The growing intolerance toward pro-Palestine activists both in Canada and India reflects very poorly on a section of the global leadership which has turned a blind eye to the repression in the Middle East.
Emboldened by the meekness of countries such as these two, which have chosen to either side with Israel or remain neutral to its aggression against Palestine, the Netanyahu government is determined to destroy Gaza. The latest strikes follow an attack on Israel by Hamas. Rather than addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the occupation of Palestinian lands, Israel is using its military might to crush Palestinian resistance against settler colonialism.
If that is not enough, any voice in support of Palestine is muzzled by being branded as “anti-semitic” in Canada and elsewhere, while supporters of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist BJP in New Delhi shamelessly celebrate the genocide of Palestinians. Even the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his support to Israel on behalf of the Indian population. This is despite the fact that India has traditionally supported Palestinians in their struggle for freedom.
Things have changed since Modi got elected to the highest office in 2014. For the record, the BJP is a political arm of the Hindu cultural outfit RSS, whose founders glorified Hitler and gave legitimacy to the Jewish holocaust, calling it a lesson for India to show Muslims their place. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that attacks on religious minorities have grown under the BJP government. Modi is bent upon turning India (which is also a home to the Jewish community, like other non-Hindu ethnicities) into a Hindu theocracy, by using the devices once adopted by Hitler to transform Germany into an Aryan nation. And yet Israel is not in the least bothered. Instead of demonizing pro-Palestinians who have also stood up against tyrants such as Hitler and in support of the Jewish people in the past, world leaders should make real anti-semites, like Modi, accountable.
Gurpreet Singh is a journalist
