Canada is using its borders to police Palestine solidarity

Critics of Israel’s war on Gaza are increasingly facing interrogations, visa revocations and denials of entry. 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 invoke “security concerns” without explanation. They create a climate in which dissent itself becomes suspicious. That is increasingly what is happening in Canada to critics of Israel and advocates for Palestinian rights. Canada likes to present itself internationally as a defender of multiculturalism, human rights and liberal democracy. But increasingly, Muslim scholars, Palestine advocates and critics of Israeli policy are encountering a different Canada at its borders: one where political viewpoints appear to trigger heightened scrutiny, where pro-Israel lobbying campaigns seem to shape policy and where criticism of Israel is increasingly treated as adjacent to extremism. This did not emerge spontaneously. For years, a network of pro-Israel advocacy organisations and lobbying groups has worked aggressively to marginalise Palestine solidarity activism in Canada. Organisations such as HonestReporting Canada, B’nai Brith Canada, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation and various aligned activists and media personalities routinely pressure universities, media outlets, public institutions and governments to cancel speakers, investigate activists and stigmatise criticism of Israel. In the days leading up to the MAC convention, several of these groups and commentators publicly campaigned against invited speakers, urging venues and authorities to intervene. Similar campaigns preceded the denial of entry to Rima Hassan and the targeting of other Palestine solidarity events across the country. To be clear, these groups absolutely have the right to advocate for positions they believe in. That is part of democratic life. Governments also have an obligation to prevent genuine hate speech, incitement to violence and legitimate security threats. But that is precisely why what is happening now is so dangerous. Because increasingly, the line between legitimate security concerns and ideological policing appears to be collapsing. The issue is no longer merely whether certain individuals are controversial. The issue is whether state institutions are beginning to absorb and operationalise a political framework in which strong criticism of Israel, solidarity with Palestinians or independent Muslim scholarship become grounds for extraordinary scrutiny. This is not unique to Canada. Across the Western world, governments that present themselves as defenders of liberal democracy are increasingly adopting measures that would once have bee