The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, approves the idea of an Israeli response which would take the form of a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, a position he shares with the former American president Donald Trump.
“If Israel were to prevent the unstable, genocidal, theocratic government [de l’Iran] to acquire nuclear weapons, I believe that would be a gift from the Jewish State to humanity,” Mr. Poilievre told reporters on Tuesday.
The leader of the official opposition had first formulated this position the day before, in a powerful speech delivered during an activity commemorating the attacks of October 7, 2023 against Israel, in front of the Jewish community of Ottawa. Mr. Poilievre was received much more warmly than the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
“Israel must be able to prevent the use of nuclear weapons by Iran, if necessary, and that means proactively striking nuclear sites and oil facilities to cut off funding to the terrorist regime,” chanted the conservative politician .
Last Tuesday, Iran sent hundreds of missiles towards Israel to avenge the deaths of the leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. The Israeli army says it is preparing its response.
Oil strikes
On Monday, Canada’s Minister of National Defense Bill Blair called the idea that Israel could destroy oil production sites “appropriate.” “Israel has every right to defend itself and take the actions that are necessary to diminish Iran’s capabilities [à l’attaquer] “, he clarified in the press scrum. No other Canadian representative had gone this far before him.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, instead showed great caution on this subject. She said last Wednesday that Israel’s retaliation should not result in “generalized war,” but without drawing a red line. As for how far this response could go, according to Canada, she said that was “the big question”.
In the United States, a country in the midst of a presidential campaign, President Joe Biden recently spoke of discussions with Israel regarding strikes on Iranian oil sites, while saying that he advised against this option.
On the contrary, the Republican candidate for the White House, former President Donald Trump, raised Israel’s need to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit?” This is the biggest risk we face! » Mr. Trump dropped in a tone of mockery towards his Democratic opponent.
Debates about the conflict
The Bloc Québécois foreign affairs spokesperson, Stéphane Bergeron, described Pierre Poilievre’s endorsement of strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as “extremely dangerous in the current context.”
Minister Mélanie Joly did not respond to questions on this subject on Tuesday. She instead delivered a long denunciation of Pierre Poilievre’s attacks against her. The latter notably suggested that the increase in anti-Semitism in Canada was the fault of his government.
In the House, the day before, the Conservative leader asked the minister to condemn any anti-Semitic comments or calls for the destruction of Israel that would have been made in recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, without success.
“The police should arrest those who call for violence, even if these people use religion as their defense,” said the Conservative leader. He did not further specify his thoughts regarding the Bloc Québécois’ plan to remove the religious exception included in the chapter of the Criminal Code on hate speech.