Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism should be renamed Special Envoy to Promote Genocide and Authoritarianism.
On Sunday Deborah Lyons denounced a protest that led Justin Trudeau to cancel his appearance at an event with Giorgia Meloni. The protest was against the Liberals and the rightist Italian prime minister’s role in Israel’s genocide. The special envoy wanted state forces to repress peoples’ right to gather. On X Lyons posted:
“Last night’s shameful forced cancellation of a bilateral meeting due to a violent protest is the direct result of caving in to the irrational demands of an out-of-control and noisy cohort, fueling their determination. It will take courageous leadership — which may not be easy but is truly necessary — to stop the antisemitism, violence and harassment that has become an everyday occurrence and to keep our streets, schools and country safe. I implore those in positions of leadership: do not wait until it’s too late.”
Little evidence has surfaced of any “violence” at the protest. Several MPs, ministers and local politicians entered the Art Gallery of Ontario where the event was to be held.
Similarly, the claim of “antisemitism” is evidence free. There doesn’t appear to have been many (or any) Jewish officials in attendance with more Jews likely protesting the event outside.
Lyons calling for the state to clamp down on a protest against an heir to Mussolini’s fascist movement highlights her authoritarianism. Since becoming special envoy five months ago, Lyons has repeatedly called for suppressing the right to protest Canada’s contribution to genocide.
Three weeks ago she echoed Kahanist fascists in their smears of a march in Toronto against Canada’s complicity in Israel’s assault on Rafah. After Spider Man for Palestine waved a flag atop a ledge a Mount Sinai hospital Lyons demanded the protest be repressed, posting, “we will be calling Toronto’s Mayor and Chief of Police today to discuss how they will put a stop to this despicable targeting and attempted intimidation of Mount Sinai Hospital and Jews across Toronto and Canada.”
Lyons is echoing the broader Zionist movement’s fascistic turn, which I’ve detailed here and here. The increasingly aggressive calls to undercut democratic rights are a response to the popular uprising against Canada’s complicity in Israel’s unspeakable crimes in Gaza (not to mention the apartheid state’s ramped up violence in the West Bank, bombings in Syria and a low intensity war in Lebanon).
Ever more vocal in her genocidal apologia, Lyons is swimming in a cesspool of anti-Palestinian racism. She lent government credibility to what turned into the most publicized incident of anti-Palestinian racism in Canadian history. Minutes after now disgraced BC minister Selina Robinson described Palestine as “crappy” Lyons repeatedly praised Robinson, labelling her “wonderful”. Despite some 3000 emailing to request Lyons distance herself from Robinson’s racist statements, she has refused.
A former Canadian ambassador to Israel, Lyons organized a pizza party for Canadians fighting in that country’s military. In January 2020 Lyons held an event at the embassy in Tel Aviv to celebrate the 78 Canadians then fighting for Israel, declaring “we at the embassy are very proud of what you’re doing.”
Lyons took over from Irwin Cotler who established the special envoy position. A noted anti-Palestinian, Cotler said he spent significant effort persuading Lyons, a non-Jew, to take up a position he established to protect Israel from criticism. The envoy position has a five-year $5.6 million budget.
The special envoy position is the institutionalization of the “antisemitism trick” whereby those opposed to genocide, apartheid and colonialism are labelled anti-Jewish. It is now being used to call for authoritarianism, police repression and blind support for a foreign state’s military. This is Canadians’ tax money in action.
It seems obvious to me that this is wrong. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, no group has called for abolishing the special envoy position.
Independent Jewish voices (IJV) hasn’t. Nor have Not in Our Name or Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. I’m unaware of an MP directly criticizing the special envoy, let alone calling for its abolition.
For three and a half years federal taxes have been used to promote apartheid, to defend the military of a foreign state and to call for police repression. Yet no one with political power is calling for the envoy position to be abolished. That must change.
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