Former Israeli Ambassador to Canada Alan Baker has told Arutz Sheva he is disappointed that Canada has not yet transferred its embassy to Jerusalem, saying, "If Stephen Harper was still serving as prime minister, I have no doubt that Canada would open the embassy in Jerusalem."
Baker asked, "I wonder where the Canadian Jewish community is, why do not they pressure this government?" The former legal advisor to the Foreign Ministry, who now heads the international law department at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said that relocating the embassies to Jerusalem meets the criteria of international law. He noted that the Americans stressed that this is not meant to harm the issue of the borders that will be negotiated, and Israel does not demand that anyone recognize Israeli sovereignty in eastern Jerusalem. He feels embassy transfers are good for peace "because the Palestinians will understand that they cannot play in their threat games."