STEPHEN HARPER RENEGES ON PRO-ISRAEL STANDING

He's against Israel's right to expand Jewish residence circa east Jerusalem:

Just days after Canada stood in solidarity with Israel to oppose a Palestinian statehood bid at the UN, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he disapproves of a plan to build more settlements east of Jerusalem.

Canada’s opposition to an expansion set for the West Bank was expressed in a phone call between the two leaders, the Prime Minister’s Office told CTV News.

The move by Harper is a rare break from Canada’s staunch support for Israel on Mideast policy. [...]

The Prime Minister’s office told CTV that the settlement expansion will ultimately hinder efforts to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Harper also condemned Israel for taking unilateral action.

I think that serious clashes with what he initially said was the Canadian position on Israel. If this is how Harper is going to conduct his policy, then he's losing my respect for him, and I'm not convinced he's really pro-Israel at all. It's not that this is a "rare" break, it's that he's betraying his earlier standing.

The PMO did not immediately respond to questions of whether Canada’s stance extends to all settlements in East Jerusalem. There was also no mention from the PMO on Netanyahu’s reaction to Canada’s position on the matter of Israeli settlements.

Though the criticism appeared to be a softening of Canada’s categorical support for Israel, Canadians shouldn’t expect to see a drastic shift in policy stance on Israel.

No, I guess not, and that's why Harper has turned himself into a joke. What he's suggesting is that he fully backs dividing Jerusalem for the sake of a lie, and this is simply not acceptable. I cannot support a politician like Harper if he's going to contradict his earlier position with this degrading current one.