chris selley: gaza makes strange bedfellows — and maybe that's a good thing

most assessments conclude that it’s the “far right,” broadly speaking : everyone from unabashed old-school neo-nazis to newer, more inscrutable groups and online channels like diagolon, which took shape during the pandemic and couches its vile content in humour or attempts at it.

similar groups are being blamed for fomenting the ongoing racial violence in england and northern ireland . many worry the same could happen here.

others point to the thousands of anti-israel protesters taking to the streets of canada, the targeting of jewish-owned businesses and the shootings and firebombings at synagogues and jewish schools . unlike race riots, those things are actually happening in canada, and with alarming regularity.

so long as police are monitoring sketchy individuals in both camps, i struggle to care which is more likely to spit out a proper terrorist. but i feel like there’s a weird false dichotomy at play here: in what sense are the anti-israel protests emphatically not right wing?

indeed, before hamas’s pogrom in southern israel last year, it was often observed that many muslim canadians’ interests seemed to be aligning with the conservative party of canada’s and its non-muslim supporters’ . in particular they shared a deep suspicion of gender-related material in school curricula, and an obviously correct belief that schools can’t be keeping children’s secrets from their parents except in the most extreme circumstances.

after deliberately alienating some muslims in a hopeless attempt to hang onto power in 2015 — remember the “barbaric cultural practices hotline”? — the conservatives seemed to have an opening to win them back.

but of course, many of those same politically engaged muslims will have joined the various marches and demonstrations in that neighbourhood and across the city and country in support of gaza over israel.

independent journalist caryma sa’d, who chronicles and reports on protests of all kinds , points to naved awan as someone who was an organizer in both movements. his posts to the durham parents united facebook group rail against lgbtq influences in school curricula and sex-reassignment surgery for children.

“lgtb (sic) is everywhere, in every period. they will force it into your learnings,” he wrote in september last year . “you can’t have your own opinions about this group. you have to accept their ideology. you can’t just co-exist without affirming and accepting their beliefs.”

more recently, awan has been a leader of palesign , a group perhaps best known for blocking an overpass into a prominently jewish toronto neighbourhood for days on end until police finally put a stop to it. individually, awan is perhaps best known for a video , disapprovingly reposted by conservative mp melissa lantsman in april, in which he vows to hold israel supporters “accountable … whether it’s on the streets, whether it’s at work, or whether it’s in your place of worship.”

“it could be a synagogue,” he noted, ominously. awan is not shy about extreme rhetoric , whatever his cause du jour.

barely veiled threats aside, there’s nothing surprising about any of the foregoing. few religions are bullish on things like homosexuality and gender fluidity, and islam is no exception. when the environics institute last surveyed canadian muslims’ attitudes about the country, in 2016 , it found just 36 per cent of muslims felt “homosexuality should be accepted by society,” versus 80 per cent of canadians overall. just 26 per cent of muslims felt it “should … be possible to be both an observant muslim and live openly in a … same-sex relationship.”

national post
cselley@postmedia.com

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chris selley: gaza makes strange bedfellows — and maybe that's a good thing

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