If you try to check Israeli violence and colonialism, Canada will label you a terrorist. And since the US empire and Zionism overwhelmingly shape our geopolitical discussion, few will say anything.
Last Monday the Canadian government listed Yemen’s Ansarallah (Houthis) a terrorist organization. It received limited media attention and no pushback from any mainstream politician or even those opposing Canada’s support for Israel’s holocaust in Gaza. But Ansarallah was listed because they took action against Israel’s genocide. In solidarity with Palestinians being brutalized, last November the Houthis began seizing tanker ships connected to Israel traveling through the Red Sea. Their actions crippled operations at the Israeli port of Eilat. Ansarallah announced that their attacks would end if Israel’s “crimes in Gaza stop and food, medicines and fuel are allowed to reach its besieged population.”
Ottawa openly cited Ansarallah’s defence of Palestinians in their release announcing the listing. “Since November 2023,” it noted, “Ansarallah has contributed to unrest in the Middle East through numerous attacks targeting civilian and naval vessels on the Red Sea and other waterways, as well as those against Israel.”
In response to their acts of solidarity with the Palestinians, Canada’s genocide lobby demanded Ottawa list the Houthis. B’nai Brith, for instance, launched an email campaign headlined, “Canada Must List Ansar Allah (The Houthis) as a Terrorist Organization”.
The push to list the Houthis was usually raised alongside placing Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network on Canada’s terror list. As it targeted a domestic group, Samidoun’s October listing received some pushback from activists(though none in Parliament). That’s the historic pattern. There was little opposition when the Mississauga based International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN) was the first Canadian group added to the terror list in 2014 for assisting Palestinians in Gaza. In addition to Samidoun and IRFAN, 11 percent of Canada’s terror list is made up of organizations headquartered in a long-occupied land representing one-tenth of one percent of the world’s population. Representing much of Palestinian political life, eight of the oppressed nation’s organizations are listed.
The summer listing of Iran’s 100,000-member Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also passed with little pushback. The government directly connected listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization to those resisting Israeli colonialism and violence. Their release noted, “the decision to list the IRGC through the Criminal Code listing regime sends a strong message that Canada will use all tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist activity of the IRGC, conducted both unilaterally and in knowing association with listed terrorist entities such as Hizballah and Hamas.”
In 2012 Stephen Harper’s government established a List of Foreign State Supporters of Terrorism. It withdrew state’s immunity from legal pursuit. Ottawa immediately designated Iran and Syria state sponsors of terror.
Resistance to Israeli colonialism largely explains Iran’s listing. The Harper government said that country was “sheltering and [providing] material support to terrorist groups” challenging Israeli power.
Syria’s listing was also partly about Israel. Unlike Egypt and Jordan, Assad’s Syria refused to recognize Israel and it assisted Hezbollah. From the standpoint of combating terror, the timing of the listing was odd since Assad junior then faced armed challenge from Al-Qaeda, a UN listed terror organization (unlike Hamas and Hezbollah).
Israel pushed the US to fund and train opposition to Assad. They also bombed Syria regularly for a decade and more than 220 times between October 2023 and last week, greatly degrading its ability to defend itself. Over the past 48 hours Israel has bombed Syria 480 times, destroying most of its military assets. Israel has also taken substantially more Syrian territory.
Incredibly, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammed al Jolani has refused to criticize what Israel said was its most intense bombing campaign ever. Instead, Jolani has assured “neighbors” that Syria doesn’t want wars and wouldn’t target them. According to Jolani, Syria’s main problem was “Iranian militias, Hezbollah and the regime”.
Jolani’s position towards Israel may explain Justin Trudeau’s bizarre reaction to Assad’s fall. The prime minister posted, “A new chapter for Syria can begin here — one free of terrorism and suffering for the Syrian people.” That’s odd considering a Canadian and UN-listed terror organization controls Damascus.
Is Trudeau suggesting Canada plans to withdraw Syria from its state sponsor of terror list? It would say a lot if Syria was removed while a UN-designated terror organization led the country.
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