"Through fire and water, Canada will stand with you." - Stephen Harper, speech to Israeli Knesset

One could argue that Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, is the only true leader on the world scene. What is a true leader? Someone who leads his people according to the ways of a civilized society. One who is not afraid to speak the truth and guide his people on the straight path. On his first trip to Israel, Prime Minister Harper spoke honestly and bravely about his admiration for the Jewish people and their right to their homeland. His views and his courage are unprecedented among the many demagogues that hold power today. Below are excerpts from his speech to the Israeli Parliament.

January 20, 2014,  Knesset, Jerusalem, Israel 

"Canada supports Israel fundamentally because it is right to do so."

Today, there are nearly 350,000 Canadians who share with you their heritage and their faith. They are proud Canadians. But having met literally thousands of members of this community, I can tell you this: They are also immensely proud of what the people of Israel have accomplished here. Of your courage in war, of your generosity in peace and of the bloom that the desert has yielded under your stewardship.

Laureen and I share that pride. We share that pride and the understanding that what has been achieved here has occurred in the shadow of the horrors of the Holocaust....

The understanding that it is right to support Israel because, after generations of persecution, the Jewish people deserve their own homeland and deserve to live safely and peacefully in that homeland.

Let me repeat that: Canada supports Israel fundamentally because it is right to do so. This is a very Canadian trait, to do something for no reason other than it is right, even when no immediate reward for, or threat to, ourselves is evident.

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"It is, thus, a Canadian tradition to stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is convenient or popular."

It is, thus, a Canadian tradition to stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is convenient or popular. But, I would argue, and as you know, as prime minister I have argued, that support today for the Jewish state of Israel is more than a moral imperative. It is also a matter of strategic importance, also a matter of our own, long-term interests.

Ladies and gentlemen, I said a moment ago that the special friendship between Canada and Israel is rooted in shared values....

Indeed, Israel is the only country in the Middle East which has long anchored itself in the ideals of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And these are not mere notions. They are the things that, over time and against all odds, have proven to be, over and over again, the only ground in which human rights, political stability and economic prosperity may flourish.

These values are not proprietary. They do not belong to one people or one nation. Nor are they a finite resource. On the contrary, the wider they are spread, the stronger they grow. Likewise, when they are threatened anywhere, they are threatened everywhere.

And who threatens them? Or more precisely, what today threatens the societies that embrace such values and the progress they nurture? Those who scorn modernity, those who loathe the liberty of others and those who hold the differences of peoples and cultures and religions in contempt. Those who often begin by hating the Jews, but, history shows us, end up hating everyone who is not like them.

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"in the world of diplomacy...it is all too easy 'to go along to get along,'...But such 'going along to get along' is not a 'balanced' approach...It is, just quite simply, weak and wrong."

Now friends, I understand in the world of diplomacy with one, solitary, Jewish state and scores of others, it is all too easy "to go along to get along" and single out Israel. But such "going along to get along" is not a "balanced" approach, nor is it a "sophisticated" one. It is, just quite simply, weak and wrong.

Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world where that kind of moral relativism today runs rampant. And in the garden of such moral relativism the seeds of much more sinister notion can be easily planted.

And so we have witnessed in recent years, the mutation of the old disease of anti-Semitism and the emergence of a new strain. We all know about the old anti-Semitism. It was crude and ignorant and it led to the horrors of the death camps. Of course, in many dark corners, it is still with us. But, in much of the western world the old hatred has been translated into more sophisticated language for use in polite society.

People who would never say they hate and blame the Jews for their own failings, or the problems of the world, instead declare their hatred of Israel and blame the only Jewish state for the problems of the Middle East. As once Jewish businesses were boycotted, some civil-society leaders today call for a boycott of Israel. On some campuses, intellectualized arguments against Israeli policies thinly mask underlying realities, such as the shunning of Israeli academics and the harassment of Jewish students.

Most disgracefully of all, some openly call Israel an apartheid state. Now think about that statement. Think about the twisted logic and outright malice behind that. A state based on freedom, democracy and the rule of law that was founded so Jews can flourish as Jews and seek shelter from the shadow of the worst racist experiment in history that is condemned and it is condemned in the masked language of anti-racism. Friends, that is nothing short of sickening....

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"I believe the story of Israel is a great example to the world."

Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude with this thought. I believe the story of Israel is a great example to the world. It is a story, essentially, of a people whose response to suffering has been to move beyond resentment and build a most extraordinary society. A vibrant democracy, a freedom-loving country with an independent and rights-affirming judiciary. An innovative, world-leading "start-up" nation.

You have taken the collective memory of death and persecution to build an optimistic, forward-looking society, one that so values life you will sometimes release a thousand criminals and terrorists to save one of your own.

In the democratic family of nations, Israel represents values which our government takes as articles of faith and principles to drive our national life.

And therefore through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.