"On his first visit to the region as foreign minister, Peter
MacKay waded into the heart of the conflict, immediately
meeting in Jerusalem with Lt General Keith Dayton and
offering $1.2 million dollars to support the General’s mission.
Canada’s involvement, however, goes beyond money.
According to the CBC “about a fifth of Dayton’s staff” are
Canadian, and Condoleezza Rice told reporters in a briefing
alongside MacKay in Jerusalem that Dayton “has a Canadian
counterpart with whom he works very closely.”
During MacKay’s visit, Israel’s foreign ministry praised "the
exceedingly warm relations enjoyed” between the two
countries. Particularly, Israel lauded Canada’s vocal boycott of
Hamas, as well as its diplomatic posture opposing a ceasefire in
the summer of 2006 as Israel set about the ruination of large
swaths of Lebanon, and its position “in the vanguard” of the
fight against Iran. On the three biggest issues of the day,
Canada is in lock-step with Israel. During MacKay’s visit, the
Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement which said
in part: “our message in the region is clear.”"
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