Why did Steven Staples join Pierre Poilievre, Justin Trudeau and other genocide promoters in smearing an anti-NATO demonstration as “antisemitic”?
On Saturday the Council of Canadians Treasurer and board member sent his PeaceQuest list an error filled, anti-Palestinian, power-serving ‘questionnaire’. As Israel’s holocaust in Gaza enters its fourteenth month, Staples published “4 ways to ‘shake off’ antisemitism claims. Can the pro-Palestinian movement take advice from Taylor Swift?” At the top of his smear against those challenging Canada’s complicity in genocide Staples quotes anti-Palestinian bigot Jim Good. A few posts below the one quoted by Staples, Good wrote on Facebook: “Return the hostages. Surrender. Recognize Israel. The only peaceful way forward. Otherwise Israel will annex Gaza. No country wants Palestinians. Don’t let them in to Canada! Everywhere they go it’s death to this, death to that. Death, death, and more death. They are insane! Anyone supporting them is a willing dupe.”
In a post just below that one, Good notes, “Fuck off with your Intifada bullshit. Hamas are like ISIS. A warped, perverted death cult. Incapable of peace. … They’d love to start a civil war, here. They hate us. They want us to die.
Hamas want it to hurt. Their hatred is that strong. They are mad. Hamas hide behind their own children, intentionally draw fire, and escape into a tunnel, leaving the families to perish. They’re convinced if they die martyrs they’ll have a great afterlife. 18 virgins or something like that.”
Alongside quoting a not-so-subtle racist expressing hate towards those being ethnically cleansed, Staples cites police and politicians’ lies sullying activists. In his genocidal apologia, the self-proclaimed “respected figure in global peace advocacy” states that “cars [were] alit by demonstrators” at the main anti-NATO protest in Montreal last week. While the police initially blamed protesters for setting fires in two cars, TVA and the Montreal Gazette subsequently reported that they backtracked after evidence emerged that tear gas canisters fired by the police were likely responsible (the fact police sent anti-war protesters to hospital is also ignored by Staples). In making his case that “the pro-Palestinian movement … can’t seem to shake off the accusation that it harbours antisemitism, or is itself antisemitic”, Staples sloppily merges two different protests. He writes that “a woman in the Montreal march was recorded giving a Hitler salute” and saying, “the final solution is coming your way”. But that incident took place a day before the anti-NATO demonstration in reaction to a small group of genocide advocates counter-protesting a large anti-holocaust rally that was part of a student strike at Concordia University. The Sieg Hitler gesture transpired as maybe 200 marchers arrived from Dawson College to the Concordia rally. Older than the largely teenage college students and walking in an oddly aggressive manner, I took note of the woman before seeing subsequent media reports of her actions. In fact, I happened to film the woman’s Sieg Hitler gesture, which appears to be prompted by a pro-genocide protester yelling something. The first part of her odd outburst — suggesting pro genocide activists are Nazis — is a damaging tactic, but not morally objectionable from my standpoint. The final solution reference is odious.
Despite losing her Second Cup franchise at the Jewish General Hospital due to her actions, the incident remains somewhat suspect. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was a plant designed to discredit a historic student strike for Palestine, which saw more than 40 student association representing 85,000 students in Quebec vote to stop classes for two days to pressure their institutions to sever all ties with Israel. Her relatively inconsequential outburst garnered as much attention as the historic student strike (Staples, for his part, mentioned her but not the strike).
As for the Friday “Block NATO” protest that led to some smashed windows, the Montreal police explicitly rejected claims of antisemitism. They neither saw anything anti-Jewish nor received any complaint to that effect. But Staples echoed Poilievre and Trudeau. (Jagmeet Singh had the good sense to stay out of it.)
At best, Staples’ argument is that if anti-genocide forces just conceded more to the genocide lobby’s antisemitism panic the movement would be more palatable to the power structure. At worst, he’s expressing power-worshipping anti-Palestinian racism under the guise of opposing antisemitism.
As part of his strategy to ‘mainstream’ the movement, Staples believes anti-holocaust activists should devote more attention to the “terrible crimes committed by Hamas on October 7”. But he omits mention of the far greater violence and oppression inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza prior to October 7, not to mention the last fourteen months of hell.
As part of centering Israeli and Jewish Canadian sensitivities, Staples wants the movement to echo the genocidal state’s atrocity propaganda, decrying that some “justify the attacks (or deny the well-documented rapes) at worst.” I invite Staples to provide his audience with the name of an Israeli woman raped during what was organized as a quick strike bid to tear down the Gaza cage on October 7.
Staples make a bizarre, paternalistic, demand of Canadians opposing their country’s complicity in a holocaust. He writes, “the movement should be clear that it seeks a truly democratic and legitimate leadership based on the values of peace and justice, not rape and murder.” Is he suggesting Canadians should decide Palestinian leadership? And isn’t it Israel that has murdered (or jailed) virtually every Palestinian leader that didn’t submit to its colonial project?
While Staples frames his missive as “advice” to help “the movement”, it doesn’t seem like he’s actively participated in the popular uprising against Canada’s role in genocide. If Staples hasn’t marched in some of the hundreds of demonstrations against the genocide he should hang his head in shame.
This isn’t the first time Staples has echoed the genocidal mainstream narrative. He’s repeatedly two-sided the holocaust against the long-oppressed Palestinians, publishing “Might pro-violence chants undermine Gaza peace rallies?” and “Israel and Hamas leaders benefiting from Gaza war” (only one side has largely been killed).
Claiming to be an important player in “global peace advocacy”, Staples joined the establishment in criticizing a historic student strike for Palestine that broadened to challenge a belligerent militarist alliance meeting in Montreal. With ‘friends’ like Staples the anti-war, anti-genocide and pro-Palestinian movements don’t need enemies.
Any progressive donating to PeaceQuest should redirect their assistance to groups actually opposing Canada’s complicity in genocide.