Canadaโs leading Jewish organization called for government action Tuesday, after a leaked intelligence report said the factors behind Sundayโs antisemitic terrorist attack in Australia were also present in this country.
โIt confirms what we already knew,โ Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), said of the report in an interview with Global News. โThe ingredients that were in place in Australia are present here in Canada as well.โ
The intelligence report was written by Canadaโs Integrated Threat Assessment Centre following the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydneyโs Bondi Beach.
It said the current threat landscape for Jewish communities included a growing list of successful and disrupted attacks, a spike in ISIS propaganda and plots directed by the Iranian regime.
โThese same conditions and drivers exist in Canada, to differing degrees, and it is a realistic possibility that the Jewish community in Canada could be targeted by a violent extremist actor or actors,โ it said.
The report, obtained by Global News, said that while there was no โobserved reportingโ of an imminent threat targeting Jewish holiday events in Canada, an attack could still occur.
In response to the events in Australia, police in Canada have increased their presence in Jewish communities but Shack said while that was important, governments needed to address the root causes.
Laws meant to hold to account those who radicalize others and incite violence need to be enforced more consistently, and gaps in the law must be filled, the CIJA CEO said.
โAnd we need to ensure that the promotion of terrorism, the promotion of terrorist organizations and terrorist actions is prohibited and is being addressed and taken seriously by our legislators and law enforcement.โ
He said the organization had been meeting MPs, cabinet members and security officials โto discuss what concrete steps can be taken in the short, medium and long term to fundamentally shift the situation in this country.โ
โWe are coming out of two years of escalating glorification and promotion of terrorism in our streets, calls for violence against Jews, that feature the burning of Canadian flags,โ Shack said.
โThis is a movement of hate and extremism that doesnโt just target my community, it targets our fundamental way of life as Canadians and this report should serve as a wake up call for all of us that the time for action is now.โ
The Canadian threat assessment said the attack in Australia, which killed 15, was likely motivated by religious extremism and may have been inspired by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that left 1,200 dead.
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Black ISIS flags were found in vehicles linked to the alleged attackers, father and son Naveed and Sajid Akram, and the latter was investigated in 2019 over his links to ISIS supporters.
Two weeks before the attack, the Akrams travelled to the southern Philippines, which has long battled Islamist militancy, for military-style training, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Although ISIS was defeated in Syria in 2019, it continues to attract adherents, with an arrest in Ontario as recently as Nov. 4, and has seized on the Israeli-Hamas conflict to recruit.
โI think in many ways ISIS received a boost from the aftermath of the Oct. 7th Hamas attacks,โ said Colin P. Clarke of the Soufan Centre, a U.S. security research group.
โThe two years of Israeli combat against Hamas in Gaza led to high levels of civilian casualties, and even though ISIS considers Hamas an apostate group, because it sat for elections at one point, it has still been able to leverage the global groundswell of anger over the collateral damage in Gaza and direct it towards its own ends.โ
The RCMP stopped two ISIS plots in Canada in 2024, one in Toronto that was allegedly planned by a father and son originally from Egypt. Another targeted Pride events in Calgary.
A ISIS-inspired plot to attack a pro-Israel rally on Parliament Hill was broken up in December 2023, with two teens charged with terrorism offences. A Montreal teen arrested in August was charged over an ISIS attack plan.
Despite the foiled plots, Canadaโs terrorist threat level has remained unchanged for the past 11 years at โmedium,โ meaning an attack could occur and is a โrealistic possibility.โ
The Australia attack underscored โthe resurgent threat of religiously motivated violent extremist attacks to the West,โ according to the Canadian intelligence report distributed Monday.
โItโs clear that although ISIS lost its territorial โcaliphateโ in Iraq and Syria years ago, its core narrative of violent jihad against perceived enemies continues to inspire individuals and small networks around the world,โ said Prof. Amarnath Amarasingam.
A Queenโs University professor, Amarasingam said the Sydney attack was consistent with similar incidents and the target fit a pattern of โjihadist groups in their hatred of Israel and especially as retaliation for what is happening to civilians in Gaza.โ
โMovements like ISIS and their ideology persist and have continued to be responsible for numerous deaths even though they have declined to occupy the attention of the media, policy, and law enforcement circles.โ
Lucas Weber, a senior threat analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, said the persistence of ISIS was fuelled by a mix of historical grievances, sectarian narratives, and the groupโs โhighly developed online media apparatus.โ
Despite the collapse of its territorial caliphate, ISIS has successfully shifted its centre of gravity to the digital domain, where it relentlessly frames global events through an absolutist worldview that depicts Muslims as under existential threat.โ
The demonization of Jews, as well as Christians, is central to the ISIS narrative and gives its ideology โcontinued resonance among radicalized audiences in the West and beyond.โ
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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