Canada is using its borders to police Palestine solidarity |
This past weekend, international scholars and speakers invited to the Muslim Association of Canada’s (MAC) annual convention in Toronto reportedly faced extraordinary immigration scrutiny. MAC said many had their electronic travel authorisations delayed for months or cancelled shortly before departure, while others had visas revoked without notice. Several were reportedly interrogated for hours at Toronto Pearson Airport, denied water and refused a space to pray. MAC described the treatment as “deliberate and coordinated”.
Among those affected was former South African ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who was himself expelled by the Trump administration earlier this year after publicly criticising the MAGA movement. Rasool later told me the Canadian questioning reminded him of apartheid-era interrogations, albeit in a far softer and less openly coercive form. British Muslim commentator Anas Altikriti reportedly spent 11 hours under questioning before ultimately abandoning efforts to enter Canada.
In each case, those targeted had been publicly critical of Israeli policy or involved in Palestine-related advocacy.
These incidents do not stand alone. Earlier this year, French Palestinian member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan was denied entry into Canada ahead of speaking engagements in Montreal because of her outspoken criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza. In November, former United Nations Special Rapporteur Richard Falk and his wife, Hilal Elver, were detained and interrogated for hours at Toronto Pearson Airport before attending the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility in Ottawa. Falk later said Canadian officials questioned him extensively about his work on Gaza, his criticism of Israeli policy and his participation in the tribunal. Officials reportedly suggested the couple posed a threat to Canadian national security. Falk later warned that the episode reflected “a climate of governmental insecurity” and an effort “to clamp down on dissident voices”.
At some point, such cases stop looking isolated.
They begin to reveal a political pattern.
When states become insecure about the moral and political consequences of their own alliances, they rarely begin by banning ideas outright. They begin more subtly. They delay visas. They intensify interrogations. They deny entry. They........