Race, “National Values,” and the Policing of Palestine Solidarity Protests

Palestine solidarity protests, ignited after October 2023 to pressure Canada to end complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, have faced intense police repression amid state and media discourses framing these as hubs of “hate.” This article argues that Canadian policing agencies intuitively align against Palestine solidarity protests due to affective affinities with Israel. We extend the strategic incapacitation literature by demonstrating how police absorb racial ideas of the War on Terror that enshrine Israel as a civilizational ally and construct predominantly Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab protestors as threats. Through an analysis of police communications and recorded protest violence in Toronto and Vancouver, we discuss how protest policing is informed by organizationally structured forms of police knowledge, which reflect the interests of pro-Israel politics. Pigmented by the contours of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian racism, the Palestine solidarity protests are delegitimized by amplifying antisemitism claims. Police at protests wear patches with the racially laden violent symbology of the “thin blue line”—most recently taken up by the “blue lives matter” movement—infusing pro-Israeli symbolism with vigilante violence. We contribute to critical scholarship on protest policing, police subculture, and race by foregrounding the racial grammar normalized under the War on Terror to explain police violence against Palestine solidarity movements.