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On Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, following a large and successful protest against spiraling Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, Palestinian-Canadian protest organiser Wesam Khaled was arrested by the Calgary Police Service (CPS.)[1] Charged with "disturbing the peace," the police told Khaled that the charge was related to his use of the chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which the police decided to treat as an “offensive anti-semitic comment.” Khaled was released on the condition that he not attend any protests until his court date.
Justice for Palestinians (JFP), Khaled’s Calgary-based human rights group, issued a statement asserting that the organization has a recording of the entire demonstration, and that there was no hate speech at any point. JFP also pointed out that at one point during the demonstration, Khaled specifically stated that the organization was “against all forms of racism including antisemitism.” The organization also wrote, “JFP stands completely opposed to all forms of racism including antisemitism, as have all serious campaigners for Palestinian liberation.”
Why is this incident considered Anti-Palestinian Racism (APR)?
There are several reasons by Khaled’s arrest is considered racist, and specifically APR:
First, the act of arresting a protestor for speech which is deemed unacceptable by the political elite is an act of silencing. Arresting a leader of an ethnic minority to silence his message – on a charge as vague as “disturbing the peace” – is clearly a racist act. Section 2(c) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the right to participate in peaceful demonstrations, protests, and other assemblies. Khaled and the other protestors were clearly simply exercising their Charter right to free assembly and expression.
The Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) definition of APR[2] states that attempting to silence Palestinians or their narratives is a form of APR. As such, the arrest itself was APR.
The CPS’s stated intent of accusing Khaled of “anti-semitic comment” also suggests two other forms of APR. The decision to interpret a call for freedom for the inhabitants of Palestine as a call for illicit violence or hate against another group – as the CPS suggested – is ridiculous, and invokes two other elements of the ACLA’s definition of APR:
- First, it’s an attempt to “defam[e] Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being […] a terrorist threat/sympathizer.” With the CPS’s accusation, there’s an assumption that Palestinians can only envision their own liberation through violence against another people. Yet Khaled and the other protestors explicitly contradicted this position during the rally, so the CPS’s argument in this case had no compelling logic.
- Second, it’s an attempt to “defam[e] Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being […] opposed to democratic values.” The CPS assumed that Khaled’s chant advanced an illegal or violent imposition of freedom for the inhabitants of Palestine. Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority tout their image as democracies, and at no time did Khaled or his protest challenge the democratic ideal. As such, the CPS’s presumption is clearly APR.
Additional Background to the Incident
The chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is a reference to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea to its west, an area historically referred to both as “Palestine” and as “Israel.” Currently, this area includes both Israel-proper, as well as the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza.
There are more in-depth explorations of the chant, but generally, proponents of Israel insist that the chant has genocidal intent, while proponents of Palestinian rights argue that it is a call for freedom and liberation for all, with no intended violence or threat. As Dov Waxman, professor and director of the Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at UCLA, says, “[The chant] is an expression of Palestinian nationalism and it's an expression of a demand for Palestinian freedom or self-determination. I think Palestinian self-determination need not come at the expense of Jewish self-determination. Nor do I think Palestinian freedom has to be considered a threat to Jewish rights”[3]
At the time of Khaled’s arrest, Justice for Palestinians (JFP), his Calgary-based human rights group, issued a statement asserting, Like many groups supporting Palestinian human rights, JFP considers that the only future for Palestine is one with “peace based on equality, justice, and full national and political rights for all the people of that land, from the river to the sea." The statement explained that the protest slogan, “expresses the desire for Palestinians across historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, to be free from the systems of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and settler-colonialism imposed on them by the Israeli state since 1948.”
Many groups considered the charges against Khaled to be spurious, and insisted that they be dropped. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East asserted that there was no legal justification for the charges against Khaled, and considered the arrest to be overreach by the Alberta Government.[4] It also accused the Alberta government of cracking down on legitimate calls for Palestinian freedom, in order to put a chill on public displays of outrage over Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians.[5]
Resolution
On Nov. 17, 2023, the charges against Khaled were stayed, meaning that the government prosecutor did not consider there to be sufficient evidence to pursue the case.[6] Khaled himself stated that, “[The charges] never should have been laid in the first place. There’s absolutely nothing offensive about the chant ’from the river to the sea.’ It’s a call for freedom for the people of Palestine. We have members of the Jewish community at all of our marches. All around the world Jewish organizations have been leading demonstrations and solidarity with Palestine, including this chant.”[7]
In explaining their reasons for arresting Khaled, the CPS wrote, “The circumstances and full context of the behaviour of the individual involved was considered in laying the charge of causing a disturbance and in applying hate motivation to that charge. The behaviour that led to charges was considered in the context of the specific situation, all of which is broader than a single phrase, gesture, sign or symbol in isolation.”[8]
The CPS added, “The existing legislation related to hate speech is complex and is balanced against the Charter rights to free speech. We police behaviour, not beliefs, to ensure peoples' Charter rights are not infringed while maintaining public safety.”[9]
Last Updated
2024-03-03
[1] Toy, Adam, “Calgary man arrested for causing disturbance with ‘antisemitic phrase’ following Middle East protest,” Nov. 7, 2023, Global News, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://globalnews.ca/news/10077392/man-arrested-causing-disturbance-anti-semitic-phrase-middle-east-protest/
[2] “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Naming, Framing and Manifestations,” April 25, 2022, Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61db30d12e169a5c45950345/t/627dcf83fa17ad41ff217964/1652412292220/Anti-Palestinian+Racism-+Naming%2C+Framing+and+Manifestations.pdf
[3] Basu, Brishti, “What does 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' mean?,” Nov. 21, 2023, CBC, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/from-the-river-to-the-sea-palestine-1.7033881
[4] “Alberta must drop spurious charges against Palestine protest organizer: CJPME,” Nov. 7, 2023, CJPME, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://www.cjpme.org/pr_2023_11_07_drop_charges
[5] “Alberta must drop spurious charges against Palestine protest organizer: CJPME,” Nov. 7, 2023, CJPME, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://www.cjpme.org/pr_2023_11_07_drop_charges
[6] Brown, Jim, “Charges stayed against Calgary protester accused of causing hate-motivated disturbance,” Nov. 17, 2023, CBC, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-protester-charges-stayed-palestinian-chant-1.7032080
[7] “Pro-Palestinian protester says he never should have been charged for contentious chant,” Nov. 19, 2023, The Calgary Herald/The Canadian Press, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/pro-palestinian-protester-comments-dropped-criminal-charge
[8] Brown, Jim, “Charges stayed against Calgary protester accused of causing hate-motivated disturbance,” Nov. 17, 2023, CBC, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-protester-charges-stayed-palestinian-chant-1.7032080
[9] Brown, Jim, “Charges stayed against Calgary protester accused of causing hate-motivated disturbance,” Nov. 17, 2023, CBC, accessed Mar. 3, 2024 at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-protester-charges-stayed-palestinian-chant-1.7032080