What now, Harper?

Eight Canadian civilians, on holiday, have been killed during an Israeli air-strike in southern Lebanon.

EIGHT Canadians were killed in Lebanon today, Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said, adding that Canada was preparing to evacuate some of the tens of thousands of its citizens believed to be in the country.

"All we can say is that there are eight confirmed casualties and six who have been critically injured," he told CTV television by telephone.

And, instead of demanding that both sides restrain themselves and, instead of pointing out that Israel's actions were wholly disproportionate to the incident which started all this, what does the Harper government do?

They cheerlead for the Israelis.

I know, I know. Collateral damage.

The war in the Levant is advancing to a stage where the entire Middle East is likely to erupt into a massive armed conflict. Of course Canada, which once maintained a neutral position on the Israeli-Arab conflict, no longer has the ability to intervene as a diplomatic honest broker. Not since Harper shot his mouth off in favour of Israel.

Evacuation plans are now being made to get anywhere from 16,000 to 40,000 Canadians out of Lebanon.

Mr MacKay said Canada - working in conjunction with Britain and France - was securing commercial vessels and positioning them off the coast of Lebanon to prepare for an evacuation.

I have a question: What happens if the Israelis attack any of those ships?

Or have we all forgotten this little episode?