at the United Nations, joining a firmly pro-Israel bloc comprised of the U.S. and a group of Pacific island microstates that normally follow Washington’s lead. 

That bloc would often be joined by a wider circle of pro-Israel nations; on the most controversial matters, however, its core members voted alone with Israel against overwhelming majorities.

From 2011, Canada opposed almost all motions favouring Palestinians or criticizing Israel — a near-reversal of its votes on the same annual Israel-Palestine motions 15 years earlier.

Harper also developed a personal friendship with Israel’s eternally returning prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even serenading him at the pianoin 2014. (Harper remains a popular figure …