Canadian Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer has promised to follow in the footsteps of U.S. President Donald Trump and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel if elected Prime Minister in 2019.
Mr. Scheer said that if his party is able to form a government in the 2019 federal elections then he would follow President Trump but did not say whether he would take steps to move the Canadian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Canadian public broadcaster CBC reports.
The Tories have also created a petition on their website asking supporters whether they back the move to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
“Canada’s Conservatives have been, and always will be, a strong voice for Israel and the Canadian Jewish community,” the petition states.
“Israel is one of Canada’s strongest allies and a beacon of pluralism and democratic principles in a turbulent part of the world. Canada’s Conservatives recognize the obvious fact that Israel, like every other sovereign nation, has a right to determine where its capital is located,” it adds.
Mr. Scheer’s spokesman Jake Enwright said that the main focus was to get the government to recognise the capital as Jerusalem and that moving the Canadian embassy would be considered “at a later date”.
Populist Party Leader: Move the Austrian Embassy in Israel to Jerusalemhttps://t.co/1rJ4zVKjTZ
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 23, 2017
The move would see the Canadian Conservatives join a host of other conservative and populist leaders who have since endorsed President Trump’s policy including the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Austrian vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and Czech President Miloš Zeman.
In December, Zeman slammed the European Union, calling them “cowards” for not following the U.S. President’s move.
“The European Union, cowards, are doing all they can so a pro-Palestinian terrorist movement can have supremacy over a pro-Israeli movement,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration provided a timeline for the relocation of the American embassy, setting a date of 2019, several years ahead of the previous schedule.
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