TANNARA YELLAND
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The events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya can seem remote and unimportant to students in Canada, far removed from any danger. But retired political studies professor Zachariah Kay issued a reminder to anyone who thinks the events in the Arab world can easily be ignored here.

“Security is extremely important” to Israeli leaders nervous about Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, said Kay. Mubarak had been a key ally to the West and Israel, and his absence has caused concern for the region’s stability.

Kay’s words could easily have been intended for Canadian and American leaders, who have shown similar reluctance in supporting a grassroots push for democracy. This is despite the ongoing rhetoric about the importance of democracy and human rights in the Middle East.

“The problem that people have, that all of us have wherever we are, is this: by these dictators, there’s a maintenance of stability. But on the other hand, how can you support regimes of this nature?” said Kay, arriving at the crux of the problem as it presents itself to Western leaders.

The Obama administration originally advocated for change from within the Mubarak regime before deciding to throw its weight behind the protesters. Mubarak and the man he succeeded, Anwar Sadat, had been crucial in creating peace between the Arab states and Israel: Sadat was assassinated in 1981 after he signed a treaty with Israel.

Western leaders have often looked the other way on human rights and democratic violations in regimes where maintaining peaceful relations are highly valued, and that sit atop vast amounts of resources, like oil.
But as Kay says, at some point stability must be sacrificed for basic human decency. The question on many people’s minds is where that point is.

“I think it has to be shown that the support is there for change away from autocratic and dictatorial regimes,” Kay said. He added that part of the reason for the American — and, to a lesser extent, Canadian — government’s hesitancy has been that there was no policy in place for dealing with the political situation that arose in the early months of 2011.

Kay also took some time to talk about Israel. He is on a book tour for the last installment of his trilogy on Canadian-Israeli relations, The Diplomacy of Impartiality: Canada and Israel, 1958-1968, which posits that Canadian dealings with Israel were governed by a firm commitment to impartiality.

Kay said that the emphasis should be on action, not rhetoric.

“We should not be confused with people saying, ”˜Oh, Israel’s great,’ and, ”˜Israel has to have security,’ whatever,” Kay said of impartiality.

“That’s not the issue. The issue is impartiality in terms of the conflict [between Israel and its neighbours], so what is done for one side is done for the other.

“For instance when Israel wanted to purchase a nuclear reactor from Canadian General Electric in Peterborough, [the government] said they couldn’t give any countenance, because if they were to do one for Israel they’d need to do one for the other side, maybe for Egypt.”

Kay refers to this strategy as a “phantom veto” because rather than tell Israel they cannot have something and risk a diplomatic rift, the Canadian government can say that to provide a reactor for Israel would require them to provide one to an Arab state. Israeli leaders, not wanting Egypt to have a nuclear reactor, accept not being provided one themselves.

In researching his books, Kay relied extensively on government documents from both the Canadian and Israeli archives. This explains why Kay’s book covers a decade that passed 43 years ago: many government documents do not become public for 20 or 30 years.

This also explains why Kay is reluctant to pass judgment on whether the current federal government has continued to be impartial in its dealings with Israel.

“People shouldn’t be confused by statements whether he’s pro [Israel] or not,” Kay said of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “It’s the actual actions within the context of the conflict” between Israel and the surrounding Arab states.

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image: Danielle Siemens