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Israel is pitching itself to Canada as a technology partner that can offer tangible solutions and safer artificial intelligence, despite the heavy strains on the bilateral relationship over wars and conflict in the Middle East.
“Canada and Israel are both countries that are very much looking to export technologies, to open new markets and to solve problems that also exist elsewhere,” Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed told The Canadian Press.
Moed has said his country’s relationship with Canada is at its lowest point in nearly 80 years of relations. Canada accuses Israel of grave violations of international law, while Israel argues Ottawa is taking steps that undermine prospects for peace.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has never had a formal call or meeting with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.
Carney has accused Netanyahu’s government of failing to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip by repeatedly restricting the delivery of essential aid to Palestinians. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in May that Israel’s mistreatment of Canadians participating in a flotilla trying to reach Gaza violated the Vienna Convention.
Israel says Canada is undermining peace in the region through its growing criticism of the country, its withdrawal of support in United Nations votes and its formal recognition of the State of Palestine.
Moed said he still believes the Carney government has some interest in collaborating with Israel on AI and that this could involve companies working together to boost defences against cyberattacks. He said Israeli tech firms could also help Canadian municipalities use data to better manage road traffic flows.
Moed said Israeli companies also want to collaborate with Canada on Israel’s hospital-at-home concept, which involves monitoring patients with acute or chronic needs through wearable devices and video calls. Israeli firms have run hospital-at-home pilot projects in Europe and the U.S., and are interested in doing the same in Canadian provinces, he said.
“Many times, Israelis are leading in finding quick solutions for significant problems,” Moed said.
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He argued that Israel’s tech sector dovetails with the Carney’s government’s focus on economic productivity. He said both countries have a “culture of innovation” but Israel has put more focus on translating research into startups that become economically viable.
His embassy is trying to connect companies in both countries in the hope that Israeli innovation can benefit from Canada’s larger population and market access to the U.S. — even as Washington upends continental trade.
“We are working on sort of a digital virtual network or virtual community that will bring together technologists in any area, in cyber and AI, that cuts through in many sectors (like) agriculture, communications, transportation, aviation,” Moed said.
AI Minister Evan Solomon met with Moed in January to discuss possible collaboration with Israel. The minister appeared to acknowledge the strained state of Canada-Israel relations at the time.
“Dialogue matters, particularly in complex times,” Solomon wrote in his social media posts about the meeting.
Not every Canadian politician is as open to engagement with Israel.
Earlier this month, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi apologized after posing for a photo with Moed at the Calgary Stampede, saying it had “caused a lot of harm to a lot of people.”
The photo was taken as Moed was accompanying an Israeli technology delegation.
Citing Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon, Nenshi said he regretted posing for the photo — particularly since the embassy posted it on social media with a message equating support for Israel with support for democracy and human rights.
The embassy later said Nenshi’s apology allowed “for hate to creep and fester into a place built on hospitality.”
Moed’s pitch to Canada also includes safer uses of AI.
Ottawa has been pushing for guardrails on how artificial intelligence is designed and deployed since at least 2018, when it was one of the topics Canada focused on at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que.
At an April reception ahead of Israel’s national day, Moed took aim at what he claimed are efforts “to recode the algorithms” of social media “so that the world might once again become addicted to antisemitism.”
He said countries can work together to cull hateful content from AI services.
“We offer here in Canada all kinds of ideas and even a joint collaboration, to find new ways to address this,” he told The Canadian Press.
“It’s not, of course, just Jews. It’s about spreading hate and actually inciting for violence.”
Moed did not single out any specific platform. The X social media site has seen an surge in antisemitic rhetoric and anti-Jewish influencers since it was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk, according to the U.S. Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Musk himself made a gesture that many interpreted as a Nazi salute at a rally celebrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, though he denied that was the case.
Facebook’s parent company Meta also has seen its AI chatbots echo racist tropes and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
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