(Ottawa) Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly calls on Israel to exercise restraint. According to her, the Jewish state should congratulate itself on having contained Iran’s unprecedented attack on its territory and find a way to avoid an outbreak of violence in the region.
“Israel has the right to protect itself, of course, and we will always support Israel in its right to protect itself. At the same time, we want to ensure that there is no escalation,” the head of Canadian diplomacy told parliament on Monday when asked what Tel Aviv’s response should be. .
“And that’s why I spoke to my Israeli counterpart [Israel Katz]and I said to him: “Take the gain – in English, I would say Take the win”. Because in fact, what Israel did over the weekend was a demonstration of its extraordinary capacity to protect itself,” she added at a press briefing.
Minister Joly thus seems to have adopted what the President of the United States, Joe Biden, would have advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone exchange. This information was reported by American media on the basis of an anonymous source from the White House.
Read “Israeli army chief promises ‘response’ to Iranian attack”
The minister flew to Italy on Monday to participate in a meeting with her G7 counterparts. Its host, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, told Reuters that the imposition of new sanctions would be on the agenda.
Canada is ready to move in this direction, indicated Mélanie Joly.
We have already listed several people and entities, and we have sanctioned them. And I think we need to go even further. […]. So of course, Canada will react.
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The G7 leaders condemned, on Sunday, the unprecedented attack perpetrated on Saturday by the Iranian regime.
“Through its actions, Iran has taken a further step towards destabilizing the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. This scenario should be avoided. We will continue to strive to stabilize the situation and avoid any further escalation,” they said.
To take or not to take the gain?
Political scientist Thomas Juneau finds it difficult to see the Israeli government turning the page without responding to Tehran’s unprecedented offensive. “Israel believes, and is not wrong, that the Take the win would be perceived in Iran as a message of weakness,” he explains in an interview.
“We’re still talking about 300 missiles and drones! So right now, I don’t get the impression that Israel is interested in “Taking the Win”. I have the impression that Israel is moving more towards limited retaliation,” says the associate professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa.
The Israeli Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, reacts diplomatically to the comments made by Mr.me Joly.
We understand where the fear comes from that the situation in the region will deteriorate and that a war [à plus large échelle] erupts in the region.
Iddo Moed, Israeli Ambassador to Canada
The Israeli leadership is “weighing its options” for the future, he indicates on the other end of the phone. But it seems that remaining idly is not one of them. “Iran has said again and again that its goal is to destroy the State of Israel. […] Israel cannot afford to lose a single war,” the ambassador said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The attack on Iran has prompted the Conservatives to return to the charge in an attempt to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to Canada’s list of terrorist entities. MP Garnett Genuis tried to do this by ramming a private member’s bill through, but to no avail.
Last January, Justin Trudeau opened the door to the possibility of including the armed wing of the Iranian regime on the Canadian register.
“We will continue our work, including continuing to seek ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist entity,” he said during a ceremony commemorating the downing of a civilian aircraft. shot down by Tehran.
However, this is not as simple as it seems, Thomas Juneau has maintained for quite some time. “From a procedural point of view, putting them on the list is extremely simple. But implementing it would be complex and expensive. And the security agencies are already completely overwhelmed,” he emphasizes.
Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, said Monday in the House that “all options” were on the table. “I have asked the intelligence community to quickly provide advice to the government,” he said.
A vote could take place in the coming days.