Canada last week once again demonstrated its unequivocal support
for and friendship with Israel when Prime Minister Stephen Harper took
other Western leaders to task for not backing the Jewish state sufficiently enough.
"There's nothing more shortsighted in Western capitals in our time than the softening of support we've seen for Israel around the globe," the Associated Press quoted Harper as saying during a visit to New York City last week.
The Canadian leader said that at a time of such turmoil, Israel has demonstrated that it is the "one stable, democratic ally" that the West can count on in the Middle East.
Harper went on to counsel "extraordinary caution" when considering whether or not the West should arm Syrian rebel groups. Echoing Israel's own concerns, Harper noted that many of the groups making up the Syrian Free Army are themselves extremists "whose objectives we don't understand."