Yves Engler, a prominent Canadian author and activist, was released from jail on Monday after spending five days behind bars for social media posts that were critical of an outspoken supporter of Israel.
Last Tuesday, Engler, a contributor to Antiwar.com, was contacted by Montreal police to inform him that he would be arrested for comments he made on X (formerly Twitter) in replies to posts from Dahlia Kurtz, a pro-Israel activist and staunch supporter of the genocidal war Israel has waged on Gaza.
After being contacted by police, Engler shared the news that he would be arrested for calling Kurtz a “genocide” supporter and a “fascist” in response to her “racist, violent anti-Palestinian” posts. Engler said Kurtz frequently “calls for state violence against those challenging Canadian complicity in genocide.”
Kurtz claimed that Engler was harassing her even though her posts were public and X has a feature that allows users to block other users. “Kurtz has chosen not to block me but instead pursue criminal charges,” Engler said.
After writing about his situation and getting thousands of supporters to call for the charges to be dropped, the Montreal police then claimed Engler was harassing them and trying to “interfere” in a police investigation, tacking on charges.
“Angry at receiving emails and my article — the police were seeking release conditions barring me from discussing the charges levelled against me — the police are now claiming I’m victimizing them,” Engler said.
After being hit with the new charges, Engler was imprisoned for five days until he saw a judge on Monday and was released on bail. He is due back in court on April 25.
“Rather than devoting policing and judicial resources to harassing critics of IsraelI violence, the police and crown should be pursuing Canadians who’ve been fighting in the Israeli military for potentially violating Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act,” Engler said in a statement following his release.
While he still has to appear in court, Engler said the terms of his release were a “free speech win” because there were no restrictions on his ability to discuss the charges against him. “The judge effectively forced the crown to drop its bid to muzzle me,” he said.
Engler said the “crown should immediately drop all charges against me, apologize & compensate me for my imprisonment.”
In an interview with Middle East Eye, Engler said his arrest was part of a larger crackdown on free speech in Canada meant to discourage pro-Palestinian activism. “Less than two weeks ago, I spoke on a webinar with a lawyer from the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, and it was titled, The New McCarthyism in Canada,” he told MEE.
“It was all about the targeting of those opposing Canadian complicity in Israel’s apartheid and genocide. We went through a whole bunch of examples of people who’ve been targeted. Canada has, for more than a century, provided all kinds of support for Zionism and for Palestinian dispossession. The targeting of those opposing Israel’s crimes is just one of the innumerable ways that Canada has assisted in Palestinian dispossession,” Engler added.
Throughout his career, Engler has been a staunch critic of Canadian foreign policy and Canada’s support for Israel, including in a 2010 book titled “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid.”
