Written by: Marthad Umucyaba

After the discovery of illegal Israel settlement sales events in Canada, protests against two of these events occurred in Thornhill on March 3 and March 7. There were also separate protests in Montreal: on March 4 against IDF soldiers giving a public speech at the Jewish Community Foundation at the Federation CJA building, and on March 5 against Illegal Settlement Sales at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal.

The protests were marked by shameless smears from the pro-colonial press, unhinged behaviour from the Zionists, and the exposure of the terrorist organisation known as the Jewish Defence League, rebranded as Israel Now. The actions of the JDL, in the US, were so extreme that the FBI was forced to register them as a terrorist organisation. Integration of Canadian society with the IDF was also apparent, in another “mask off” moment for Canada and the larger NATO apparatus.

March 3, 2024

The March 3 protest was characterised by unhinged Zionist behaviour. A former IDF soldier by the name of Levi Ackermann, for example, proudly professed war crimes on camera.

Anti-Palestinian Hate Monitor (Canada) noted that: “Ackermann said, ‘Hopefully more than you’, after being asked how many Palestinian kids he'd killed while serving in the IDF.” As Ackermann walked away the cameraman tried to remind him about the standard for human morality, saying, “I’ve never killed even one kid” (0:30-0:38).

Ghada Sasa was repeatedly met with misogynist remarks by the Israeli flag waving side of the Illegal settlement sales protest. The short video she posted on X/Twitter starts with a Zionist calling her a “b***h”, then the Zionist crowd degenerates in conduct from there. A Zionist man can be seen making a licentious kissing motion at her at the 54 second mark, followed by a woman regurgitating the debunked Hamas rapes allegations before calling her a “b***h” and walking off.

Ilan Reuben Abramov went viral internationally and was even featured on international media outlet Al Jazeera for his unhinged pro-colonial antics. Al Jazeera, incidentally, also mentioned the racial segregation practised by the Synagogue (0:46-1:38) in the same feature.

Abramov bursted into the scene shouting “Every “f***ing Palestinian!” while armed with a nail gun, firing the nail gun in every direction imaginable. After putting the nail gun back in his car, he then renewed his attack on the protesters. The behaviour was so outrageous that even the York Regional Police, who were adamant about refusing to hold any Zionists accountable for hate speech, laid charges against him later that day.

March 4 and 5, 2024

On March 4, a protest was held in front of the Federation CJA building, a Jewish community centre in Montreal called the Jewish Community Foundation. The building is right next to the Montreal Holocaust Museum. The far right and the pro-colonial press decided to exploit this fact and characterise it as a “hate mob” massing “outside [of the] Montreal Holocaust Museum”. Even the far-right Jerusalem Post was more honest about what had happened, noting the “harassment” of the IDF reservists Nir Yoesef, Ori Itzhaki, and Aby Volcovich. As a matter of fact, the IDF reservists were the reason for the protest.

The real question for concern should have been why Canadians were welcome to join the IDF, in contravention to the foreign enlistment act, and why IDF soldiers were welcome to speak at a “community centre”. The basis of the protest was the shameless platforming of potential war criminals used to justify the ongoing genocide. Groups that supported the protests on the side of Palestine, such as Independent Jewish Voices, condemned the optics as well.

On March 5, another illegal settlement sales event was conducted at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. The Rebel News was particularly focused on this one, and used the opportunity to promote the “Deport Hamas” campaign. It’s a particularly reactionary campaign calling for the deportation of anyone studying or working on a Visa in Canada to be deported if they voice support for the Palestinian Resistance or even show up at a pro-Palestine rally. Nevertheless, the Zionists were more disciplined in Montreal then they were in Thornhill, and much less controversy erupted, other than smear laden headlines from the pro-colonial press.

March 7, 2024

Thornhill cemented its status in infamy on March 7 when the Zionist “counter protesters”, committed to defending the illegal settlement sales at the Synagogue, were joined by members of the terrorist organisation known as the Jewish Defense League. Infamous for their involvement in the assassination of Alex Odeh in 1985, the FBI was forced to register them as a terrorist organisation under public scrutiny.

One depraved Zionist, revealed later to be a former IDF reservist named Meir Gerichter, kicked an activist in the pelvis. She was forced to go to the hospital as a result of the criminal act. The pro-colonial York Regional Police only issued charges against Gerichter after multiple complaints from Ghada. As is now characteristic of Thornhill, the Zionist camp was also completely unhinged.

A Zionist man, later identified as Kevin Haas after the arrest, even began stalking Ghada Sasa and other pro-Palestinian protesters while carrying a knife. He has a rap sheet of hate crimes from 2004 and 2006 at Ryerson University.

The protests throughout last week have exposed the terrorist Jewish Defence League. They have exposed the reactionary and barbaric character of the Zionists. The pro-colonial press has exposed itself, especially via The National Post’s shameless hit job on Ghada Sasa, which accused her of inadvertently pushing “Canadian Jewry” into “stealing more land”, by supposedly making Jews feel less safe in Canada. The Zionists have also exposed Canada’s shameless complicity in, and cooperation with, NATO’s West Bank and Gaza ethnic cleansing plan. Exposure is fundamentally important, but that alone isn’t enough.

The harsh truth about opposing Israel’s genocide

The harsh truth is that exposing Nazis for what they actually are does not fundamentally change their character or behaviour. It only exposes it. NATO, through their support for Nazi ideology in Ukraine, and their support for antisemitic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Middle East, have been exposed by these political events. But that only removes the mask. It does not change the face underneath. What brought down Nazi ideology in Europe, in 1945, was not the revelation of the concentration camps, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, or the Nuremberg Trials - which came after the fact - but instead, the destruction of their military and the invasion of Germany by the Soviet Union and the rest of the Allied Powers.

Israel’s existence must be ended, and a fully liberated Palestine established. The Palestinian resistance relentlessly fights for this, with the backing or support of Iran, Hezbollah, the Iraqi resistance and Ansar Allah. How decisively other international powers, and the partners of the Palestinian resistance decide to escalate their support in the face of Israel’s escalating genocide, will be critical in ending the apartheid regime’s existence once and for all.

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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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