Israel supporters have become a leading fascist force in Canada. As I’ve detailed repeatedly in recent months, they’ve pushed to restrict civil liberties, dismantle democratic organizations and increase policing to suppress the movement against Israel’s holocaust in Gaza.
One of the most anti-Palestinian voices in the Liberal caucus Marco Mendicino recently called for “protective zones” around MP offices. According to the former public safety minister’s plan, anyone who harasses or intimidates people within 50 to 100 metres of constituency offices would be subject to harsher criminal penalties. Far from any parliamentarian’s office, Mendicino promoted banning anti-genocide rallies on a Toronto highway overpass during the winter.
The mayor of one of the wealthiest municipalities in Québec has been another of the most vocal prominent Zionist authoritarians in recent months. Hampstead mayor Jeremy Levi has repeatedly called for arresting and deporting peaceful protesters and in a troubling escalation was recently granted the power to build a sort of municipal militia.
On X Levi recently retweeted a post noting, “stop this nonsense and deport”. It showed people engaged in the democratic process under the statement “Pro Hamas supporters taking over the streets in Downtown Toronto. They are calling for an intifada which means indiscriminate terrorism.”
In another post, the mayor of the inner Montreal suburb called to imprison a man photographed at a Montreal mall with a shirt that seemed to celebrate the October 7 operation. “This is a blatant glorification of hate and violence, and this man must face charges immediately!”, wrote the mayor of the most Jewish municipality in the country. On the other hand, Levi seems fine with the many shirts I’ve seen praising the Israeli military in Montreal and a stand at a recent Hampstead event that promoted the genocidal Israeli Occupation Forces.
Openly okay with Israel killing 100,000 Palestinian children, Levi repeatedly demanded the police violently suppress student divestment encampments. After hundreds of police and private security dismantled the McGill university encampment on July 10 the mayor of one of Quebec’s wealthiest municipalities posted: “Months ago, I unequivocally advocated for the necessary use of force to dismantle the antisemitic, pro-Hamas ‘Little-Gazas’ at McGill. Today, it has finally been forcefully dismantled, highlighting a critical delay that should alarm us all.”
In what could turn out to be a major step along the Zionist fascism pathway, Hampstead’s council unanimously approved a proposal to grant Levi the power to appoint special constables. Under Quebec law municipal councils can confer on the mayor the power to “appoint special constables in emergencies for a period not exceeding seven days. The special constables shall be empowered, under the authority of the director of the police force or the officer in charge of the Sûreté du Québec police station, as the case may be, to prevent and repress offences under the municipal by-laws in all or part of the territory of the municipality.”
Levi made it clear the special constables plan was a reaction to the popular uprising against Canada’s complicity in Israel’s genocide. For months Levi has been pushing the Quebec government to allow private security at community centres and religious institutions to be armed with guns. It’s troubling that an authoritarian racist, clamoring to kill more Palestinians, would be given the authority to appoint special constables.
Unfortunately, Levi’s Jewish supremacist fascism finds support in high places. Levi campaigned recently with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for the party’s candidate, Neil Oberman, in Mount Royal. He was also profiled on the front of the National Post and Israeli Consul-General Paul Hirschson recently gave Levi and Hampstead a “Friend of Israel” plaque.
Do these people have no sense of shame? Not even an awareness of the irony in justifying a current genocide by claiming it somehow helps the victims of a previous one?
It seems any sense of self-awareness is beyond the understanding of authoritarians. Just one of the traits that make them so dangerous.
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