Political attacks on the Palestine movement continue internationally, as governments continue to pander to the Israeli state’s line on anti-Semitism, argues John Clarke 

Last week, David Lammy put himself in the role of genocide denier and sought to trivialise the murderous assault that Israel is carrying out in Gaza. In doing this, as Kevin Crane put it in Counterfire, ‘he made one of the most ignorant and offensive statements in British political history.’ Lammy’s effort to conceal the enormity of Israel’s crimes, however, was no personal initiative. For more than a year now, as the genocide has unfolded, Western political leaders have consistently provided cover for Israel, while doing all they can to discredit and contain Palestine solidarity movements. 

The ruling establishment in Canada is no exception when it comes to clearing a path for Israel’s brutality and criminalising pro-Palestinian activity. Recently, ‘Crown prosecutors … dropped assault and harassment charges against a woman who pulled the hijab of Hayfa Abdelkhaleq at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Ottawa in May.’ The CBC reports that ‘the Crown considered a number of factors, including that the victim was chanting, ‘From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free,’ which he said could be reasonably inferred to be ‘a call for genocide of the Jewish people.’ 

The prosecutors in this case seem to have paid no attention to the question of what could be ‘reasonably inferred’ about the act of ripping the hijab off of a Muslim woman. Beyond this this, however, they have effectively announced that physical attacks on pro-Palestinian protesters by Israel’s supporters will be treated with the utmost leniency if they are even brought before the courts. 

Weaponised anti-Semitism 

There is no doubt that one of the most potent methods that have been employed by those who provide cover for Israel’s crimes is the use of weaponised anti-Semitism. The assertion that any challenge to the political ideology of Zionism or solidarity with the struggles of the Palestinians must be viewed as anti-Jewish hatred has been extensively employed in many Western countries. Two initiatives that have been taken in Canada recently bring this home very sharply. 

On 21 October, the right-wing Zionist organisation, B’nai Brith Canada, published a ‘Seven point Plan to Combat Antisemitism.’ In issuing it, B’nai Brith asserted that ‘Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments have a solemn duty to stand by our country’s Jewish community.’ Accordingly, the plan was offered as ‘a prescription for FPT governments to help cure the disease [of anti-Semitism].’ It is readily apparent that the real target is the Palestine solidarity movement and central to this is the insistence that the notorious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism must inform governmental approaches. 

On the heels of this initiative, the Trudeau government issued a Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, that sets an official stamp on the directions that B’nai Brith advocates. It is worth looking at the implications and dangers that flow from both of these attacks on free speech on Palestine. 

It is clear that B’nai Brith wants to go beyond efforts to discredit and intimidate Palestine solidarity and move decisively in the direction of banning and criminalisation. After stressing the importance of the IHRA definition, as a document that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, it calls for the banning of ‘rallies that support terror entities and sanctioned regimes.’ It also wants to see an expansion of the list of organisations deemed to be ‘terrorist’ and insists that strengthening ‘laws and border security to prevent the import and export of hate and terror is critical for ensuring the safety of Canadians and preserving Canada’s values of tolerance and respect.’ 

B’nai Brith also seeks intensified efforts to silence pro-Palestinian voices in universities and within the school system. Finally, it wants the definition of ‘hate-motivated crimes’ expanded so as effectively to render Palestine solidarity and opposition to Israel’s genocidal course a criminal offence. 

Though the official government handbook is more cautious than the proposals set out by the Zionist zealots, the threads of common thinking in the two documents are striking and clear. The handbook maps out the role it sees for the IHRA definition in the very areas that B’nai Brith highlights and points to the same process of censorship and criminalisation. 

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) have called for the handbook to be withdrawn. CJPME notes that after ‘over a year of Canadians protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Trudeau has the audacity to publish a guide on how to crack down on pro-Palestine speech.’ 

They point out that the ‘handbook was produced under the leadership of Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.’ Lyons is a former Canadian ambassador to Israel who has a record of ‘consistently spreading false and malicious claims about pro-Palestine activists – misrepresenting protests, slogans, and pro-Palestine positions as antisemitic – and routinely advocating for the suppression of nearly all types of pro-Palestinian protest.’ 

The handbook includes a series of revealing ‘case studies of antisemitic incidents’ that include a social-media post asserting that ‘you can’t be antiracist and Zionist’ and that ‘Zionism is a racist and violent settler-colonial project.’ It suggests that characterising the Israeli state as a colonial undertaking is anti-Semitic and insists that the use of the term ‘Zionist’ should be regarded as a proxy for ‘Jew’. 

CJPME argues that the handbook ‘will be used to silence Palestinian experiences of Zionism, including the Nakba’ and suggests that the IHRA definition itself ‘is designed to suppress Palestinian perspectives, including critical scholarship on core legal concepts like apartheid and genocide, and should therefore be understood as a form of state-sponsored anti-Palestinian racism.’ 

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO), and the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN) also issued a joint statement that asserts that the ‘handbook produced by Special Envoy Lyons risks … negative human rights impacts, and threatens suppression of freedom of expression in academic, cultural, and civil discourse.’ They declare that ‘appropriating histories of Jewish pain by redefining antisemitism to silence Palestinian voices and public outcry over Israel’s ongoing war crimes is offensive to our communities. Genuine efforts to combat antisemitism must not undermine the right to advocate for the protection and dignity of all oppressed peoples, including Palestinians.’ 

Redoubled attack 

The readiness of the Trudeau government to facilitate the misuse of anti-Semitism in the service of Israel has been glaring and has even taken on a farcical quality. In addition to appointing Deborah Lyons to her role, Trudeau has also set up the arch-Zionist Liberal MP Anthony Housefather as his government’s ‘Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism.’ Both of these appointees have used their positions to mount a redoubled attack on Palestinians and their supporters. 

In August, Lyons told Canada News that the country is experiencing ‘an unprecedented surge of antisemitism.’ Since, for her, challenging the slaughter of Palestinians is anti-Semitic, it’s not hard to understand this perception. However, she went on to pose some alarming questions: ‘What is it about the makeup of our society? What is it about our push for diversity … What is about our demographics?’ With very little subtlety, she was suggesting that ‘anti-Semitism’ should be laid at the door of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities. 

It is clear that the misuse of anti-Semitism to stifle Palestine solidarity is very much a work in progress. Efforts to delegitimise, intimidate and deny people positions and platforms are going over to a bold attack on basic rights of assembly and expression and a drive to criminalise and suppress opposition to Israel’s genocidal rampage. Trudeau’s IHRA Handbook sets out the general line of march for this new McCarthyism but there is no doubt that it will be powerfully opposed by a growing movement of solidarity with the people of Palestine and their vital liberation struggle.