Front page of The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism’s report.

Written by: Marthad Umucyaba

The Zionists have proposed a new tactic, and the Toronto Sun is fully on board.

The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism (ISGA) proposes disclosing the name of the leadership of the running charities which provide the most financial resources to the protests, and ordering them to be shut down if they were run by individuals who were previously working for organizations such as Holy Land Foundation, which was forced to shut down by state persecution.

This came after ISGA researched funding sources for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters throughout North America and proposed cut off this financing by labelling them “terrorist” sources, in a report entitled “National Students for Justice in Palestine: Anti-Semitism, Anti-Americanism, Violent Extremism and the Threat to North American Universities”.

The ISGA wants to use a prior example of unjust state repression of a charity as a building block for further repression of the protests. The report has been pushed by Warren Kinsella in the Toronto Sun, and an infamous politician, Independent MP Kevin Vuong, who demanded a probe into the financing for all of the encampments. So what is this report, flaunted around by the Canadian right, all about?

The report’s targets

The report largely targets Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and its subsidiary, National Students for Justice in Palestine, and its chapters spread out throughout the United States and Canada. Associated organisations are also mentioned in a negative light, such as Faculty for Justice in Palestine, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and, ironically, the Democratic Socialists of America, a group infamous for fascist Democratic Party apologia (SJP_Report, Pg. 2-9).

The report laments the support the protesters involved in the SJP organised encampments show for Al Qassam Brigades, which is used as a proof for “support for violence” on campus. Evidently, Al Qassam Brigades only operates in the West Bank and Gaza, and are nowhere near Columbia University. Many complaints are also made against the “incitement” (SJP_Report, Pg. 4), while ironically at the same time claiming the speech itself is a “threat to democracy”.

The report’s “links”

The report’s allegedly revealed ‘links’ focus on logistical and financial support SJP receives from American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), and zeroes in on an alleged link to Hamas that comes from AMP’s recruitment of former employees and volunteers of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF). The way the HLF is painted as a “criminal organisation” in the article is based on legal proceedings during the Bush era and an appeal during the Obama era that ended in such a legally outrageous way that even the pro-colonial Human Rights Watch denounced the proceedings.

The case against the HLF, for allegedly being a sponsor of Hamas, was originally declared a mistrial in 2007 (09-10560-CR0.wpd, Pg. 7). It was reopened again in 2008 and the HLF and its leaders were found guilty that year. An appeal was filed in 2011 and the appeal decision was made in 2012. One of the most outrageous quotes from the judge in this 2012 decision was that “the error was harmless” (09-10560-CR0.wpd, Pg. 27), as in, using hearsay evidence as a basis to ’prove’ that HLF gave material support to Hamas did not harm the credibility of the 2008 decision, despite a mistrial being declared in the original 2007 decision on the same basis.

The allegation itself was always completely dubious and lacked backing evidence. The timing was a year after the Palestinian Resistance defeated Israel in the Gaza Strip. After that, Hamas overthrew Fatah, and subsequently won control of the Gaza Strip. According to Human Rights Watch themselves, the attack on the charity was simply over the fact that their work in Palestine was helping Hamas to “win hearts and minds”, which in the appeal judgement’s words, was “furthering its [Hamas’] popularity” (09-10560-CR0.wpd, Pg. 4). In other words, the provision of goods and services by the charity was helping Hamas to govern, and making it easier for Palestinians to endure NATO’s punishment, in the form of sanctions and arms to Israel, for electing to fight back against colonialism.

The report’s “proposals”

Building on the repression of Holy Land Foundation, the ISGA report makes a clear and succinct demand to disclose the names of the members of AMP and to disclose the funding sources for their sponsor, the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC). They want to do an extensive check of their history, and to see if they have ever worked for Holy Land Foundation. Then, finally, they infer that the US government should use the information they gather on the leadership/volunteers/employees as a building block to lay further charges against the leadership of AMP, and declare them a sponsor of ‘terrorism’ (SJP_Report, Pg. 52-60). With the anger ISGA would hope that tightened financial transparency would produce after AMP support becomes more well known, the US government could use this new political capital to outlaw all organisations affiliated with or sponsored by AMP, especially SJP.

The report also demands a probe into the legal arm, Palestine Legal, in order to weaken SJP’s ability to fight back legally against the proposed repressive measures. (SJP_Report, Pg. 63-68).

This PL-focused demand is based on an allegation that their work is “partisan” in nature, in “violation” of their charity status. Note that there is no political party in power in the United States or in Canada that supports Palestinian human rights, their inherent right to resist colonial occupation, or even their right to self-defence. Even in accusing partisanship, they do not base it on any incumbent political party’s stance, but rather the ultimate goal of the paper is to give policy proposals to the United States and Canada to liquidate SJP as an organisation in order for ‘Jewish students to be protected’.

North American youth vs The State

The report, the far-right’s endorsement of the report, and the paper-thin legal foundation of hearsay evidence that it is based on, proves that any state actions against SJP in declaring their association with ‘terrorism’ will be politicised and arbitrary. Young volunteers, activists, and executives in these organisations also face the same charges of terrorism, the possibility of being renditioned to a US CIA black site, and more.

The report, interestingly, notes ActBlue, a Democratic Party Political Action Committee (PAC), and its attempt at influencing SJP with financing (SJP_Report, Pg 63). It’s an ominous trend of what’s to come, considering the billionaire run Foundations’ financing of Black Lives Matter in the run up to the Ferguson protests. Shortly after Trump was sworn into office, leaders of the movement were separated between the sincere activists, the militants, and the opportunists. The opportunists, like Cori Bush, found careers in the Democratic Party, advocating for ‘change’, while the sincere activists and the militants ‘died mysteriously’.

That separation could divide and classify the protesters in both Canada and the United States as well, as the best-case scenario, based on ‘support’ vs ‘opposition’ to a ‘two-state solution’ and/or ‘Hamas’/Palestinian armed resistance or ‘opportunist’ vs ‘militant’. The worst-case scenario is the possibility of all movements associated with American Muslims for Palestine being labelled as ‘terrorist entities’. This is still the case with the formerly registered charity of “International Relief for the Afflicted and Needy” in Canada, and could be the case with SJP, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Palestine Legal, and other affiliated groups.

Alberta, run by far-right eugenicist Premier Danielle Smith, is the first province to mirror the police repression tactics of the United States, signalling that the rest of the provinces are sure to follow suit if the university administrations remain persistent in maintaining financial ties with Israel, not divesting from Israel.

With the United States and Canada already sharing an intelligence alliance known as the Five Eyes, and both countries being members of NATO, there is no telling when the most pernicious US tactics of repression will be adopted by Canada to deal with pro-Palestine activism.

However, it is only a matter of “when”, and not “if”, and whether the movement will be “prepared” when the time comes.

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Marthad Shingiro Umucyaba (formerly referred to as Christian Shingiro) is a Rwandan-born naturalized Canadian expat. He is known for his participation in Communist/anti-imperialist national and international politics and is the radio show host of The Socially Radical Guitarist.

He is also a freelance web developer in Hong Kong, China, striving to provide “Socially Radical Web Design at a socially reasonable price”.

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