Government officials question ex-ambassador to Israel's office space, private meetings

New reports are emerging about the former Canadian ambassador to Israel's tenure, months after Radio-Canada/CBC revealed that a lawsuit launched by ex-ambassador Vivian Bercovici against the federal government had been settled.

In a letter she wrote to Alan Bender, a Toronto businessman and Liberal supporter in November 2019, Bercovici offered to halt her lawsuit against the Government of Canada as a way to thank him for saving her life.

While the circumstances surrounding the alleged threat to Bercovici's life remain unknown, Radio-Canada has learned more about her tenure as ambassador.

Accounts from half-a-dozen government officials — most of them with Global Affairs Canada — raise questions about office space leased outside the embassy, and private meetings Bercovici held with Israeli government officials.

A 'mini-embassy'

After her arrival at the embassy in Tel Aviv, Bercovici insisted on having an office outside of the embassy itself. This request eventually was granted after being initially turned down.

"She basically set up a mini embassy outside the embassy," said one government official. "It was highly unusual."

"I had never seen anything like this before, even in embassies that are older than the Tel Aviv embassy," said another official.

Global Affairs Canada confirms that the government of Canada rented office space at 22 Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv from July 2015 to June 2016.

Bercovici was removed from the post by Prime Minister Trudeau in June, 2016.

In 2018, Bercovici launched a lawsuit against the federal government alleging, among other things, that the Trudeau government acted in bad faith when it terminated her and that she had not been properly compensated for her pension benefits.

In her lawsuit, Bercovici stated that a newly appointed high-ranking embassy official had "immediately started questioning (... her) operational expenses and decisions concerning the embassy." She said the questions were "without any basis," since these decisions and expenses had been approved.

According to court files at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the office of the Attorney General of Canada had agreed to share with Bercovici copies of emails, correspondence and notes from Global Affairs Canada officials about "allegations regarding improper contracting for secondary embassy space and flouting of authorities and channels to do so."

The AG's office also agreed to share with Bercovici emails from senior government officials and Canadian diplomats regarding allegations of "disloyalty to Canada, allegiance to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and Israel."

Bercovici stated in her lawsuit that her "loyalty to Canada was constantly questioned" by Global Affairs officials "and Department officials spread a malicious rumour" that she had "gone 'rogue' and set up a parallel Embassy structure in Israel in order to implement a personal agenda."

Material related to those allegations has not been added to public court records and the issues raised in the lawsuit were never argued before a judge. None of the allegations have been proven in a court of law.

CBC News is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

Private meetings with Israeli government officials

Senior government officials who spoke to Radio-Canada/CBC said they often perceived Bercovici as more of a spokesperson for the Israeli government than the ambassador for Canada.

In her lawsuit, Bercovici described the allegations of disloyalty as "vicious and unmeritorious attacks on her integrity and loyalty."

Senior government officials say Bercovici often met with Israeli government representatives without her Canadian embassy advisers present.

According to these officials, such one-on-one meetings between an ambassador and a foreign government official are quite rare. A Canadian ambassador typically is accompanied to such meetings by the officials in charge of the files being discussed. In addition to providing their expertise, these officials can follow up on agenda items and act as witnesses to the discussions.

Bercovici's private meetings with Israeli government officials raised concerns among some Canadian officials. "We in the government of Canada were not privy to what was discussed there on behalf of the government of Canada," said one official.

"What did she convey? What did she reveal to them? They are friends, but still a foreign country."

Some explained Bercovici's private meetings with Israeli officials by pointing to her close ties to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and to the difficulties she experienced in adapting to the job of ambassador.

Bercovici was not a career diplomat. She was a lawyer and wrote columns for the Toronto Star in which she made her pro-Israel position clear.

Bercovici was appointed ambassador in January, 2014 by then-prime minister Stephen Harper, himself a strong supporter of Israel and of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Radio-Canada sent an email to Bercovici inquiring about the office space at 22 Rothschild, her private meetings with Israeli government officials and the allegations of disloyalty to Canada.

Bercovici's lawyer William McDowell, from the Toronto law firm Lenczner Slaght, replied to Radio Canada's email. In his written reply, he pointed out that her lawsuit has been settled.

Non-disclosure agreement

"A comprehensive non-disclosure agreement prevents both Ms. Bercovici and the defendants from discussing any and all matters relating to her years of service or the legal proceedings," McDowell wrote. "Our client has no intention of breaching this NDA. To respond appropriately to the points you raise would require her to do so.

"We suggest that you consider one important overarching fact: throughout Ms. Bercovici's service all expenses, and embassy operational matters, were reviewed and approved at the highest levels in the Department.

"Your inquiries themselves bear blatantly anti-Semitic overtones."

McDowell also asked Radio-Canada/CBC to have no further direct contact with Bercovici.

Global Affairs Canada also said that the department could not comment because a settlement had been reached between the parties.

Radio-Canada has submitted questions to the following people but has not received replies: Ralph Jansen (deputy head of mission during part of Bercovici's tenure, now Canada's ambassador to Peru); John Baird, who was Foreign Affairs minister when Bercovici was ambassador; and former prime minister Stephen Harper.