In the years since, as Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, successive Canadian governments have moved against the trend and deepened ties with Israel - something that Netanyahu is keen to protect.

While key Canadian diplomatic support for Israel dates back to the creation of the state, relations have never been stronger.

In early 2006, immediately following the election of Hamas, Canada was the first country in the world to boycott the new government, ahead even of Israel.

As Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, was en route to the G8 summit in St Petersburg, Russia - during the first week of a war that saw some 1,400 Lebanese killed, the majority of them civilians - he made an impromptu three minute speech to the reporters on his plane, expressing unequivocal support for Israel's bombing of Lebanon.

As the death toll mounted in the days and weeks that followed, Harper did not budge from his position. In fact, he used the G8 summit and the subsequent gathering of the Francophonie to actively block ceasefire resolutions that were increasingly supported, even by the US.

That summer, Harper made headlines in the Middle East when he called Hezbollah and Hamas "genocidal" and MacKay characterised Hezbollah as a "cancer”.