The world faces the crisis of a lifetime. Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza has already killed countless thousands of innocent civilians with no end in sight. Not content with annexing the region and sweeping its population, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turns his attention to his country’s every neighbour, ordering strikes against the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen, eyeing enemies as remote as Iran. A polarised global audience watches the next worldwide conflict unfold in slow motion, with either glee or outrage.
One year of sustained protests and disruption have not sufficed to shut down Canadian taxpayer funding of this folly. One year on, the movement has earned little more from its elites than tepid gestures such as perfunctory solidarity statements with Palestine. From many more it has instead been met with scorn and even retaliation. From the City of Victoria it was countered with an Orwellian motion to combat antisemitism at rallies.
On June 20, Councillor Marg Gardiner chillingly called upon the city to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of antisemitism by Palestine supporters in town and to follow the money trail to any public grants. While the final text was watered down somewhat in response to objections that it fostered division, every council member ended up voting in favour of it.
Meanwhile, Independent Jewish Voices Victoria was holding a rally outside City Hall to protest the motion. Its representatives expressed great concern that falsely equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism would instead fuel anti-Palestinian racism and silence critics of the genocide in Gaza. One could add Jewish opposition to Zionism often leads to accusions of being a “fake Jew”—which is the most pernicious form of antisemitism.
While Councillor Susan Kim initially signed an open letter condemning the genocide in Gaza, she withdrew her support following backlash, both from the public and within the council. Remarkably, the main point of contention was a sentence expressing scepticism of claims Hamas perpetrated sexual violence during the assault on October 7, allegations that would indeed be debunked in the following months. Yet far from vindicated, Kim only escaped punishment by disowning her statement, in a blatant act of censure against dissent.
Not only does the City of Victoria engage in forced displacement on its own soil, it also supports it abroad, in spite of condemning the violence in its own statement on the conflict in the Middle-East. The Victoria Liberation Front condemns the City for refusing to take a clear stand against the atrocities committed by the Zionist regime, instead choosing to play both sides, or rather the wrong one.
