Does B’nai Brith really want to sic the state on hundreds of Jewish organizations? According to a recent official lobbying report, B’nai Brith is pressing Public Safety Canada to “conduct a national security review of organizations, networks, and entities that promote, finance, facilitate, or legitimize extremist ideologies.” They’ve held formal meetings with government officials to promote their authoritarian position. As former Canadian Jewish News head Yoni Goldstein’s incitement against Avi Lewis highlights, there’s an extremism problem in the Jewish community. In fact, hundreds of Jewish entities and organizations “promote, finance, facilitate, or legitimize” the extremist ideology of genocidal Jewish supremacist colonialism. Zionists in Toronto have targeted anti-genocide activists with a nail gun, chemicals and a snow plough. A Jewish Defence League (JDL) supporter in Toronto, Eli Schwarz was charged in February 2025 with uttering death threats during a demonstration and careless storage of a rifle and bullets. (In 2001 the FBI labeled the US JDL a “right-wing terroristgroup”.) According to B’nai Brith, government officials should investigate former JDL Canada head Meir Weinstein, who now leads Israel Now and organizes day-long firearms courses under the slogan “Every Jew a .22”. At a May 2024 Toronto Police Service Board meeting, film producer Jonathan Pottins said his anti-Palestinian milieu was buying arms. “Everyone I know is getting armed and that should scare everyone,” Pottins told the public meeting. “Nothing says never again: Like an armed Jew. Jews can shoot. Jews can shoot”, is a patch associated with Magen Herut. With roots in the pre-Israeli state Irgun terror group, Magen Herut Canada members provide “security” at pro-Israel events and have descended on the University of Toronto to intimidate students opposing genocide. Magen Herut Canada is one of a number Zionist groups in Toronto offering free workshops of Krav Maga, a martial art used by the Israeli military. They should all be investigated for promoting “extremist ideologies”. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of pro-Israel extremism. Even Jewish Foodbanks and schools ought to be investigated for “promoting, financing, facilitating, or legitimizing extremist ideologies.” In June 2025, the Montreal based Mada foodbank raised funds by promoting an individual who had recently participated in a mass slaughter and starvation campaign in Gaza. Publicity for “A Fundraiser for Food Security” focused on Noam Bushika, who was described as “a reservist in the paratrooper brigade and has been involved fighting the war since October 7th.” Another among hundreds of Jewish groups that should be investigated is Tanenbaumchat. The Toronto high school sent three dozen students on what it described as a “Solidarity Mission to Israel” in early 2024. In its description of the trip, the school reported that students were “BBQ-ing for soldiers on an army base”. Even the Israeli president, who the students met privately, noted that other North American or European Zionist schools weren’t as extreme. Isaac Herzog reportedly told the Toronto students, “You are here — the first school since 7/10 — standing with us.” Hundreds of Canadian Jewish groups promote and raise funds for a lawless faraway genocidal apartheid state. If this isn’t facilitating extremism, what is? In fact, B’nai Brith promotes an unambiguously extremist ideology. Its official lobbying material says it’s been seeking “that the Government of Canada unconditionally support Israel’s efforts to nullify the extra-territorial threats currently compromising its security.” Three years into a live streamed genocide in Gaza, destruction of large swaths of Lebanon and war on Iran, B’nai Brith wants Canada to provide “unconditional” support of the genocidal Jewish supremacist state. It doesn’t get more extreme than that.

61 years ago today began a slow moving US-backed military takeover in Indonesia that led to slaughter of 500 000 “communists” over 6 months. Even though he was aware of Suharto’s killing Canada’s ambassador called this mass murderer “a moderate, sensible & progressive leader”

A squat demanding public housing and better rent control took over this abandoned building in Montreal two days ago. In final days of Québec election activists have succeeded in drawing attention to massive inequities in housing. We’ll see if police move in

The media’s close ties to the military have long undermined democracy. Mark Carney’s extreme militarization of the economy is exacerbating the problem. Last week Canada’s ‘paper of record’ published a full-page ad headlined “THE GLOBE AND MAIL PRESENTS National Defence: Mapping Canada’s growth strategy.” The October 14 event includes Industry minister Mélanie Joly, Commander of the Army Lieutenant-General M.C. Wright and the heads of several arms firms including CAE and Davie. The ad noted, “Canada's ambitious increase in defence spending is set to unlock significant opportunities for industrial growth across advanced manufacturing, aerospace, technology and services. This discussion will explore how we can make the most of the moment to strengthen domestic capabilities and what the industry needs to scale.” In a similar vein, Quebec business paper Les Affaires is hosting “Marché de la défense: Comment se préparer à une industrie exigeante et y prospérer” (Defence Market: How to Prepare for and thrive in a demanding industry). According to its publicity, the October 1 conference included speeches from military officials, Investment Québec, Bombardier, Davie and other arms companies. In another type of media integration with arms firms, the National Post recently published a Lockheed Martin sponsored column headlined “How the global F-35 program strengthens Canada’s defence industry” and a Chamber of Commerce piece titled “Where Canada’s defence debate goes next”. While sponsored publicity is an obviously egregious example of arms makers sway within the media, quoting weapons industry funded experts is a more significant sign of influence and bias. According to a 2024 study by The Maple, the arms industry and Canadian Forces (CF) funded Canadian Global Affairs Institute is “the think-tank most often quoted by Canada’s largest newspapers on the issue of military spending.” Over a thirty-month period investigated, the Toronto Star, National Post and Globe and Mail quoted representatives of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute several dozen times. Most of the stories supported increasing military spending without offering any opposing view and on only one occasion did a paper (Globe) even mention their substantial arms industry funding. With the largest PR machine in the country, the CF aggressively protects its image and promotes its worldview. As I detail in A Propaganda System: How Canada’s Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation, the military runs a slew of journalistic, academic and cultural initiatives. They have dozens of museums, a university and history department. They also fund academic departments, think tanks and lobby groups and operate many social media platforms, publications and websites. The Department of National Defence/CF employs upwards of a thousand public relations professionals to influence perceptions of the military. Public affairs officers work to induce positive media coverage and deter critical reporting. In 2015 the head of CF called for the “weaponization of public affairs”, which was a plan to target journalists producing unflattering stories with phone calls to their boss, letters to the editor and other “flack” designed to undercut their credibility in the eyes of readers and their employers. Conversely, friendly journalists were to receive special access to the CF. The military spends at least a billion dollars annually on public relations and various forms of ideological outreach. Arms companies spend tens of millions of dollars more. Deferential to power, the dominant media is predisposed to disseminate the arms industry and Canadian Force’s outlook. As the Carney government ploughs tens of billions of dollars more into the war machine, the CF and arms firms’ propaganda will grow. This makes it all the more imperative to push back on the normalization of militarism.