Makings of major blunder by Scheer

If Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer does not know Joe Clark’s phone number, then he should find it right away.

Once Scheer gets him on the line, Clark can explain in excruciating detail how in 1979 he made a major blunder when he confirmed, just two days after he was sworn in as prime minister, that he would carry out an election promise to move Canada’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Clark made the initial pledge in the heat of the 1979 campaign, convinced it would help him with Jewish voters, especially in key Toronto-area ridings.

A political storm erupted because of Clark’s decision to reverse Ottawa’s decades-old position about the embassy’s location, with Arab nations hinting at trade retaliation against Canada.

Within days, Clark assigned former Tory leader Robert Stanfield to conduct a one-man fact-finding commission. Stanfield filed an interim report just four months later in which he recommended the embassy move be shelved.

Clark took Stanfield’s advice, stating at the time that no action would be taken “until the status of Jerusalem is clarified within a comprehensive agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours.” Clark’s embarrassing flip-flop immediately closed the issue, but for the rest of his nine-month term as prime minister the “Jerusalem Affair,” as it had come to be known, stained his leadership.

Scheer could learn from Clark’s experience, but it may be a bit too late. That’s because Scheer has told Conservatives that if he wins the 2019 federal election, he will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Scheer’s promise, overlooked in the sweeping political news coverage of Justin Trudeau’s controversial trip to India and the wacky Ontario Tory leadership race, wrenches the party away from its traditional position of supporting a negotiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

In doing so, Scheer has aligned himself firmly with U.S. President Donald Trump, who in December rejected long-standing advice from the U.S. State Department and said the U.S. will formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to that city.

Scheer made his promise in a posting on the party’s website in which members were asked to sign a form if they agreed with him and that had a web link for donations. “Canada’s Conservatives led by Andrew Scheer will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital when we form government in 2019,” the posting said, adding that “Israel, like every other sovereign nation, has a right to determine where the capital is located.”

The posting doesn’t mention moving Canada’s embassy to Jerusalem, but a spokesman for Scheer has said that issue will be considered at a later date.

Jerusalem is a diplomatic nightmare. Israel claims it as its capital, but so do Palestinians. The future status of the city is considered one of the most difficult parts of decades-old peace efforts.

Successive Canadian governments, including the current one, have said the status of Jerusalem must be settled through negotiations. Even Stephen Harper, perceived in Israel as among that country’s biggest supporters, never formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, believing any shift from the long-held Canadian position or moving the embassy might be seen to be taking sides on the status of Jerusalem and bias the outcome of peace talks.

Successive Canadian governments have long demonstrated their support of Israel, albeit with occasional lapses. But with the exception of the Harper years, Canada has long been viewed in the Middle East as an honest broker, a reasonable middle power trusted by both Israelis and Arabs.

Scheer is weighing in uncritically on the side of the Israelis, and giving no consideration to Palestinians.

What Scheer ignores is that to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and to possibly move the embassy would amount to legitimizing Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, something still in dispute some 39 years after Clark’s failed dabbling. Scheer would be wise to keep this promise, which is looking like a major blunder of his own making, on the rear burner.

And he should call Joe Clark soon.

Bob Hepburn's column appears Thursday.