Community institutions obsessed with defending every horror Israel commits are becoming ever more fascist. The advocacy agent of Canada’s Jewish federations wants you jailed for stating, “I support Palestine Action”.
On Friday the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs put out a statement marking International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. CIJA urged the federal government to add Palestine Action Canada, Kata’ib Hezbollah and Masar Badil to Canada’s ever-growing list of banned terrorist organizations. They also called to “fully enforce existing terrorist listings” and give more resources to “police, intelligence, and security agencies” to combat “terrorism”. Additionally, they seek “to Strengthen Canadian counterterrorism law, including by criminalizing the wilful promotion of terrorism and looking to the United Kingdom’s framework to close gaps in Canadian law, including making it a criminal offence to be a member of a listed terrorist entity.”
A terror listing is supposed to require a thorough assessment by relevant security agencies. In practice, many listings have been highly political as has been documented with Hezbollah, IRFAN and others. Two years ago, the Israel lobby convinced the Trudeau government to list the Samidoun Palestinian Political Prisoners Solidarity Network for no other reason than purported ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which itself never should have been listed a terror group. Now, CIJA is saying Masar Badil should be listed for “acting in association with Samidoun.” If they succeed in having Masar Badil listed, who will they push to list in the future for “acting in association with” Masar Badil?
As I noted in May, CIJA began pushing for Palestine Action Canada to be listed a terror organization before it had any presence in the country. Now, CIJA is calling to list Palestine Action Canada on the grounds it “has targeted strategic industries and whose UK counterpart was designated a terrorist organization by close Canadian ally the United Kingdom.”
In the UK, Palestine Action was listed last July. But, in February the High Court ruled the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful and disproportionate (but did not immediately lift the listing, giving the government the right to appeal or rescind it.) On Friday a UK judge delivered another blow to Palestine Action’s listing by ruling that five Palestine Action activists convicted of damaging a Barclays bank branch over the company’s investment in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems would not be sentenced under the country’s terrorism laws.
Palestine Action is a non-violent organization that spray-painted facilities, disrupted activities and destroyed equipment of numerous arms firms. The listing by the British government was highly controversial and has highlighted the deeply illiberal character of UK terrorism laws.
Over the past year and a half over 3,500 people have been arrested for opposing the ban on Palestine Action. Most have been detained simply for holding signs reading, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
In their statement demanding more authoritarianism, CIJA references the Toronto Police turning to Canada’s civil-liberties-violating, post-9/11 terror law to charge a prominent Palestinian activist. In a major escalation of the Toronto Police Service’s anti-Palestinian repression, last month they charged Ahmad Hajahmad with “Participating in or Contributing to Activities of a Terrorist Group” for (purportedly) offering rhetorical support for Hamas’ armed resistance to Israeli colonial rule.
CIJA explicitly wants more ‘words are terrorism’ arrests and legislation, calling on Canada to “look to the United Kingdom’s framework” of highly repressive terrorism legislation.
Canada’s terror list has long undercut civil liberties and the just adopted Combating Hate Act (Bill C-9) reinforces the terror list by criminalizing the display of listed “terror” groups’ symbols in certain contexts. Over 10 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 and several more Canadian-based groups have been listed for defending Palestinians. This is not enough for CIJA. They want more repression in service of an Israeli state killing Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians and many more.
Genocidal Jewish supremacist organizations acting as an arm of the Israeli state want to bring the authoritarianism that Palestinians face daily to Canada in an effort to shut down solidarity movements in this country. Incredibly, some governments seem willing to move further down that fascist path.
