There’s a glaring double standard on the self-proclaimed left. On the one hand, no one who proudly proclaimed themselves “racist” would be described as progressive; but on the other hand, some who call themselves Zionists are designated exactly that. One can still be viewed as a progressive liberal while pledging allegiance to a lawless genocidal apartheid state.
I was reminded that Jewish supremacist colonialism (Zionism) has yet to be delegitimized, even on the pro-Palestinian left, when in a look back at 2025 The Breach managing editor Martin Lukacs predicted Justin Trudeau will go back to being a progressive liberal now that he’s out of office. Lukacs stated, “I expect him to kind of have a Jimmy Carter esque post presidential post prime ministerial like era. The same way Jimmy Carter like you know had his moment being one of the first people in the US political establishment class to break out and support Palestinian self-determination. Before he became a politician, he would show up to like Council of Canadians events on water rights and indigenous solidarity stuff. I think he always had that progressive impulse, but he was gobbled up by the Liberal machinery and you know served as a kind of arm candy for neoliberal rule but I think in the wake of that we are going to see something positive out of him. Mark my words.”
Incredulous, El Jones interrupted Lukacs to ask “what”? While her subsequent response was a bit soft, Jones concluded by dismissing “the idea he is going to have some leftist turn”.
Anyone opposed to Jewish supremacist colonialism should be shocked by Lukacs’ comment. In his last days in office — when there was no obvious political need to do so — Trudeau jettisoned any egalitarian or internationalist pretension, declaring “I am a Zionist”. At an anti-Palestinian federal government forum two months after he announced his resignation Trudeau said, “No one in Canada should ever be afraid to call themselves a Zionist. I am a Zionist.”
Trudeau made that statement 18 months into a live streamed holocaust and on the same day as Israeli minister Eli Cohen said he would stop all electricity from entering Gaza. At that point Israel had displaced basically everyone in Gaza, destroyed almost every building and killed or seriously injured ten percent of the population. It had also bombed Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Syria hundreds of times.
Trudeau made similar comments on multiple occasions. In 2017 he declared, “Today, while we celebrate Israel’s independence, we also reaffirm our commitment to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.”
Trudeau assisted Israeli crimes in innumerable ways. His Liberal government organized a pizza party for Canadians fighting in the Israeli military, sued to block proper labels on wines from illegal settlements, made Irwin Cotler a special advisor to promote apartheid and announced that should Canada win a seat on the United Nations Security Council it would act as an “asset for Israel” on the council. Throughout the genocide in Gaza Trudeau failed to apply Canadian law on selling arms to Israel, registered charities backing its military, inducing Canadians into IOF or investigating those who fought in Gaza.
Fifty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution “determining that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination”. But calling oneself a “Zionist” today is far worse than proclaiming oneself a “racist”. It is morally akin to expressing support for King Leopold II and the Belgian holocaust in Congo or Adolf Hitler.
Despite being pro-Palestinian, Lukacs’ comment about Trudeau suggest he doesn’t see it that way. For him to make that comment means he can describe as “progressive” someone who enabled a live streamed holocaust while prime minister and then declared fidelity to its supremacist colonialism ideology upon leaving office.
In his 2021 book The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent Lukacs ignored the first six years of Trudeau’s deeply anti-Palestinian positions. (The only foreign policy issue dealt with in detail in the book is Canada’s massive Light Armored Vehicle sale to Saudi Arabia, which had been discussed on the front page of the Globe and Mail at least a dozen times.) Over two decades of discussing these issues, Lukacs has argued against boycotts, defended a Jewish state and argued against describing Zionism as “Jewish supremacy”. Years ago Lukacs explicitly rejected my writing for The Breach on the grounds that I was antisemitic.
Lukacs used The Breach to promote Zionist lobby/NDP brass attacks designed to justify excluding my campaign from the leadership race. An advisor to Avi Lewis, Lukacs joined Bnai Brith, Meir Weinstein, Brian Lilley and other extreme anti-Palestinians in smearing a campaign rooted in challenging Canada’s extensive support for genocidal Jewish supremacy.
Clearly, he does not see Zionism as a form of racism. Clearly, ideological support for the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s apartheid is not enough for him and other self-described leftists to completely reject associating with such people.
It seems, for some, racism is unforgiveable, except that directed at Palestinians.
Amid growing pressure Avi Lewis released a statement criticizing the unelected 3 person NDP vetting committee’s decision to exclude our campaign from the leadership race. Please email the other candidates to urge them to speak out against the subversion of party democracy
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