Israel’s latest siege on Gaza has killed over 10,000 Palestinians, with Canadian imperialism backing the slaughter politically, financially, and militarily.
Canada has been working overtime, justifying Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians in parliament and in the media. It has supplied hundreds of millions of dollars worth of armaments. It has given logistical support. And, as reported by Global News, it has quietly deployed its ultra-elite special forces unit into the seige.
‘They go out to kill targets’
There are currently 300 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers in Israel, including members of Joint Task Force 2 (JTF 2).
JTF 2 is Canada’s national mission force responsible for the most dangerous and sensitive missions—including counterterrorism and counterinsurgency wars. As Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies director David Rudd put it: JTF 2 is trained “to infiltrate into dangerous areas behind enemy lines, look for key targets and take them out. They don’t go out to arrest people. They don’t go out there to hand out food parcels. They go out to kill targets.”
On Nov. 1, Marie-France Lalonde, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence, said Canada is “not providing military assistance” to Israel as it continues its offensive.
But Lalonde’s claim was contradicted by the Canadian military itself.
While the Department of National Defence initially said its commandos are merely there to evacuate Canada’s embassy staff, a DND spokesperson added that they are “liaising” with Israel’s military.
To this point, Major-General Denis Thompson told Global News, in all likelihood, the Canadian forces are aiding the IDF in “hostage rescue,” and other operations.
“There’s certainly a close relationship between Canada Special Operations Forces and the Israeli Defense Force,” Thompson said, “It’s pretty much par for the course.”
Canada’s commandos around the world
The Major-General further divulged that JTF 2 is often deployed as an “immediate task force” to crisis areas, securing Canada’s “interests” all over the world.
Since JTF-2 was established, the commando unit has been deployed to Haiti, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Congo, Peru, Iraq, Libya, Colombia, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
After first aiding Canada’s intervention in the breakup of Yugoslavia which, by the end, killed nearly 200,000 and displaced millions, JTF 2’s earliest operations were in Latin America—most notably against left-wing Túpac Amaru guerrillas in Peru.
The unit, however, is perhaps most famous for its interference in Haiti. JTF 2 was present in Haiti as far back as 1996, where it advised President René Préval on methods to suppress the country’s poor while he introduced austerity measures. After the Famille Lavalas won a subsequent election, promising minor reforms, JTF 2 was tasked with helping remove President Jean-Baptiste Aristide in a right-wing coup.
On Feb. 29, 2004, U.S. marines forced Aristide onto a plane out of the country while JTF 2 secured the airport. The imperialists then effectively installed a new government, with Canadian soldiers, as part of a UN mission, launching a reign of terror throughout the country.
Canada’s interest in the coup was clear—profit. Every single aspect of the Haitian economy is dominated by multinationals, like Canadian company Gildan, which exploits the country’s rock-bottom textile manufacturing costs—including its hideously low wages. These wages have been kept low by regular imperialist interventions from countries like Canada.
During Canada’s war in Afghanistan General Rick Hillier said JTF 2 was in “high demand” and “world class” shortly before it emerged that the commandos were quietly assisting the United States-led intervention in Iraq.
JTF 2 has also been repeatedly deployed to help spy on and crush Indigenous movements in Canada. JTF 2 was deployed at Kanehsatake and Kahnawake in 1994, to prepare for a military invasion against Mohawk Warriors. A year later, the commandos assisted the RCMP’s siege at Gustafsen Lake.
In all of these cases, JTF 2, as the most “elite”force in the Canadian army, has served a clear interest: keeping down the poor and securing profits.
This is also precisely why the Canadian state, like the U.S., supports, maintains, and extends Israel’s “right” to kill Palestinians.
As we’ve explained before, Canada exports millions of dollars in arms and aids Israel diplomatically as a bulwark of reaction, to defend the interests of the U.S. and Canadian capitalists in the region. Whenever the interests of American and Western capitalism have been threatened in the Middle East or North Africa, the Israeli State—chiefly its military and airforce—have been at the ready.
Fight imperialism
Canada’s latest JTF 2 deployment is just the tip of the iceberg in its imperialist adventures.
The case of JTF 2 and Canada’s other special forces underlines that, while workers in North America, Western Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East have many differences, they all share a common history of oppression by Canadian, American, Israeli, and other state forces, as they’re exploited by the same ruling class. They have, in short, a common enemy.
Whether in Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan, or at home, the goal of the imperialist powers are plain: to advance the ruling class’ economic interests and surveil and destroy any threat to its power.
This is why there is a burning hatred from millions of Canadian youth and workers towards the imperialists and the hell they are causing in Gaza and throughout the world. The Palestinian working class is oppressed by the Israeli state, in league with its Western imperialist allies. This is the solidarity of the imperialist ruling class. To free Palestine, all of these governments must be swept away by a revolutionary movement.
In Canada, this means stopping the flow of arms, aid, and soldiers to Israel—by overthrowing the Canadian ruling class and smashing the Canadian state.
On a world scale, the burning anger that has erupted in solidarity with Palestine, must be organized and crystallized into a force capable of defeating imperialism everywhere.
