• ‘They (even) asked Richard ‘are you an anti-Semite’? … They kept asking and blaming him and even (though) he’s Jewish,’ says wife and fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver

ISTANBUL

When former UN special rapporteur Richard Falk was pulled aside for questioning upon arrival in Toronto, the 95-year-old was told that officers wanted to make sure he did not pose Canada a "security threat."

Falk and his wife, fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver, were traveling to Ottawa to speak at the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility, an event focused on Palestinian rights and the role of Canadian entities in Israeli abuses against them. Although both have visited Canada many times before, this was their first time being held for what authorities described as security-related concerns.

They now believe the incident was about more than screening — and part of a broader effort to intimidate those advocating for Palestinian rights.

According to the couple, they faced a rotating series of officers, repetitive questioning and long waits at Toronto Pearson Airport.

“We said we were attending a conference about the Palestinian situation, and the responsibility of the Canadian government in relation to international law,” Elver told Anadolu. “We were very cooperative. Any question that they asked, we answered because we wanted to get out as soon as possible. But it didn't work that way.”

Elver, who has also served as UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said the officers asked whether they were being paid, who covered their travel expenses, how many times they had been to Canada and other questions about alleged affiliations.

“They asked (about) material connections, whether Hamas or the Euro-Med organization, because he's the head of the organization's board of trustees,” she said.

“They (even) asked Richard ‘are you an anti-Semite’? … They kept asking and blaming him and even (though) he’s Jewish.”

When contacted by Anadolu, the Canada Border Services Agency said it could not comment on specific cases, citing privacy rules. It said secondary inspections are routine and are not conducted on the basis of race, nationality, religion, age or gender.

‘Politics of intimidation’

Falk rejected the officers’ stated justification.

“I don't believe they really thought of us as security threats. But they used that as an explanation for why they were questioning us and threatening not to allow us to enter Canada,” he said. “It was just a justification. I don't think there was any genuine belief that we were security threats.”

He believes the real motive may have been to deter others from participating in pro-Palestinian events.

“By giving us a hard time, they would discourage other activities and other kind of guests coming from outside the national borders from accepting an invitation.”

“In other words, it was designed as a kind of politics of intimidation. Not for us. We were sort of the vehicle. What was the objective was to create a climate of reluctance on the part of people to take controversial positions in favor of the Palestinian struggle.”

'Not such a shock'

Falk said he was not surprised by the experience.

“It's not such a shock for me.”

He suggested governments are trying to balance growing pro-Palestinian sentiment at home with continued economic and strategic cooperation with Israel.

"Recognizing Palestinian statehood is a very easy way for governments to sort of create the impression that they've changed their attitude,"

“But you have to look at what they are doing. And what they're doing is continuing to engage with Israel on an economic basis that's made a lot of companies in the West very profitable over this two-plus-year period. And so they want on the one hand to appease their own public and maybe enhance their international reputation.”

“And on the other hand, they want to continue to be part of a Western coalition of white governing countries that is supportive of Israel as part of Western civilization. And so that there's a civilizational level to this conflict, which involves the Christian or Judeo-Christian West and the Islamic East. You know, East-West struggle, of that kind.”

Elver also pointed out that the strong influence of pro-Israel NGOs in Canada. “Canada is an interesting country because there are lots of NGOs in Canada, they are very much pro-Israeli government. And they are extremely active on that.”

No legal action

For now, the couple do not plan to pursue legal action.

“In this case, there's no point at this stage to go to the legal action,” Elver said.

Falk said they still do not fully understand the motivation behind the incident.

“We don't know, though. It could have been that the US didn't want this issue as a distraction from other issues. So, we really don't know whether this soft treatment was decided upon by the Canadian government or in communication with the US government,” he said.

“Or they just simply dysfunctional,” Elver added.

* Contributions by Merve Aydogan in Hamilton, Canada