Stephen Harper: Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University: And how the praise poured in last week. From the Israeli capital, up to the countrys northern reaches, to seaside Tel Aviv, Harper was celebrated as a politician of courage and conviction, according to The Star. Harper and his Conservatives have been staunch backers of Israel since they took office in 2006. And on this, his first-ever trip to Israel, it was like the pent-up appreciation finally let loose, with a standing ovation in the Knesset , praise at Tel Aviv University, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate, and at the Western Wall, where he got a rock star welcome at the holiest of Jewish sites and Its the kind of adulation that Stephen Harper wishes he could box up and bring home. A week in the Middle East, where charged history raises the potential for verbal missteps, would not naturally be seen as a destination for a politician to escape controversy. Yet for a prime minister down in the polls at home, a trip abroad proved a welcome tonic. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.