OPINION: The BDS motion and Canada's relationship with Israel

Few, if any, foreign policy issues in the world polarize the citizenry more than the protractedconflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper'sinternational agenda included what may be the most unequivocal support for Israel's policies inCanadian political history.

The current Liberal government has broken with much of theConservatives' rhetoric on several foreign policy issues, but it has joined forces with the Toriesso far on the touchy matter of boycotting, divestingor sanctioning (BDS) Israel for its policiesvis a vis the Palestinians.

The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly last month to condemn any BDS effort inCanada, as the pro-Palestinian tactic has become increasingly prevalent on Western campuses inthe past decade or so. Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has consistentlydegraded Israel's recent standing in the world, though Tel Aviv shows no sign of letting go ofwhat it sees as its own rightful territory, occupation or no occupation.

The BDS movement seeksto change Israel's mind by convincing the world to use economic pressure to force Israel tocomply with international law.Israel and its supporters have rallied against this movement with attackdog-like enthusiasm.

Many have tried to portray the movement as an anti-Semitic ploy masquerading as a humanrights crusade. And despite the non-violent nature of BDS, the Liberals seemto haveembraced the notion that anyone who advocates for this method of activism is interested inhurting Israel, if not Jews, in a nefarious manner thus last month's motion in Parliament.

Defence of all Israeli policies undermines resolution

Issuesof free expression and speech aside (both are clearly violated by the government's stance),Canada's choice to be seen as a defender of all Israeli policies good and bad undermines apossible resolution to the conflict, while playing into the false extremist narratives that usePalestine as a primary recruiting tool.

It's time to question exactly what a decade of radical support for Israel has actually done forCanada, other than landing it near the top of ISIS's "hit list" and acquiring the supposedfriendship of a country that has been the source of much regional instability.

Though ISIS, Syria,and other matters constantly overtake Israel/Palestine in the news these days, it'd be wrong tothink that the regionand the world'ssecurity can be substantively improved without a justresolution to the world's longest military occupation since World War II.

This is because prettymuch all "jihadi" portrayals of the West, be it from ISIS or Al Qaeda or Boko Haram, use orrefer in one way or the other to the suffering of Palestinians as a major reason to wage "holywar"against the West.

A key way for Trudeau and the Liberals to minimize the influence and damage of a group likeISIS, both inside and outside of Canadian borders, is to deflate the false narrative that allWesterners are rabid Islamophobes who want nothing more than to end Palestinian hopes for afuture state and a decent life.

This doesn't mean that Canada has to disregard unfair depictions oractions against Israel, but it does mean that it cannot sacrifice free speech, free expression, andsound policy to appease anti-Palestinian sentiments at home that are often informed by a deeplyideological and even religious take on reality.

Whether one agrees that BDS is a sound way to end the Israel-Palestine debacle, the portrayal ofthe movement as an anti-Semitic call to end Jewish life is dangerous.

If focusing on China'sviolations of human rights doesn't make one a racist against the Chinese people, thenparticipating in a movement that pressures Israel to do the right thing shouldn't be viewed asanti-Semitic.

The problem in Canada (and elsewhere) is that these principles hardly ever stand separately fromthe country's internal politics, which feature some very strong voices that are committed tostanding behind Israel's current right-wing regime.

But to maximize benefit and security forone's own country, the world must be seen as it is and not through the ideological lens of anothernation's politics.

Steven Zhou is a Toronto writer.