Zionists want me jailed for asking questions. At every turn defenders of Israeli crimes are attacking civil liberties.
On Saturday I was charged with “criminal harassment” for asking prominent Journal de Montreal columnist Richard Martineau about his support for genocide and Islamophobia. After I posted the interaction on social media, a slew of genocidal Jewish supremacists spewed their fascist bile. A former Canadian ambassador to Norway Artur Wilczynski posted, “Great to see Engler charged again. He needs to face the consequences for his incitement and harassment.” The former head of Canada’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and assistant deputy minister and senior adviser for people, equity and inclusion at the Communications Security Establishment, quote tweeted Meir Weinstein stating, “Obsessive compulsive antisemite Yves Engler got arrested and charged in Montreal for harassment of a Jewish man just after a Kosher restaurant in Montreal was burned to the ground by Hamas supporters.” (I didn’t harass anyone and Martineau isn’t Jewish.)
Also quote tweeting the former Jewish Defence League head, Toronto Technology Executive Jon Fraser posted, “Engler is absolute human trash. He deserves a long stay in prison.”
Also quote tweeting Weinstein, National Post columnist Terry Newman noted, “Montreal SPVM recently got around to my case. Engler wrote ‘let’s globalize the intifada at National Post’ at me on X back in December. The police recently called me and told me they were closing my case because X told them they needed an international warrant and the police think that will take too long. It is not my fault they took so long to get to my case from December. Frankly, it’s unacceptable. @SPVM.”
Another National Post columnist, Barabara Kay, retweeted Newman noting, “What does ‘take too long’ mean? Are the police going out of business? Is Yves Engler leaving town (we wish)? What’s the diff how long it takes?”
The individuals calling for my arrest are part of a broader movement pushing to repress opponents of genocide and the left. Thousands have been arrested, disciplined or fired for (righteously) challenging Canadian complicity in the Palestinian holocaust.
In a major escalation of the Toronto Police Service’s well-documented anti-Palestinian repression, the TPS recently turned to Canada’s post-9/11 terror law to charge a prominent Palestinian activist. The TPS charged Ahmad Hajahmad with “Participating in or Contributing to Activities of a Terrorist Group” for offering rhetorical support for Hamas’ armed resistance to Israeli colonial rule. As the Globe and Mail reported, “according to experts, the Toronto Police’s allegations against Mr. Hajahmad are potentially novel because they stem from words he said during a protest, which police say furthered the interests of Hamas.” Hajahmad was charged with “Participating in or Contributing to Activities of a Terrorist Group.” The offence carries a maximum of 10 years in jail.
The charge against Hajahmad confirms the importance of abolishing Canada’s anti-Palestinian, civil-liberties-violating, terrorism list. Instead, the government just bolstered it and Zionists want to expand it. On Monday Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wrote Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree to add Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah to the terror list. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and B’nai Brith are pushing for Palestine Action Canada and [Masil] to be listed terrorist organizations as well. (Over the past three years of Israeli horrors in Gaza, the government has added Vancouver-based Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network as well as Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthis) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Canada’s terror list.)
On July 18 the Combating Hate Act (Bill C9) came into force. The new legislation reinforces the terror list in service of Zionism by criminalizing the display of listed “terror” groups’ symbols in certain contexts. Under the so-called Combating Hate Act, one can go to jail for up to a decade for flying a Samidoun, Hamas or Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine flag at a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu. With some Conservative MPs seeking to add Fatah to Canada’s terrorist list, flying the Palestinian flag, which Fatah instigated, in front of a synagogue or community centre could someday land someone in jail.
On Tuesday the Canadian Press published “U.S. antisemitism envoy calls on Canada to restrict visas, expand terrorism listings.” Donald Trump’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, travelled to Ottawa to push for the expansion of Canada’s terrorism list.
The Trump administration has ruthlessly targeted opponents of genocide and defenders of Palestine. More broadly, it’s organizing a campaign to target the left inside and outside the US. Shamefully, Canada sent a representative to the Trump administration’s recent “Global Campaign to Crush Radical Left Terrorism” conference. (Mexico, Singapore and Brazil refused to attend.)
It seems that supporters of Israel would like to bring the same fascist authoritarianism that Palestinians face in their homeland here to Canada. Incredibly, some ‘important people’ are enthusiastic about heeding their demands. Anyone who thinks what happens ‘over there’ doesn’t affect us in Canada is sadly mistaken.
We need to push back against the growing authoritarianism coming from the Trump administration and Zionists.
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