Reprinted from Yves Engler’s website.
As the world recoils in horror at Israel’s starvation and slaughter campaign in Gaza, that country’s diminishing number of supporters are becoming ever more unhinged. A lawyer representing a Canadian genocidaire wants the Montreal policy to arrest me for posting to X “death death to the IDF”.
According to hardline Montreal Zionist publication The Suburban, lawyer Michael Hollander is calling on the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) to investigate my social media posts for uttering threats and incitement to hatred against an identifiable group. Hollander is representing an anonymous Montrealer who is a reservist in the Israeli military.
The complaint stems from posts I made in response to Bobby Vylan’s “Death Death to the IDF” chant at the Glastonbury festival in the UK a month ago.
According to the paper, Hollander wrote Montreal police chief Fady Dagher, “These posts, in my client’s view, constitute clear incitement to hatred and potential violence against individuals associated with the IDF, including Canadian citizens such as my client. The language used is not only inflammatory but also dehumanizing and threatening. It targets a specific group of people based on national and ethnic origin, and by extension, incites hatred against members of the Jewish community, including but not limited to persons of Israeli origin.”
Hollander added that his client “feels personally targeted, as his name has already been published on a Canadian website that lists Canadian citizens who have served in the IDF. We respectfully request that the SPVM investigate this matter under the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada… [Engler] has repeatedly and consistently labelled Jewish and/or Israeli people as terrorists and genocidal Jewish supremacists” who “indoctrinate their kids into the supremacist death cult of Zionism.”
Hollander added that I “actively promoted, aided, abetted and help spread a website known as findIDFsoldiers.net, in which my client is expressly identified. This website has as its intended purpose to expose persons such as my client to hate, harassment, intimidation, shame, abuse and/or worse… My client could only have interpreted [the social media posts] as being a call for his demise.”
In fact, “Death to the IDF” is a call to end violence. It is a call to stop a military committing a holocaust in Gaza and that has waged war across the region. It is a statement of resistance to ethnic cleansing, genocide and use of Israel’s (and the USA’s) military power to shape the Middle East against the interests of the vast majority of the people who live there. It is a metaphor against the actual horrendous violence committed by a military that has made it abundantly clear that they don’t care about international law, world opinion or basic morality. They will only stop when the costs to them are too high.
Hollander’s recent move is the culmination of hardline Jewish supremacists’ efforts to have me arrested for backing a music duo’s glorious chant. Three weeks ago The J.ca published “Montreal Author Under Police Review After Anti-IDF Posts Raise Hate Speech Concerns. Yves Engler’s ‘Death to IDF’ remarks prompt law enforcement scrutiny and public criticism amid rising tensions.”
The J.ca contacted the SPVM to enquire about my posts after the anonymous X account Leviathan tagged multiple police accounts with photos of my statements supporting Find My IDF next to my response to those condemning British music duo Bob Vylan. A few days later the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation sent a formal letter to the SPVM “re: acts of hatred by Yves Engler.” Their July 4 letter reads:
Dear Constable Dubuc: We are writing to report Mr. Yves Engler for counselling the murder of members of the Israel Defence Force (“IDF”), including former members of the IDF living in Canada. Mr. Engler has called for the destruction of every member of the IDF, and has posted information leading to the identification of such former IDF members resident in Canada.
“At the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, we take Mr. Engler’s threats seriously. He is going far beyond merely expressing a political view. He is calling everyone associated with the IDF a terrorist, and for all members of the IDF to be destroyed ‘totally and utterly. Let not one of them remain.’ These statements, combined with publication of information about the names and locations of former IDF members in Canada, constitutes counselling of lethal violence against them in Canada.
“We respectfully request that SPVM take appropriate action.”
In fact, the SPVM should be investigating whether the anonymous Canadian who is a reservist in a military committing a holocaust has violated Canada’s War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act. They should also investigate what Montreal institution or individual “induced” them to join the Israeli military in possible violation of Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act. Someone should look through findIDFsoldiers.net to figure out which Montrealer IOF soldier has complained to the police. We should deliver a formal complaint against them to the SPVM.
As part of my bid to be the next leader of the NDP, I’m calling for prosecuting Canadians who’ve fought in Gaza. It’s time to hold these criminals accountable.
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Yves Engler is the author of Stand on Guard for Whom? A People’s History of the Canadian Military and twelve other books.
