Casey Babb is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an international fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute in LondonAs Israel fights for its survival amid a sea of hostile neighbours, Canada must step up its support for the Middle East’s only democracy, and also for the thousands of Canadian citizens who find themselves stranded there as conflict with Iran escalates.On June 19, The Canadian Jewish News reported there are at least 6,600 Canadians in Israel right now, according to the Registration of Canadians Abroad service. Because the service is voluntary, the number could in fact be much higher.Karen Restoule, director of Indigenous Policy at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, was among those stranded Canadians when war broke out between Israel and Iran in the early hours of June 13.Restoule said the Canadian government is not doing enough to get its citizens out of the country..Instead, Ottawa has been mired in inaction, and even passing the buck to Israel: One email from the federal government told stranded Canadians that the Israeli government was working on planes to evacuate Canadians. An interesting thought given Canada’s unwillingness to help Israel in the country’s greatest time of need..HANNAFORD: Israelis agreed on finishing the job in Iran.Restoule said Ottawa should not be “relying on the country that is being attacked by the Islamic regime to facilitate the evacuation of its own citizens.”Soon after the fighting began, Restoule said she found an opportunity for a possible quick exit — by travelling to Egypt with a friend she had met on the ground, where they would be able to catch international flights. However, Restoule needed a visa to enter Egypt. Despite reaching out to Ottawa through both official and back channels, she was not able to obtain the necessary support from the federal government to get the paperwork done..Instead, Restoule had to find another way out of the country, entirely of her own arrangement, by travelling to Jordan via the Allenby border crossing — which requires travellers to pass through the West Bank.Restoule said that securing these arrangements delayed her departure from Israel by an additional 48 hours, meaning she spent another two tense days in Israel when she could have already been on a plane to Canada, had the Egyptian visa been obtained.“It didn’t seem to be an urgency for this government to assist its citizens in a swift departure, whether it was supporting individual effort or coordinating a national response,” said Restoule. “There was no sense of urgency, no plan — just silence. For those of us on the ground, it felt like we really were on our own.”.Instead, the only support Restoule received from Ottawa was a series of generic emails through official channels, and a series of dead ends stemming from unsuccessful attempts at using government contacts to expedite the process. Most infuriating was a “wellness check” that Restoule received from Ottawa, which she said was “all vibes and no action.”“That message lit me up,” said Restoule. “In that moment, we weren’t looking for comfort. We needed action. We need coordination for a pathway out, not emotional reassurances.”By that point, Restoule had already arranged her own exit through Jordan.“Like many others, I'd already taken my situation into my own hands,” she said..Canadian columnist Adam Zivo, who is reporting from Israel, described similar problems in a June 20 article in The National Post. He wrote that two former Conservative MPs on the ground — Michelle Ferreri and Rick Perkins — had also received little support from their government.According to these former MPs, “the Canadian embassy has predominantly sent out automated emails containing superficial information on safety and evacuation routes,” reported Zivo.Ferreri told Zivo that the Canadian Embassy appeared to be working only from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, a situation she described as completely inadequate..Restoule shared that frustration.“Checking out at 4:00 p.m. while Canadians are scrambling to find safety in an imminent situation like that is this tone deaf,” she said. “It's just not respecting your role as a public servant within the Global Affairs mandate.”“Global Affairs shouldn’t be running on Ottawa time when Canadians are trapped in a war halfway around the world. It needs to be operating in a way that's responsive to that reality,” she added. “This isn’t a passport renewal — it’s a crisis response.”On June 19, in the face of mounting criticism, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted on X that Ottawa is planning commercial flights for Canadians out of neighbouring countries, and will have consular services available to those Canadians once they cross the border..Restoule said the government must move more swiftly in these circumstances — and that goes not only for getting Canadians out of Israel, but also those who find themselves stranded in Iran at this time.“Government assisted departure needs to be not on day five or six. It needs to be out of the gate, like day one, two, or three of any conflict,” said Restoule.“The action you take demonstrates to your citizens how serious you take them, and how much value you ascribe to their lives.”When it comes to offering support at this pivotal moment, Canada has treated that nation of Israel with the same indifference it has shown its citizens.Under the current government, Canada’s position on Israel has grown increasingly incoherent. While it condemns antisemitism at home, it equivocates abroad. It abstains or hedges in international bodies. When terror strikes Israel, Canada delays condemnation. When Israel responds, Canada immediately second guesses it..That’s not moral nuance. It’s moral inconsistency, a lack of moral clarity, and ultimately a moral failure.Let’s be clear about what’s at stake.It’s almost too much to comprehend but in 2025, the Islamic Republic of Iran — a sovereign state with expanding nuclear capabilities — continues to issue open threats to wipe Israel off the map.Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has described Israel as a “cancerous tumour,” while former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad infamously said the Jewish state “must be erased from the page of time.” Following the October 7 massacre by Hamas, Iran’s leaders — which materially and ideologically enabled it — celebrated openly, doubling down on their genocidal visions of a Jew-free Middle East.The thing is, we’ve heard this kind of rhetoric before: shrugging it off, waiting too long, acting too late. During the Holocaust, this sort of indecisiveness and unwillingness to act gave the Nazi regime air to breathe, and room to exterminate millions of Jews and other minority groups..As one author wrote several years ago, “Americans became quite aware of the Nazis’ brutality soon after Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. And yet, saving or protecting Europe’s Jews was not a priority for the U.S. government or the public.”And still, here we are, watching from the sidelines as the descendants of the Holocaust seek to eliminate another fanatical regime committed to Jewish annihilation.In light of these threats and the truly existential crisis at hand, Israel has initiated a just and necessary war, rooted not in vengeance or expansion — but in survival.Since launching its targeting offensive in the early hours of June 13, Israel has eliminated a sizeable portion of Iran’s military leadership and the country’s leading nuclear scientists, and caused devastating damage to many key sites connected to the regime’s nuclear program. It’s also destroyed as much as a third of Iran’s total missile launchers. Jerusalem appears to have achieved what most thought impossible..Critically, Israel draws a sharp line between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people. It has offered public solidarity to pro-democracy protesters in Iran, and avoids language that vilifies an entire nation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a point of addressing the Persian people directly. This is the difference between a democracy seeking to survive and a theocracy obsessed with destruction.No country is perfect. But Israel stands alone in the region as a functioning democracy committed to minority rights.The same cannot be said of the Iranian regime.Israel will defend itself with or without international support. But it should not have to stand alone, not when its right to exist is under open threat. The world said, “never again.” It’s time to prove we meant it.The Jewish people have learned the cost of indifference. Canada must not make them pay it again.Casey Babb is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an international fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute in London.
