How Benjamin Netanyahu and Stephen Harper could work together to defeat Barack Obama

In light of Canada's decision to shut its embassy in Iran and expel Iranian diplomats, perhaps it's time to question whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper has become Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's poodle.

Writing in the Jerusalem Post today, columnist Ben Caspit makes it clear that Netanyahu wants to attack Iran before the U.S. election on November 6. But he's not getting support from all of his governing coalition partners.

A simple Google search reveals numerous references to Netanyahu's wish to strike before the U.S. election.

However, the Israeli paper Haaretz has noted that American officials don't believe that Netanyahu will follow through on this.

So what would happen if Netanyahu surprised the U.S. government and Israel suddenly started firing missiles where it believes Iranian nuclear tests are occurring?

Iran would likely respond by shutting down supertanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices would skyrocket. And the U.S. economy would be in trouble again at the worst possible time for the Democrats.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney could then reiterate his comment from the GOP convention that the Obama administration had "thrown Israel under the bus".

Romney might also point to how Canada had anticipated this situation by shutting down its embassy and booting Iranian officials out of the country, whereas the Obama administration did nothing.

It's a scary scenario to think that the Israeli prime minister might be willing to start a war to get rid of a U.S. president whom he personally dislikes. Of course, Netanyahu and Harper both know that a Republican administration would be far less critical of new Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Never underestimate how wily conservatives can be when there's an election on the line.

Richard Nixon and his friends engineered the Watergate Hotel break-in.

George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and their allies went to great lengths to suppress voter turnout in 2000 and 2004. There was even a book published about this called Was the 2004 presidential election stolen?.

Meanwhile, Canada is still coming to terms with the robocall scandal, where voters were directed to the wrong polling stations before the 2011 election.

In light of this history, it's not beyond the realm of possibility for Israel to launch a pre-election strike on Iran—with the Harpercons' support and encouragement—to boost Romney's chances in the presidential election.

Related story: Law professor Payam Akhavan questions Harper government's decision to close Tehran embassy

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.