Amidst sustained opposition to the holocaust in Gaza, Israel’s supporters are acting more and more like fascists. They have been pushing to restrict civil liberties, dismantle democratic organizations and expand policing for months, but now want to deport protesters, buy arms and ban protests.
Straight out of Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts playbook, a Jewish Khananist mob attacked a peaceful student encampment at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on Wednesday. The middle of the night assault with sticks, fireworks and chemical irritants left dozens injured. As was sometimes the case with the Blackshirts, the assault legitimated the deployment of state forces the next night to dismantle the camp.
While the incident at UCLA is the most egregious example of Zionist fascism in North America, I wrote about the phenomenon in January and February. Since then, Canadian Zionists have turned more fascistic.
Recently film producer Jonathan Pottins told the Toronto Police Service Board that his anti-Palestinian milieu is buying arms. “Everyone I know is getting armed and that should scare everyone,” Pottins told the public meeting. The former head of the violent and racist Jewish Defence League Meir Weinstein has been organizing day-long firearms courses in Toronto under the slogan “Every Jew a .22”.
Alongside seeking arms, Israel supporters regularly respond to videos of large numbers protesting Canadian complicity in the genocide by calling for protesters to be deported. The racist and dehumanizing rhetoric is increasingly being taken up by mainstream voices. Recently Warren Kinsella, a self-proclaimed anti-racist, brought this thinking into the mainstream with a Toronto Sun column blaming the anti-genocide protests on the failure of multiculturalism. Taking this outlook a step further, the mayor of the Montreal municipality of Hampstead Jeremy Levi recently posted: “Given the recent behavior of the pro-Palestinian group, Canada should reconsider its immigration plan for Gazans. Their values seem incompatible with ours, and I have no desire to welcome more hatred into our country.”
The bid to ban protests has also taken a more formal turn. A self-described Zionist “wolf”, Neil Oberman won an injunction banning protests at a Jewish community building and synagogue, which faced protests in March during an event with three Israeli soldiers and an Israel real estate fair. Oberman then used the initial (default) decision to expand it to two dozen institutions for six months.
In response to the student encampment at McGill against genocide, Oberman immediately sought an injunction to ban protests within 100 metres of 154 university buildings. The failed injunction would have effectively banned demonstrations in large swaths of downtown Montreal, which was no doubt among his aims. The instigator of a slew of anti-democratic legal maneuvers, Oberman recently said that “since October 8 it’s crazy” in Montréal.
Prominent Zionists, including Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, have called for the violent suppression of the McGill students. After praising US “SWAT teams… deployed to dismantle and arrest pro-Hamas demonstrators on university campuses”, mayor Levi demanded that “Montreal tactical teams should swiftly intervene at McGill, even if it requires force.”
In other words, supporters of Israel are calling on Canada to treat those demonstrating in favour of Palestinian rights the way Israel treats Palestinians, with force and disregard of human rights. Of course, Zionists have long sought to demonize support for Palestinians. What is new is their aggressive and open promotion of police repression and other forms of intimidation historically associated with fascism to prevent protest against the slaughter in Gaza.
Is this irony or tragedy? Perhaps both.
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