As a Canadian, pro-Israel blogger and Social Media person, to say that I was proud of Stephen Harper’s visit to Israel would be an understatement. After watching Secretary of State Kerry insist on a peace deal while defying all logic to do so, and even while the country was grieving during Ariel Sharon’s funeral, Vice President Biden didn’t let up on us unwavering badgering of the tiny state to give up land to those who intend to annihilate her citizenry, as stated in the PLO Charter, that has never been amended. While the push for “peace” was going on, the Shin Bet has since discovered an Al Qaeda linked plot to actually blow up the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. The links for the terror cell ironically originate in Judea and Samaria, or the territory otherwise known as the West Bank.

On the heels of all this comes our Prime Minister. A man who from first blush, almost embodies a typical boring Canadian persona with his reserved and humble delivery. He came to tell Israel that he supported them and their right to exist and defend their homeland. He came to show them the goodwill of all Canadians who agree with his stance. He came to bring the healing balm of friendship. He also came to unequivocally stand up against the rising tide of antisemitism in the world that is disguised in other ways within the ruling intelligentsia.

In his historic speech at the Knesset Prime Minister Harper highlighted these very important points that go against the moral relativism that seeks to delegitimize the State of Israel.

Harper stated:

“First, Canada finds it deplorable that some in the international community still question the legitimacy of the existence of the state of Israel.

Our view on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is absolute and non-negotiable.

Second, Canada believes that Israel should be able to exercise its full rights as a UN member-state and to enjoy the full measure of its sovereignty.

For this reason, Canada has spoken on numerous occasions in support of Israel’s engagement and equal treatment in multilateral fora.

And, in this regard, I should mention that we welcome Israel’s induction this month into the western, democratic group of states at the United Nations.

Third, we refuse to single out Israel for criticism on the international stage.”

Mr. Harper believes that by not supporting the only democracy in the Middle East, we diminish our own ability to maintain our freedom and democracy in the West.

Stephen Harper also spoke out against Israel as an apartheid state and in that instant, to prove his point, two Arab Members of Knesset heckled him and walked out of his speech. Showing the world that indeed Israel has Arabs in their Government and they have the right to free speech just as any other citizen does.

When Harper was asked later on why he did not criticize Israel publicly as most all other visiting dignitaries do he explained that when he is in the Palestinian Territory holding meetings with leaders there, he is never asked to criticize the governance or practises of the Government there.

The trip also included a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum; a trip to Northern Israel where Mr. & Mrs. Harper visited the bird sanctuary in the Hula Valley named after him; he received an Honorary Doctorate from Tel Aviv University and he also prayed at The Western Wall in The Old City of Jerusalem. His popularity followed him there where his presence brought on a round of applause from the people on The Kotel Plaza.

A Canadian Jewish legislator lost out on an attempt for a “million dollar shot” with Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a visit to the Western Wall (Kotel), Canadian media reported.

Jewish Conservative Member of Parliament Mark Adler is looking ahead to next year’s election in his district where nearly 20 percent of the residents are Jewish.

Adler, rebuffed by one of Harper’s staff for a photograph of his standing with the prime minister at the Kotel, tried again. “This, it’s the re-election. This is the million-dollar shot,” Adler said.

The staffer replied, “I’m sorry, listen, you and 300 other people.”

After his remarks were reported, Adler insisted he was joking and said, “You guys don’t get a joke, huh? It’s all said tongue-in-cheek.”

Failing to use the Western Wall pilot to win possible votes, Adler settled for a Twitter photo showing entourage leaving the area and a tweet stating,  ”Leaving the Kotel in Jerusalem with @pmharper and the Canadian delegation.”

Harper wrapped up his maiden visit to Israel and moved on to Jordan, where he offered $150 million in aid  to help the kingdom take care of Syrian refugees and respond to the threat of chemical weapons.

In his visit to the Palestinian Authority earlier this week,. Harper announced $66 million in aid for the Abbas government.

Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper exposed anti-Israel media bias Tuesday by noting that no reporter asked him in Ramallah about human rights in the Palestinian Authority but peppered him with questions on Jewish settlements when he was in Jerusalem.

At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Tuesday, Harper was asked several times to make a statement on settlements. He kept repeating what he has said he arrived on Sunday – that the purpose of his visit is not to “single out Israel” for criticism.

When a reported pressed him again on the issue, Harper replied, “Once again, let me emphasize it: I am not here to single out Israel for criticism. I find it, you know, interesting – let me just make it as an observation – that, you know, yesterday in the Palestinian Authority, no one asked me there, no one asked me there to single out the Palestinian Authority for any criticism in terms of governance or human rights or anything else.

“I’m asked to single out Israel. When I’m in Israel,  I’m asked to single out Israel; when I’m in the Palestinian Authority, I’m asked to single out Israel; and in half the other places around the world you ask me to single out Israel.”

Harper in a single swipe described the international mindset against Israel more clearly than any Israeli official has ever done.

Netanyahu picked up the beat and stated, “Now, there are two things that I want to puncture, two prevailing myths. Well, one is no longer with us. The first one, which was repeated ad nauseum – you can check if you are a repeater – but until recently, everybody who knew anything about the Middle East explained that the core of the conflict, always in the singular, conflict; the core of the conflict in the Middle East was the Palestinian problem. You remember that?

“Now, today you’d be laughed out of most places…, including the leading campuses in the West – even there – if you argued this, what was accepted as a common, obvious truth…

“The core of the many conflicts of the Middle East is not the Palestinian conflict. But what is the core of the Palestinian conflict itself? And here you have another great myth, and the myth is that the core is basically the settlements. Okay, now mind you the settlements issue, on which Canada has a different position from Israel – I guarantee you, that’s the case, okay? But the core, the settlement issue has to be resolved and will be resolved in a context of peace negotiations. But it is not the core of the conflict. We know that because this conflict raged for half a century before there was a single Israeli settlement, before there was a single Israeli soldier in Judea, Samaria or Gaza.

“This conflict began in 1920, 1921, with the attack on the Jewish immigration depot – murderous attack – in Jaffa. In Jaffa! And it raged on in the attack on the ancient Jewish community of Hebron; it’s been there since, practically unbroken since the time of Abraham – almost 4,000 years.

“And continued in the great attacks by the Palestinians on the Jews here in 1936 to 1939; there were no settlements there. It continued in the rejection of the partition resolution in 1947 that called for a Palestinian state next to – an Arab state actually – next to the Jewish state. There were no settlements. And it continued right up to 1967 when the West Bank, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza were firmly in Arab hands and it was meant to… to do what? To liberate the lands that were already in their hands?…

Two members of the delegation travelling with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper were shocked to see provocative and insulting behavior of Muslims and complacency of Israeli police during their visit to the Temple Mount Monday.

Stockwell Day, former Minister of Public Safety, accompanied Aharon Blumenfeld, a religious Jewish lawyer from Toronto was joined Harper’s entourage on Sunday after a private visit on the Sabbath with former Canadian businessman Mark Belzberg.

After the subject of the Temple Mount came up during the day and Blumenfeld said he wanted to ascend the Temple Mount, Day insisted that go along and even immerse in the mikveh (ritual poll) before, as required of Jews but not non-Jews.

If you’re going to experience something like a Jew, go all the way.

When the time tame to ascend the Temple Mount, Day and Blumenfeld discovered what Israelis go through every day, at least those who are allowed by police to visit.

First of all, the police inspected them and went through their pockets to make sure they were not carrying forbidden items, such as machine guns, bombs and a piece of Kleenex with a prayer scribbled on it.

They were warned not to pray and not to pick up any holy dirt from the holy site, which seems like a bit of a strange request. The Palestinian Authority has picked up a tons of holy dirt, along with artifacts that are evidence of the Holy Temples, in an effort to prevent exposure of proof beyond the Biblical account, which of course is part of a Zionist conspiracy to deny the Muslim claim that Jesus was a Palestinian and that the Zionist lobby made up all that other stuff.

After getting clearance, Temple Mount activists Rabbi Yehuda Glick  and Yoel Elitzur escorted Blumenfeld and Day to the Temple Mount for a visit of slightly more than an hour.

Towards the end, the action started, as seen in the video below.

Muslim men and women started screaming and yelling at the intruders. Glick, who has had his run-ins with police, complimented them on their handling of the situation. He told The Jewish Press that the law enforcement officers did a good job of separating the outraged Muslims from the visitors and preventing things from getting out of hand.

Day, who as minister dealt with police conduct, was not so impressed.

“If anyone in my country yelled at police like that, he would be arrested immediately,” he was quoted by Glick as saying.

Welcome to Israel.

Stockwell, by the way, is also active in the Canadian Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

In 2004, after the death of Yasser Arafat, Day was one of the few sane people who did not offer his condolences.

There’s no doubt that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a lot of fans during his official state visit to Israel, Monday. Israeli Canadians went absolutely gaga over him, lining up the streets (well, one street) to welcome his procession.

It’s so rare that someone out there should be on our side these days, that we go nuts (especially, like I said, the Canadians among us).

One woman was not celebrating: Zehava Gal-On, chair of the leftist Meretz party reacted to Harper’s loving speech in the Knesset by saying: “He sounds like a spokesman for the Foreign Office.”

She meant the Israeli Foreign office. She meant it was inconceivable that a high official outside Israel would say nice things about us. It really made her angry.

And, of course, the Arab MKs left the assembly in anger.

So, not entirely a bad day…

Photo credit: Meital Cohen/Flash 90

Two Arab Knesset Members heckled Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper until they finally stormed out of the chamber during Harper’s speech to the Knesset Monday.

The heckling started when Netanyahu spoke to Harper from the Knesset podium and called Canada a great ally. Netanyahu explained to Harper how Israel’s parliament works and that Knesset Members can scream as much as they like in the Knesset, something that “is not possible in Damascus and other places.”

MK Ahmed Tibi played right into Netanyahu’s hands and said out loud in English while pointing to his colleague MK Talab Abu-Arar, “There is no water or electricity in his village. Perhaps in Syria they have such things.”

(By the way, MK Talan Abu-Arar does have water and electricity in both his home and village).

Netanyahu, speaking in Hebrew so everyone in the Knesset would understand, said in reply, “I haven’t found that our Arab friends in Israel  want to separate from the State of Israel. Everyone wants to live here.” Knesset Speaker Yule Edelstein ended the entertainment, which Harper seemed to be enjoying, by telling Tibi, “Your message is clear, You don’t have to thank anyone for your right to speak.

Switching to English and addressing Harper, Netanyahu said, “I think I have my point about Israeli democracy. That was easy.”

In his speech, Harper said that condemnation of Israel is represents a “new strain” of anti-Semitism.

“We have witnessed, in recent years, the mutation of the old disease of anti-Semitism and the emergence of a new strain,”  he said,

The Arabs MKs did not wait around very long and walked out  during Harper’s speech, which was so pro-Zionist one wonders if it was not written by a modern day Ben Gurion.

The Canadian Prime Minister  said, “The friendship between us is rooted in history, nourished by shared values, and it is intentionally reinforced at the highest levels of commerce and government as an outward expression of strongly held inner convictions… During Canada’s mission to Afghanistan, our use of Israeli-built reconnaissance equipment saved the lives of Canadian soldiers….

We have also periodically made terrible mistakes as in the refusal of our government in the 1930s to ease the plight of Jewish refugees….

“ I would argue, support today for the Jewish state of Israel is more than a moral imperative; it is also of strategic importance, also a matter of our own, long-term interests….

“As you, Prime Minister [Netanyahu], have said, when Palestinians make peace with Israel, Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations — it will be the first.

“Sadly, we have yet to reach that point….

“Canada finds it deplorable that some in the international community still question the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel.

“Our view on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is absolute and non-negotiable.

“Second, Canada believes that Israel should be able to exercise its full rights as a UN member-state and to enjoy the full measure of its sovereignty….

“Third, we refuse to single out Israel for criticism on the international stage.

“Now I understand, in the world of diplomacy, with one, solitary, Jewish state and scores of others, it is all too easy  ‘to go along to get along’ and single out Israel.

“People who would never say they hate and blame the Jews for their own failings or the problems of the world, instead declare their hatred of Israel and blame the only Jewish state for the problems of the Middle East. …

“Most disgracefully of all, some openly call Israel an apartheid state.

“Think about that.

“Think about the twisted logic and outright malice behind that: a state, based on freedom, democracy and the rule of law, that was founded so Jews can flourish, as Jews, and seek shelter from the shadow of the worst racist experiment in history, that is condemned, and that condemnation is masked in the language of anti-racism.

Palestinian Authority journalists accused bodyguards of visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper of assaulting them during coverage of his trip the Church of the nativity in Bethlehem on Monday.

An agreement had been made that the media would follow Harper into the church, according to  the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency.

A cameraman said that the after Harper went inside, the bodyguards blocked the Palestinian Authority journalists, punching one journalists in the face and hitting another with a metal object.

The Palestinian Union of Journalists urged its members to boycott the rest of Harper’s visit.

No confirmation of the alleged assault was reported by any other news outlet.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu rolled out the red carpet for visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is on his first-ever trip to Israel along with 21 rabbis, a Catholic priest, 27 CEOs, six government ministers and eight members of Parliament.

After getting the royal treatment by Prime Minister Netanyahu Sunday night, Harper, an evangelical Christian and an accomplished musician who leads a bad called “Herringbone,” visited the Mount of Olives (Har HaZeitim) in Jerusalem.

Harper traveled to Bethlehem and then paid an obligatory visit to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on Monday, where he announced $66 million in new economic aid.

The first set of talkbacks on Canadian news sites included these negative remarks: “Thank you Mr. Harper that you found one more way to dump our tax money took them of our poor people, veterans, retirement person;

“Didn’t Canada and other nations declare Hamas a TERRORIST organization? Why not offer aid AFTER there is an established peace….;

“Extend our best wishes and offer to mediate. Stop throwing money down the big hole; and

“Well done Prime Minster Harper, Canada supports Israel, Canada’s closest friend in the Middle East.”

In fact, Canada has reduced its aid to the Palestinian Authority. Its five-year-commitment of $300 million has expired. Today’s pledge is for this year, and Harper did not go beyond that.

His pro-Israel stand is so strong that it drove the left-wing Haaretz to dig out a Canadian foreign ministry website position against the “illegal” Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to try to prove that Ottawa is pro-Palestinian Authority.

But Harper’s words and actions are nothing of the sort, and the Palestinian Authority has not forgiven Harper’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird for going to the United Nations to declare Ottawa’s opposition to Abbas’ appeal for statehood by declaring that “unilateral actions” are not part of the “peace process.”

Harper said in Ramallah on Monday, “Canada looks forward to a bright future for all Palestinians, one in which security and prosperity are enjoyed in a viable and democratic Palestinian state. The support we are providing today will advance those goals by furthering the peace process, generating jobs and economic growth through private sector partnerships, and helping to further advance security and justice sector reforms.”

Not one word was said about “settlements.”

He told a news conference his stand is “Canadian” and not pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. When a reporter tried to pin him down on Judea and Samaria, he replied. “I will not single out Israel on this trip.”

The “Jewish vote” in Canada is far from serious enough to make Harper pro-Israel

His backing for Israel, including clearly stated support for Israel’s counter-terrorist campaigns in Lebanon and Gaza, simply is based on what Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in his welcoming speech Sunday night, when he explained that Harper “expresses a clear and courageous moral position with regard to the truth and to the necessary criteria in the international community toward Israel and the conflict here.”

Harper announced his trip to Israel last month when he spoke at a Jewish National Fund dinner.

At the of his speech, the Prime Minister showed off his musical talents and brought in his Herringbone to back him up with impressive renditions of songs from The Who, Rolling Stones and the Beatles, as seen in a brief segment below.