Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted a statement on X this afternoon concerning the "mistreatment" of the Canadian delegation."Today a private delegation of Canadians — which included Members of Parliament — was denied entry to the West Bank at an Israeli border crossing," Anand wrote."Global Affairs is in contact with the delegation and we have expressed Canada’s objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians while attempting to cross."
Neither Israel's banning of the delegation nor Canada's objections are surprising.
But I cannot help to remember a little known incident from 1959, where another Canadian delegation visited the region, and a member of the then-parliament was also stopped - this time, by Jordan - from entering the Old City of Jerusalem from Israel..
The reason? Because he was Jewish.
This was barely reported even in Canada. Here's the story from Page 19 of The Expositor (Bradford), November 23, 1959
Not only did Canada not object, but even when the Speaker of the House of Commons was asked about the incident, he refused to say anything negative.
An MP was denied access to Jerusalem because he was Jewish, and Canada couldn't even muster up the self-respect to issue a statement in his defense.
Israel's actions today are defensible. Like any country, Israel has the right to restrict access by people who support terrorist organizations, even indirectly. British MP George Galloway was banned from entering Canada in 2009 for his support of Hamas, and the UK government did not say a word of protest.
But isn't it interesting that Canada did not even stand up for its own MP in 1959 in the face of blatant antisemitism, yet turns Israel's actions into an international incident?
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