The fact this past week President Trump decided to move the American embassy to Jerusalem has, understandably so, raised intense reactions  within Israel, amongst the Palestinians and globally. The fact that Prime Minster Justin Trudeau has been rather mute on the issue does need to be noted. What are some of the reasons the reigning Liberal Party might be pro-Israeli and Zionist (in a subtler sense, perhaps, than the more religiously oriented Conservative Party)? There are 3 reasons I think that might explain such softness towards Israel by such liberals commonly known as Progressives Except Palestine (PEPs).

First, there has been a tendency within the Liberal Party since the days of Lester Pearson to support Israel. Pearson was on the UN Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) in the 1940s that brought the state of Israel into being. Pearson’s break with William Lyon McKenzie King on this issue (King was closer to the British position) set the stage for the Liberal Party to bend more towards the Jews and Israel than the plight of the Palestinians. There is now, in Israel, the Pearson Park that honours his contribution to formally establishing Israel via the UN as a state in 1948. Such a tale has been well told in David Bercuson’s Canada and the Birth of Israel: A Study in Canadian Foreign Policy (1985). Although Pearson is often hailed as Canada’s peacemaker, his track record is much different than the image Canadians hold high about him. The Palestinians certainly don’t nod in respect to Pearson in the same way as does the state of Israel. So, the Liberal Party since Pearson has a history of not substantively critiquing Israel.