Carney, Netanyahu and a Two-State Solution
Mark Carney has spoken to or met dozens of world leaders since succeeding Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister last year. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is glaringly absent from that list.
Later this month, Carney will reportedly visit Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what would be the first dedicated trip by a Canadian leader to that Middle Eastern country.
Carney appears to have no plan to visit neighboring Israel. It would be a glaring omission, which would undermine his desire for a two-state solution.
When The Canadian Press recently asked Carney’s office about the lack of communication between the two prime ministers, officials referred the matter to Foreign Minister Anita Anand, whose department declined to comment.
Carney’s apparent coolness toward Israel may be due to the fact that the current Israeli government opposes Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu regards a Palestinian state as a potential threat to its security. In keeping with his core beliefs, he also regards much of the West Bank as an integral part of Israel.
Carney is well aware of Netanyahu’s unwavering position. But he presumably knows that, even under the best of conditions, a two-state solution would be impossible without Israel’s consent.
Despite having snubbed Netanyahu, Carney has spoken to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on two separate occasions.
On May 18, 2025, in Vatican City, Carney talked to Herzog on the margins of Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass. They discussed the Gaza war, the hostages in Hamas’ captivity, humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and Canada’s support of a two-state solution.
On May 25, 2026, Carney spoke with Herzog over the phone about the Middle East conflict, Gaza, the flotilla incident involving Canadian citizens, Israel’s security and its right of self-defence, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israel’s military campaign in southern Lebanon, and antisemitism.
Carney obviously could have discussed these issues with Netanyahu, who formulates Israeli policy. But he has chosen to distance Canada from Israel, even though a two-state solution is “the guiding principle” of Canada’s Middle East policy, Anand said recently.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, attempted to explain why current Canada-Israel relations are frosty.
As he pointed out, Canada’s once cordial relationship with Israel has “slowly but surely deteriorated.”
One of the problems is that Canada intends to uphold the International Criminal Court warrant against Netanyahu, said Moed. Carney has stated that Netanyahu will be arrested should he step on Canadian soil.
Netanyahu was also upset by a joint statement signed by Canada, Britain and France demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and warning Israel of “concrete actions … including targeted sanctions” if humanitarian aid restrictions and military operations did not cease.
In addition, Canada ruffled Netanyahu’s feathers when it announced that granting him permission to use Canadian airspace to attend global forums like the United Nations General Assembly “should not be interpreted as an endorsement” of his policies.
Under Carney, Canada’s traditional support of a two-state solution has become more assertive. Canada is in favor of an independent, sovereign, viable, democratic Palestinian state existing alongside Israel in peace and security.
Last September, Canada formally recognized the State of Palestine, while saying that recognition was intended to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution. Carney has said that Canada’s endorsement of Palestinian statehood does not diminish its support for Israel’s security and its right to self-defence.
On September 26, Anand said that “Israel’s right to exist is not up for debate,” and that Palestinian self-determination is similarly non-negotiable.
Carney’ believes that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and that their expansion undermines the possibility of Palestinian statehood. Acting on this policy, Canada, Britain and France announced measures on September 8 to ban the import of settlement goods.
Carney has adopted a tough policy on Hamas, saying it must disarm and play no role in governing a future Palestinian state. He expects the Palestinian Authority to reform its governance and hold elections, but these measures have yet to be enacted.
Despite his recognition of Palestinian statehood, Carney has acknowledged that the prospect remains dim due to Israeli settlement expansion, violence in the West Bank, the weakness of the Palestinian Authority, and the continuing security threats facing Israel.
In short, Canada is strongly committed to a two-state solution, supportive of Israel’s security and opposed to Hamas.
According to a new Pew survey, there is precious little support for a two-state solution among Israelis and Palestinians. Only 17 percent of Israelis and 21 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem think that Israel and a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully.
The figures were considerably higher during the early phase of the 1993 Oslo peace process, which gradually collapsed due to Hamas suicide bombings, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, and Hamas’ October 7 attack in Israel.
As a result of these events, what trust there was between Israel and the Palestinians has all but vanished, leaving the two-state solution in limbo and far away from fruition.
