Canadian Youth Radicalization in Islamist Jihad

"These are not random developments -- they reflect a cultural shift in a post-October 7 world where extremism is reframed as 'justice' and terrorism is rebranded as 'resistance'."

Today, Islamist radicalization is manifestly unfolding in classrooms, mosques and community centres, often cloaked in the language of progressive activism and shielded by Canada's own freedoms."

"Islamist networks have learned to exploit the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms to spread radical narratives while avoiding scrutiny. It's a strategy reminiscent of the Muslim Brotherhood's long-term 'civilizational jihad' strategy -- the gradual infiltration and sabotage of western institutions to normalize extremist ideology under the guise of rights and advocacy."

Joe Adam George, national security analyst Macdonald-Laurier Institute/Canada research lead for Islamist threats at the Middle East Forum 

The demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks became the first of many in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza over the next two years. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

The Ahlul-Bayt Mosque in Windsor, Ontario held a memorial last month, marking the first anniversary of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death. The mosque and its affiliate Islamic school the year before had celebrated the life of an operative whose organization is among groups listed as terrorist entities under Canadian law. What is happening in this central portion of Ontario occurs throughout the country, from East to West, in Canada. The steady infiltration has succeeded in establishing the religious authority of imams from the Middle East, many of whom received their theological standing as graduates of the Al Azhar University in Cairo.  

 

The Windsor mosque is known to have hosted events featuring the late Yahya Sinwar, the top echelon leader of Hamas in Gaza, responsible for the atrocities of 7 October, along with former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini, as well as other Hezbollah 'martyrs'. Dead they may be, but their martyrdom serves as a symbol of Islamist conquest in the making, assuring those who glorify these terrorists that their deaths were not in vain, merely a down-payment on Islam's grand plan to Islamicize the world, by all means possible from persuasion to coercion, threats to mass slaughter in the grand scheme of  divine destiny.

 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an encampment at McGill University in Montreal, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

The mosque gatherings appeal to the depth of faith of Muslim youth where video images highlight a new day on the horizon where the new generation of Canadian Muslims may henceforth speak boldly of their admiration for one such as Nasrallah or Sinwar, preparing the path for young Canadian Muslims to take on their way to transforming a Western, democratic nation of Judeo-Christian traditions to one where Sharia becomes law and the values of the Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates gain ground in Canada.

 

Unions, activist communities, social networks, academics, school trustees and city councils throughout the country have their share of bigoted members subscribing to the siren call of Jew-hate and the attractiveness of support for the Palestinian claims of victimhood, preferring to view Palestinian terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as 'freedom fighters', exercising their human rights options to confront and battle the Israeli oppressors who 'dominate' Palestinians and 'steal their land'.

 

ISIS-motivated activities among young Muslims involved in terrorism-related charges reached a 488 percent increase, as reported by the RCMP, between April 2023 and March of 2024 in radicalizing youth. Former terrorism expert and FBI agent Lara Burns noted that Hamas has put in two decades of infiltration in North American campuses and media, successfully creating an atmosphere of sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians against a powerful state whose purpose is to extinguish all opportunities for the 'rightful possessorsv of the territories to form a state of their own.

 

The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

 

These simmering tensions and grievances giving impetus to Palestinian-led student groups claiming that Israel is conducting a 'genocide' against Palestinians have been taken up wholeheartedly by others whose underlying antisemitism spurs them to unquestioningly repeat the  slanders and join mass protests vilifying Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, while capturing Jewish Canadians in their wide net of contempt, with threatening violent actions to match. Leading to criminal activities where synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres as well as Jewish-owned businesses are vandalized, torched, bombed, shot at.

 

The ongoing marches through the streets of Canadian cities, targeting Jewish Canadians take advantage of the country's commitment to free speech. Canada does have anti-hate laws, but despite the fact that hatred and threats are spouted against an 'identifiable group' with chants of 'final solution' and 'Jews go back to Poland', along with 'globalize the Intifada', and 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free', government leaders at all levels, while paying lip service decrying antisemitism, fail to respond to put a stop to the harassment and threats taking place right where people live and are most vulnerable.

 

The radicalization is there, out in the open. The right to own the streets, close off road access, assail people as they attempt to enter their houses of worship, threaten students at universities, engage in mass prayer sessions at closed-off intersections is validated in the opinion of those wreaking havoc, simply for the fact that the police instead of intervening to uphold laws, cater to the ravening crowds. Canada is in a position now where even elementary school administrations and their school boards, normalize Palestinian exceptionalism, making it an offense to criticize Muslims, much less question the destabilizing turmoil they cause.

 

Men pray at the Hamilton Mountain Mosque in Hamilton, Ont. Mosques have become frequent targets of surveillance by CSIS. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

 

"The RCMP and CSIS have collaborated with other Five-Eyes law enforcement and security agencies to develop this message, which calls for a whole-of-society response to help identify and deal with the radicalisation of minors – especially online – across the Five-Eyes nations."

"We are increasingly concerned about the radicalisation of minors, and minors who support, plan or undertake terrorist activities. Radicalised minors can pose the same credible terrorist threat as adults, and law enforcement and security agencies cannot address this issue alone. Minors undertaking violent extremist activities, even if not carrying out an attack, can have lifelong consequences."

"Governments and providers of health and other support services are already working to address this issue. We are committed to working with government agencies, the education sector, mental health and social wellbeing services, communities and technology companies as part of a collective effort to identify and counter radicalisation of minors to violent extremism. It is important to work together early as once law enforcement and security agencies become involved, it is often too late."

RCMP  

  

Dismal Canadian Failure to Put Out the Fire of Antisemitism

"[The threats were made to] a number of institutions, including synagogues and hospitals, across Canada."

"Law enforcement is also engaging with faith-based leaders to ensure they have the information and support they need."

RCMP

 

"It is absolutely chilling to hear of more than 100 Jewish institutions across the country being threatened earlier this morning."

"For many, many months, Canada's Jewish community has raised alarm bells about the escalation of rampant Jew-hatred, as incitement and hateful rhetoric have become normalized online, on our city streets and on our university and college campuses."

"Repeated calls for violence against Jews and Jewish institutions are a stark reminder that extremism and radicalization are thriving in Canada and must be confronted before it's too late."

"The time of our leaders to step up is now." 

Michael Levitt, CEO, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

"[There was no] imminent threat [the emails appear to be] nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives."

"Jewish Canadians will not be intimidated -- we will continue to take part in Canadian society and Jewish life."

"We will stay vigilant, but we will never be intimidated."

Eta Yudin, Quebec vice-president, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

A police vehicle sits outside Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, a Jewish school that was hit by gunshots for the second time in three days, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo by Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press

Jews in Canada are indeed on alert; more than that, they are profoundly perplexed and disappointed that their prime minister, their provincial premiers, non-Jewish faith leaders, corporate heads, government departments, human rights groups and civil society at all levels, from school boards to municipal offices, have not made an effort to stand behind their Jewish neighbours. Canadian unions in particular, academia as well, have added fuel to the fire of condemning Israel for protecting its people in the wake of the October 7 Palestinian terrorist attack on Jewish civilians in southern Israel, leaving 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage by Hamas.

The constant 'pro-Palestinian' and growing pro-Hamas demonstrations taking place across Canada, at university campuses, in front of Jewish hospitals, Israeli legations, synagogues, Jewish neighbourhoods, shopping centers and municipal offices exude hatred for Jews in Canada, issuing threats well known to Jews but evidently beyond the threat-literacy of the federal government. The display of Hamas flags alongside those of the Palestinian Authority, while chants of 'from the river to the sea', the 'triangle-cum-swastika signalling death to Jews, 'final solution', and 'go back to Poland' blatant in their rancid hate.

In the absence of any vestige of a crackdown on the illegal marches, the harassment of Jews, the implied threats, public expressions of antisemitism have become increasingly and startlingly terrifying for Jews in a country they were born in and to which they have been proud of representing. The great yawning gap of disinterest by authorities in meeting this chaotic disorder threatening a minority population has served to satisfy the organizers of the rallies that they can continue to threaten and intimidate, slander and alarm, with no enforcement of the law forthcoming, enabling the organizers to become more blatantly antisemitic with each passing week.

 

Toronto firefighters are shown here at the scene of a fire at North York business. (CBC)

In the matter of a series of emails reaching synagogues, Jewish groups and medical personnel who are Jewish and considered fair game for Jew-haters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police assured the Jewish public that they are collaborating with local law enforcement to make certain that Jewish establishments wherever they are located remain safe. The source of the threats is being investigated by the Federal Policing National Security Program which, if it did its analyzing well, would conclude that foreign financial support has been key in the organization of these hate rallies.

Threats of death and physical violence were included in the emails, which indicated the goal of the perpetrator was to cause 'terror'. Really? after months of promulgating hate fests after hate fests,that is the investigative conclusion? Our policing and intelligence agencies are really doing us proud! Since the October 7 Hamas attack last fall on Israeli civilians the lunacy of antisemitism has gone unchecked and has ballooned, threatening the well-being of the entire community. In Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, police have been responding to threats. Toronto police revealed they evacuated a building in the West End of the city to "investigate for a bomb threat".

"We are continuing to address the possible impact in Toronto", assured the Toronto Police Service media relations officer. One would hope so, considering the multiple incidents of violence targeting Jewish institutions in the last year. Where fire-bombings of synagogues and community centres in Montreal and Vancouver have taken place, even as the same in Toronto have occurred with businesses have been vandalized, and shots fired at Jewish schools, as ongoing investigations so far yield few clues as to those responsible, though Jews know very well who they are collectively.

The Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Ozeroff Synagogue in Hampstead, Que., was one of more than 100 Jewish institutions across Canada to receive a bomb threat by email Wednesday morning. (François Sauvé/CBC)