In 1979, when Joe Clark was runnig to be Canada's Prime Minister, he got in big trouble by suggesting that Canada should move its embassy to Jerusalem.
"Next year in Jerusalem is a Jewish prayer which we intend to make a Canadian reality."(Joe Clark before the Canada-Israel Committee in Toronto)
Now Barak Obama goes and tries to score points with American Jewish voters by saying "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided."
Well, the American embassy, as well as most other embassies, are in Tel-Aviv. Its not that the night life sucks in Jerusalem, it is that foreign governments aren't exactly sure what parts of the city belong to Israel and what parts belong to the occupied territories of the West Bank (of the Jordan River). And ambassadors would rather not get shot finding out.
Perhaps this is a classic case of making promises to get elected. An election, after all, is not the time to be diplomatic. Joe Clark, after all, did win the election and left the embassy in Tel-Aviv(not that he had much time to move it).
Still, imagine if the Canadian government decided to move its Mexican embassy from Mexico to San Diego. Or the Pakistanian from Islamabad to the Kashmir. Or the Irish embassy from Dublin to Belfast. You get the idea.
If the Americans move their Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, then I say Canada should move its Jordanian embassy to Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment