Israel is a rogue, terrorist state enabled by Western complicity

Israel’s history of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide in Gaza has increasingly isolated it, even among some of its Western supporters.
 
By Fareed Khan
 
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has pursued policies against Palestinians that constitute severe violations of international law, including apartheid, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. From the Nakba to the ongoing devastation in Gaza, Israel’s actions, enabled by unwavering Western support, reveal a state operating beyond the bounds of legality and morality.

The Nakba, during Israel’s establishment in 1947–1948, marked the beginning of Israel’s crimes. Zionist, terrorist militias, such as Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi, orchestrated violent campaigns, ethnically cleansing over 750,000 Palestinians and destroying hundreds of villages. Leaders like Menachem Begin, implicated in the 1946 King David Hotel bombing that killed 91 people and the Deir Yassin massacre where over 100 Palestinian civilians were slaughtered, and Yitzhak Shamir, who endorsed assassinations, later became Israeli prime ministers. Their actions, constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity under modern standards, set a precedent for Israel’s impunity.

Upon joining the United Nations in 1949, Israel pledged to honour UN Resolution 194, guaranteeing Palestinian refugees the right to return or receive compensation. Yet, for over 75 years, Israel has violated this commitment. The 1950 Absentee Property Law facilitated the confiscation of Palestinian properties, and by 1952, according to Israeli archives, over 400 villages had been depopulated or destroyed, with refugees barred from returning, in defiance of international law. This betrayal underscores Israel’s disregard for its UN obligations, which has been the case since it joined the international body.

Israel’s violations extend beyond the Nakba. The state has consistently flouted the Geneva Conventions through collective punishment, home demolitions, and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

The Hague Conventions, prohibiting land appropriation in occupied territories, are violated by Israel’s annexation and construction of Jewish-only settlements, undermining the viability of a two-state solution.

The UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force is disregarded through Israel’s military assaults on Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. Over 40 UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel’s actions have been ignored, often shielded by US vetoes.

Israel’s apartheid system, as documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, mocks the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Palestinian citizens of Israel face systemic discrimination, while occupied Palestinians live under military law, unlike Jewish settlers who enjoy civilian protections.

The ongoing Gaza campaign, described by UN experts and genocide scholars as genocidal, has killed over 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023, predominantly civilians, and systematically destroyed healthcare, education, and civilian infrastructure. Israel’s weaponization of food and aid, causing famine and starvation, also violates the 1948 Genocide Convention, and is in violation of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) provisional orders to prevent genocide.

Western powers, particularly the United States, bear significant responsibility for enabling these violations. The US has provided over $150 billion in military aid since 1948, including munitions used in Gaza. The UK, France, and Germany have supplied weapons and diplomatic cover, often vetoing or abstaining on UN resolutions seeking accountability. This support has emboldened Israel to ignore UN resolutions and ICJ rulings, implicating these nations in violations of the Genocide Convention for failing to prevent or punish such acts.

This complicity exposes the fragility of the post-World War II international legal order. The US and its allies selectively enforce international law, condemning adversaries while excusing Israel’s transgressions. This double standard undermines the credibility of institutions like the UN, revealing a system where geopolitical agendas overshadow justice. The failure to hold Israel accountable demonstrates that international law often serves the powerful, allowing a rogue state to act with impunity.

Israel’s policies stem from Zionism, a racist ideology proclaiming Jews as "the chosen people, that prioritizes Jewish claims to Palestinian land, and dehumanizes Palestinians who are seen as obstacles to a Jews only state. Public statements by Zionist leaders, from Theodor Herzl to modern officials, label Palestinians as “terrorists,” echoing supremacist ideologies like Nazism. Policies of ethnic cleansing, segregation, and mass killing reflect this racist doctrine, rendering Zionism incompatible with the concept of universal human rights.

Western support for Israel is further underpinned by xenophobic attitudes toward Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs within Western media, which often portrays Palestinians as inherently violent, all the while ignoring their dispossession and oppression. This bias, coupled with a deeply embedded Islamophobia, allows Western governments to justify arming Israel while dismissing Palestinian calls for justice. Without this support, Israel’s ability to sustain its occupation and violence would likely have faltered, enabling accountability decades ago.

Israel’s history of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide in Gaza has increasingly isolated it, even among some of its Western supporters. Global protests and boycott movements signal growing condemnation and isolation, and this will lead to Israel and the nations supporting it being judged harshly in the history books. The mass murder and genocide of Palestinians, facilitated by Western complicity, will be seen as the a moral failure of our era, just as the Holocaust is seen as the moral failure of an earlier time.

If there is to be justice for Palestinians it requires dismantling the structures sustaining Israel’s race-based policies, akin to the reconstitution of fascist Japan and Nazi Germany into democratic states. This begins with ending Western military and diplomatic support for a state that has violated its UN commitments, the Geneva, Hague, and Vienna Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Genocide Convention.

Global momentum for Palestinian justice is growing, particularly among non-Western nations and the Global South. History will likely affirm that Zionism, like Nazism, is a racist ideology, and Israel’s legacy, alongside that of its Western enablers, will be one of shame for perpetuating crimes against a people whose only wish has been to seek freedom and equality, a people who it can be reasonably said, are the most oppressed people in the world.

© 2025 The View From Here.  © 2025 Fareed Khan.  All Rights Reserved.

The voters have spoken. It’s time for Pierre Poilievre to exit Canada's political stage.

Leadership demands accountability, and Poilievre has failed that test by refusing to accept the voter’s will.  His party’s loss and his personal defeat were not accidents — they were verdicts by the voters of Carleton, who knew him best after 21 years as their MP and sent him packing.   

 

By Fareed Khan

 
The Canadian electorate has spoken, and their message to Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre could not be clearer.  It’s time to go.  Your career of becoming an extremely privileged elite and a multi-millionaire off the public dime is over.

In the recent federal election, the Conservatives suffered a decisive defeat, and Poilievre lost his own Carleton riding seat he had held for over two decades by a substantial margin. This was no mere stumble.  It was a resounding rejection by the voters who knew him best.   Yet, like a performer who ignores the curtain call, Poilievre refuses to leave the political stage.  He should take the hint from the more than 58% of Canadian voters who voted for other parties, rather than try to rise like a very flawed phoenix from a flaming dung heap. It’s time for him to step aside and let Canada move forward without his relentless, useless noise.

Watching Poilievre’s recent press conference, following the swearing in of Mark Carney’s new cabinet, was like witnessing a political ghost haunting a stage on which he no longer belongs.  Despite his electoral ousting, he strode to the podium with the audacity of someone who still believes he’s calling the shots.  His party is in disarray, his leadership is in question, and yet he is plotting a comeback via an Alberta by-election in a seat where a cardboard box with a Conservative Party sticker could be elected.  That reeks of desperation.  This is not a display of resilience.  It’s denial.  He refuses to accept that Canadians didn’t just vote against his party — they voted against him.  The path forward doesn’t involve a dramatic resurrection.  It requires Poilievre to accept reality and retire from the spotlight.

The absurdity of his current position is almost comical.  With Poilievre no longer an MP, the Conservatives have tapped Andrew Scheer as interim Conservative leader while Parliament is in session.  Yes that Andrew Scheer — the former Conservative leader who lost the 2019 election to Justin Trudeau.  The setup feels like a poorly scripted political farce, with Scheer as the understudy nobody asked for and Poilievre lurking in the wings, refusing to relinquish the starring role.  If Scheer is the temporary fix, it’s akin to swapping out a broken appliance with one that’s barely functional.  Canadians deserve better than this chaotic charade.

Poilievre’s refusal to fade quietly is matched only by his predictable rhetoric.  At his press conference, he leaned into his trademark style — soft-spoken indignation paired with a relentless narrative that everything is irreparably broken — Canada, the government, perhaps the laws of physics.

His attacks on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly formed cabinet were less a critique than a tantrum, the kind thrown by someone who wasn’t invited to the table and decides to shout from the sidelines.  Carney’s cabinet, while not flawless, reflects the challenge of balancing regional interests, gender equity, and expertise — a grown-up approach to governance.  Poilievre, by contrast, offers only grievances, mistaking volume for vision.

What’s particularly galling is Poilievre’s failure to acknowledge the courtesy extended to him by Carney.  The Prime Minister has pledged to call the Alberta by-election as soon as legally possible, a gesture that goes beyond obligation.  By law, Carney could delay the process for months, but he’s chosen the high road.  Poilievre’s response?  Not a word of gratitude, not a moment of humility — just more complaints.  Incidentally, this by-election comes with a price tag of between $1.6 to $2 million, footed by Canadian taxpayers to fuel Poilievre’s ego-driven comeback.  The least he could do is show some respect for the public’s tax dollars.  It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars plain and simple but you will never hear Poilievre admit that.

And yet, Poilievre carries on as if nothing has changed.  He remains ensconced in Stornoway, the official residence of the (elected) opposition leader, acting as though his mandate is intact.  His refusal to step back, even temporarily, is an affront to the democratic will.  Canada needs leaders who build, not performers who cling to faded relevance.  Poilievre’s insistence on dominating the conversation with his tired talking points — everything is broken, everyone is wrong — only deepens the exhaustion Canadians feel toward him.

Imagine if Poilievre chose to take a different path.  Picture him stepping away, even for a season, to reflect, recharge, or pursue something, anything, outside the political echo chamber he has lived in for his entire career.  He could find a lucrative job in the private sector, write a book, or, frankly, take up woodworking.  Instead, he has doubling down, banking on an Alberta by-election to catapult him back into Parliament.  If he succeeds, we can already envision the inevitable photo ops — Poilievre alongside his number one fan, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, striding through canola fields in a staged attempt at relatability.  It’s not leadership, it’s a performance, and Canadians are tired of the show.

Leadership demands accountability, and Poilievre has failed that test by refusing to accept the voter’s will.  His party’s loss and his personal defeat were not accidents — they were verdicts by the voters of Carleton, who knew him best after 21 years as their MP and sent him packing.  The broader electorate rejected his divisive tactics and defeatist rhetoric about the state of the nation.  Clinging to the microphone not only undermines the democratic process he claims to champion, but also shows him refusing to accept the democratic verdict an overwhelming majority of Canadians delivered to him and his party.

Mark Carney, ever the pragmatist, is focused on governing — making practical decisions to move Canada forward.  Poilievre, by contrast, remains unelected, uninvited, and unrelentingly loud.  His presence is a distraction and serves no positive purpose.  The most patriotic and sensible act he could perform right now is to step back, silence his megaphone, and let Canada heal from the divisiveness he’s fuelled.

It’s time for Pierre Poilievre to read the room.  The stage is no longer his.  For the sake of the country, he must exit — quietly, decisively, and for good.
 

© 2025 The View From Here.  © 2025 Fareed Khan.  All Rights Reserved.

Danielle Smith’s Maple MAGA and western alienation rhetoric undermines the Canadian government at a critical time

Smith’s alignment with figures like Tucker Carlson, who has openly called for Canada’s “liberation,” further exposes the ideological overlap between Alberta’s grievance politics and the American MAGA movement.
 

By Fareed Khan
 
Many Canadians likely hoped the end of the federal election would restore political normalcy. But this isn’t how things are unfolding.

Mark Carney’s Liberal Party secured a strong minority mandate to guide Canada through turbulent times, including looming trade negotiations with an unpredictable U.S. administration under Donald Trump. Yet, a vocal faction of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, led by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, appear unwilling to accept the democratic will of Canadians, instead amplifying narratives of western alienation, and using grievance politics in an attempt to destabilize Carney’s new government.

                                      Alberta Premier Danielle Smith                                                                 Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

Carney’s victory, though narrow, was a clear repudiation of the Conservative Party’s flirtation with MAGA-style populism. Poilievre’s campaign, endorsed by far right figures like Elon Musk, Alex Jones, and Joe Rogan, and echoing Trump’s rhetoric, failed to resonate broadly enough to unseat the Liberals. Yet, rather than reflecting on this electoral loss, Conservative hardliners have pivoted to a familiar playbook – portraying Ottawa as an oppressive enemy that disregards the West. This narrative, one rooted in historical tensions, is being weaponized to sow division and undermine Carney’s legitimacy.

Danielle Smith is at the forefront of this effort. Even before Carney’s win she framed a Liberal victory as a betrayal of Alberta, accusing the party of attacking the province’s oil-driven economy. Her list of demands — chief among them scrapping clean fuel regulations — reads less like a policy proposal and more like an ultimatum, threatening an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if unmet. Smith’s rhetoric, amplified by social media campaigns like “Make Alberta Great Again,” casts Alberta as a victim of federal overreach, likening the province’s relationship with Ottawa to an “abusive” relationship. Such emotionally charged messaging distorts reality.  Canada’s federal policies, including environmental regulations, aim to balance national interests for the benefit of all Canadians, not punish specific regions.

The Alberta separatist movement, though lacking broad support — former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney dismissed its electoral viability — gains traction through coordinated amplification. Online, bot farms and fake accounts flood platforms with divisive content, from deepfake images linking Carney to baseless scandals to memes ridiculing national unity efforts. Rebel News, an extremist, far-right outlet with a history of promoting dangerous and inflammatory narratives, has fuelled these attacks, notably by spreading smears in public spaces.

This digital swamp, often seeded by actors external to Canada, mirrors tactics used in Russian disinformation campaigns that previously targeted the 2019 federal election and the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests.

Additionally, Smith’s alignment with figures like Tucker Carlson, who has openly called for Canada’s “liberation,” further exposes the ideological overlap between Alberta’s grievance politics and the American MAGA movement. Her willingness to appear alongside Carlson underscores a troubling willingness to cozy up to anti-democratic forces. This is not mere opportunism, it’s a calculated strategy to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, where every policy disagreement with Ottawa becomes a referendum on national unity.

The oil industry, a powerful player in Alberta politics, stands to gain immensely. Separatist rhetoric provides cover for demands to prioritize fossil fuel expansion despite the existential climate threat, and despite global market shifts. The narrative that Ottawa “landlocks” Alberta’s resources ignores the reality of record oil production under Trudeau’s tenure and Ottawa’s $34 billion Trans Mountain pipeline investment. Yet, this grievance is peddled relentlessly, with mainstream media often amplifying the “Alberta vs. Canada” story line without sufficient critical scrutiny.

As well as dealing with the spectre of Alberta separatism in the coming years, Carney will face a parliament where Conservative obstructionism is likely to continue. In the last parliamentary session, Poilievre’s party paralyzed committees to push the “Canada is broken” narrative. While Poilievre’s loss of his seat offers temporary respite, his return via a engineered by-election signals plans for more of the same.

Smith, meanwhile, is positioning herself as the de facto opposition leader in the West, using Alberta’s economic clout to challenge Carney’s agenda. Her recent legal action against federal clean electricity regulations, filed just days after the election, sets the tone for relentless confrontation.

This refusal to accept the democratic outcome of the 2025 election is not just dangerous political posturing, it’s a deliberate attempt to destabilize Canada at a time when unity is paramount. As Carney prepares to negotiate with Trump, whose tariffs and annexation rhetoric threaten Canada’s sovereignty, the last thing the country needs is internal sabotage by a provincial premier. The Maple MAGA movement, with its echoes of Trumpism and external backing, risks fracturing the nation through manufactured crises and divisive propaganda.

Carney’s mandate, though imperfect, reflects a collective choice to reject the authoritarian drift embodied by Poilievre’s Conservatives. Yet, the persistent agitation of Smith and Poilievre’s other far right allies, amplified by digital disinformation and oil-funded grievances, challenges the nation to confront this toxicity head-on. If the Carney government is to navigate the external threats posed by Trump and his Canadian allies, it must first quell, in the strongest way possible, the internal forces seeking to tear it apart.  And the first place to start is to confront Alberta's premier as she pours fuel onto the fire of western separatism.

© 2025 The View From Here.  © 2025 Fareed Khan.  All Rights Reserved.