Canadian and European Union flags in Brussels, Belgium in February, 2025.MARTIN BERTRAND/AFP/Getty Images
Ottawa has been particularly critical of Israel recently, often moving in lockstep with European allies as the Trump administration’s relationship with the Netanyahu government deepens.
Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Israel against launching a “significant” ground offensive in Lebanon in a joint statement alongside European leaders. Just a few weeks later, he condemned the very military invasion he and Canada’s allies said should have been averted.
Around the same time, Mr. Carney joined European leaders in criticizing Israeli police for preventing the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. And Canada echoed European countries in voicing opposition to the Israeli parliament’s passing of a law that stipulates death by hanging as the sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks.
Israel pushes back against Canada’s criticism of its occupation of southern Lebanon
Mr. Carney’s government has also sanctioned Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. According to Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa sanctioned two people on June 10, 2025, because their actions undermined security in Israel and the Occupied Territories by “supporting, facilitating, and contributing to Israeli extremist settler violence against Palestinian civilians or their property.”
While Mr. Carney’s rhetoric is not all that different from that of his predecessor’s on this issue, analysts say that at a time when America’s relationship with Israel is especially strong, Canada is moving increasingly in tandem with its European allies. Signing on to joint statements, or coming out independently but echoing European allies, provides Canada some “cover,” said Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University.
“It’s not as if we’ve been out on a limb,” Prof. Hampson said of Mr. Carney’s recent criticism of Israel. “We’ve moved with the Europeans on this one. … But it has put us offside with the Americans, and it obviously has not gone unnoticed in the Oval Office.”
“We used to be in sync with the Americans. We’re definitely no longer in sync with the Americans, certainly when it comes to our policies toward Israel. Now, the other question is: Does it matter? Does it make a difference in terms of our impact? And we should not delude ourselves that we have any influence of any substance in the region.”
Carney says Ottawa’s position supporting U.S., Israeli strikes on Iran was taken ‘with regret’
Mr. Carney announced Canada’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state last July, after similar announcements from countries such as France and Britain. That month Canada and 24 other countries also signed a letter urging Israel to end its war in Gaza.
Thomas Juneau, a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa and a Middle East expert, said that when Canada recognized a Palestinian state, there was a bit of noise coming out of the U.S., but there didn’t seem to be any consequences. He said that while Canada needs to be mindful of how and why it diverges from the United States, in some cases, such respectful disagreement could feed into future decisions.
“There is comfort in other alliances for Canada, in terms of protecting us, and also in terms of developing those bridges with other allies in terms of institutionalizing the habit of co-ordinating our positions with countries other than the U.S., which on the recognition of the Palestinian state, Canada did a lot, and to me that was not a coincidence.”
And the bigger picture, he said, is that Mr. Carney has been trying to diminish the culture of always looking to the U.S. for guidance and foster a culture inside government of instinctively working with countries other than the U.S.
Alan Kessel, a former assistant deputy minister for legal affairs and legal adviser at Global Affairs Canada, said Canada “needs to decide whether it’s going to be a commentator or a participant.”
“Canada, when it makes its comments … you know, it would be nice if Israel stopped this. It would be nice if Hezbollah stopped that. It would be nice. It would be nice. We seem to want to build a fence and then sit on it when in fact what we should be doing is making some really hard decisions about where our interests and our values lie.”
“There are others fighting our battles, whether they be the Americans, whether they be the Ukrainians or whether they be the Israelis. That is something we have to really take a long, hard look at.”