On Thursday morning, February 20, 2025, Yves Engler—who has written for CovertAction Magazine—presented himself to Montreal police for arrest, as ordered.
Though facing multiple charges, the Canadian author, journalist and activist had no reason to believe he would not be bailed out in time to spend the weekend with his wife and young children.
But that was not to be. Engler’s bail was denied Thursday evening without cause given, and again on Friday when he refused to agree to a gag order that would have forbidden him from writing about his ordeal. After all, he is a professional writer.
“[T]he officer told my lawyer she wants to impose a condition for my release saying that I’m not allowed to discuss the case. That is a flagrant violation of my freedom of expression, but is presumably designed to protect the police officer, Kurtz and her legal team from embarrassment.”
Initially, Engler, 45, was charged with “harassment and indecent communication” for his response to unsolicited tweets on his TwitterX timeline from Canadian Zionist media personality Dahlia Kurtz.
Police say Engler describes Kurtz as a “genocide supporter” and “fascist,” accusations he readily admits are accurate. Not only has Kurtz been a fervent supporter of Israeli genocide in Gaza, but she has also supported mass deportations of dark-skinned immigrants in North America and expressed solidarity with neo-Nazi groups advocating for deportations, according to Engler.
Exemplifying the incendiary and offensive rhetoric that she adopts, one of Kurtz posts on X said she wanted to “see Gaza wiped out. I don’t even want to see one building standing.” Another voiced support for a neo-Nazi protest where banners were held up stating: “mass deportations now.”
After a series of testy exchanges, on July 5, 2024, Kurtz directly addressed Engler on X, stating: “I’m advising you in this one message only that you are harassing me. You’re threatening and you’re making me afraid for my safety.”
This message referenced a post Engler had made six days earlier stating, “Racist Dahlia supports killing Palestinian children. 20,000 is not enough she wants even more Palestinian blood spilled.”
Kurtz’ complaint to Montreal police was lodged with the assistance of the Spiegel Sohmer law firm and one of its principals, Neil Oberman, the Conservative federal candidate in Mount Royal.
Engler is a prolific author who has been referred to as the Noam Chomsky of Canada. His many books include piercing critiques of Canadian foreign policy and its alignment with the U.S.[1]
CovertAction Magazine has favorably reviewed Engler’s work, in addition to publishing articles by him, which match the magazine’s standards for high quality, fact-based journalism that combines social criticism with deep-rooted historical understanding and critical analysis of issues of political economy.
After Engler’s arrest, Montreal police added charges, alleging that his articles—detailing his arrest by them and published at the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, along with an email letter campaign soliciting support for his release—constitute a threat.
Specifically, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) cited “intimidation, harassment, harassing communication and ‘entrave’ or interference” toward its arresting officer. As of this writing, the SPVM has released no more information, or replied to requests for comment.
Reporting for the University of Windsor Law’s Jurist News, Pitasanna Shanmugathas quoted British Columbia Senator Yuen Pau Woo’s letter of support for Engler at ActionNetwork. In it, Senator Woo said he supports Yves’ right to denounce Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to “call out” those aiding and abetting its crimes there, adding
“It is incumbent on the police to explain the grounds for any charges laid against Mr. Engler and to demonstrate that his rights are not being infringed. To compound the charges against him because he has shared information about his plight is abusive.”
Thousands agree. By Saturday night, two days after his arrest, the online petition site ActionNetwork tallied nearly 10,000 letters of support for Engler, as well as a recorded statement of support coming from tireless Palestine defender and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who said,
“Let’s hope this awful nightmare of crucifying people who stand up for human rights goes away soon. But until it does, we must stand shoulder to shoulder…Yves, I’m with you all the way, brother.”
On February 28, Dahlia Kurtz continued her string of frivolous charges by suing Yen Pau for allegedly inciting hate, aggression, and violence against her online in a public forum on X (Twitter).
Engler’s arrest has also been picked up by alternative media across Canada and the U.S. Green Party of Quebec leader Alex Tyrrell expressed concern on TwitterX that, during his video-linked bail hearing, Engler appeared without his eyeglasses and was repeatedly interrupted by the judge before being hustled out of the box. Tyrrell wrote:
“When Yves asked why his release was opposed, the judge dismissed his question, saying it was at the prosecutor’s discretion, and advised him not to speak.”
Those were Engler’s last words heard from detention for several days before his release last Monday. Before reporting to authorities, Engler had addressed media outside the police station on the charges, saying:
“This is obviously an attack against freedom of expression but really what it is is a use of the policing and legal system to target someone that opposes the Canadian government’s complicity in a genocidal rampage by Israel that’s left at least 100,000 people killed in Gaza.”
He added,
“Over the past 15 months [Dahlia] Kurtz has become a leader in Canada’s fascist movement, posting incessantly about purported Jewish victimhood and the anti-genocide ‘mob’ who should be ‘deported. A compulsive liar, Kurtz openly calls for state violence against those challenging Canadian complicity in genocide.”
Engler’s arrest comes at a time of increasingly oppressive measures taken by police against Palestinian solidarity throughout the social democracies of the West. These measures often invoke anti-terrorism statutes, like Section 12 of Britain’s Terrorism Act 2000, invoked to hold journalists Kit Klarenberg in May 2023 and Richard Medhurst in August of last year, when arriving at UK airports Luton and Heathrow respectively, and to mine their communication devices for information. Section 12 was also cited in the SWAT-styled assault on English activist Sarah Wilkinson’s home and the sexagenarian’s violent arrest.
Medhurst’s Vienna home was also raided just three weeks ago, it appears, in service of British intelligence agencies, while American journalist and publisher online of The Electronic Intifada (EI), Ali Abunimah was roughly taken into custody by Swiss authorities on January 25th and held for a period, much like Engler, with no avenues of communication to the outside world.
Abunimah’s UK-based EI colleague, Asa Winstanley, also experienced harassment and the seizure of his computers and other devices. Winstanley quoted Abunimah in an article about his arrest in and deportation from Switzerland, saying,
“I can only conclude that my unlawful imprisonment was intended to suppress freedom of expression by preventing me from speaking openly about the genocide in Palestine, as well as to punish me for views I’ve expressed in the past that someone in power did not like.”
And then there is Germany, whose draconian laws suppressing pro-Palestinian activism, including entry bans, can be applied across the Schengen Zone.
Suppression of pro-Palestine activism may be the purpose with Engler in Canada too, but it might be more than that. As well as writing a baker’s dozen of books highly critical of Canadian foreign policy (the only person in the country to have hammered on this theme as persistently), Yves is too a disrupter of the first order, literally.
Engler and activist lawyer and journalist Dimitri Lascaris founded the Disruption Network and, under its rubric, have embarrassed both public officials and Canada’s mainstream news organizations with ambush interventions asking normally media-cosseted representatives pointed questions on issues like aid to Israel’s genocidal campaign in Palestine.
In 2002, Engler first gained attention for disrupting a speech by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Concordia University in Montreal.
Few of the country’s political and business elite are likely upset to hear of his troubles with the law. But their Schadenfreude may be short-lived.
Talking about his arrest in Switzerland, Ali Abunimah expressed surprise that the local powers that be there would amplify what would have been a small teach-in on Palestinian solidarity and resistance into a national scandal and international embarrassment for the normally politically low-profile Swiss.
Likewise, with nearly 10,000 signatures as of this writing, and a growing chorus of outrage, the petite bureaucrats behind Montreal’s arrest of Yves Engler may soon come to rue their counter-constitutional transgression.
After a court appearance on Monday February 24, Yves was released on bail on the condition he no longer “tags’ Kurtz’ posts on TwitterX. His trial dates is set for April 25th. Engler’s bail appearance was delayed for most of the day, due to “clerical errors.”
Yves’ father, Gary, his wife, Bianca Mugyenyi, and lawyer John Philpot talked to supporters and media present in the court foyer after Yves’ February 24 court appearance. Gary Engler, who is himself a journalist and writer, calls the charges against his son absurd and maintains the only “harassment” in this case has been that of the Montreal authorities against his son. He says,
“Yves is the victim of a conspiracy by a self-proclaimed media influencer, who has repeatedly posted on X that Prime Minister Trudeau is an anti-Semite and a supporter of terrorism, together with a Conservative candidate in the upcoming federal election against a Liberal incumbant in a heavily pro-Israel riding.”
Lawyer Philpot adds:
“Bringing charges against one of the leading anti-Zionist writers is contrary to what Canada must do according to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.”
The World Socialist Website described Engler as a “left” Canadian nationalist critic of Ottawa’s military-strategic partnership with Washington. He has written on Canadian imperialism’s close relationship with Ukrainian fascists, the devastation of communities in Latin America and Africa through the destructive activities of Canadian mining companies, and Canada’s aggressive role within NATO. ↑
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About the Author
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, where Yves Engler has appeared as a guest numerous times.
Archives at GRadio.Substack.com, GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024.
Chris can be reached at lex@gorilla-radio.com.
