Targeting Ukraine's Railway Infrastructure

"[The attacks ​are] very cruel [and] deliberate when everyone expects de-escalation steps."

"[Ukraine had intelligence] about ⁠preparations by the Russians of new ballistic missile strikes. We need the means ‌to take out all this Russian evil. We are expecting relevant decisions."

"A horrific Russian attack on Dnipro train station. The Russians used a drone to attack a platform where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing."

"How many such terrorist attacks has Russia carried out on our people after lifting sanctions on some Russian oligarchs and energy companies instead of de-escalating."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"It was hell. The train stopped at night somewhere in central Ukraine. I don’t even know the name of the town. Half asleep, I just heard the conductor say ‘evacuation’. We took only our personal belongings and valuables with us. It was raining outside. Thank you to the conductors for handing out blankets."

"That’s how we held out for two hours. While kamikaze drones were buzzing overhead, we crawled under a goods wagon. The last carriage in the train was full of children. They were being taken back from hospital. They were crying in their sleep. I thought I’d ended up in some sort of horror film. But no, this is our life."

Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Zaiets 

Boryspil, in the Kyiv region. Trains were evacuated and travellers stranded during Russia’s days-long air assault on Kyiv

 

"The enemy has chosen our passenger services as a target", commented Oleg Golovashchenko, head, state operator passenger company, Ukrainian Railways. Drone attacks have forced Ukraine to institute a safety process, now routine, of evacuating trains when danger of a drone attack seems imminent. Passenger trains are typically paused for as long as it takes for the danger to pass. Passengers are escorted off the trains to ensure they will not become trapped in any that are struck by explosives.

 

These massive and increasingly frequent attacks on trains, train stations and railway infrastructure have made any kind of journey potentially dangerous undertakings. Mass transit use in Ukraine is an absolute necessity for any number of reasons, from short trips to and from a place of employment, to longer business trips between cities, and trips for family reunification, brief or prolonged. There are no longer trips taken casually with the impulse for a trouble-free, pleasant outing.  

 

Emergency employees work at a railway station hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Thursday. (Reuters)

 

Ukraine's skies have for years been closed to passenger flights; the only planes are those of the Ukrainian military or those of the Russian military's 'special military operation' in the beleaguered country's airspace. Train travel is the only option in a country where suddenly missiles and drones erupt on missions of destruction of civilian infrastructure, not excluding schools, hospitals, shopping centers, apartment blocks. There are no international rules of warfare protecting civilian enclaves that Moscow respects.

 

Reliance on trains in Ukraine has become a mainstay of travel, from short trips to lengthy travel plans. Through 2026 alone, Russian aerial attacks targeting rail lines have resulted in damage to 4,856 railway facilities, among which are 380 locomotives out of commission and 146 carriages destroyed, according to Ukrainian Railways. At least 50 railway personnel have lost their lives. Those attacks have made it compulsory that when attacks appear imminent, trains must pause and passengers evacuated.

 

Daily, there are one hundred to two hundred evacuations, resulting in widespread delays lasting hour after hour across the country. Some 30 kilometres from the Russian border, trains chugging to and from the north-eastern terminus stop frequently in response to attack threats on the Kharkiv-Kyiv route, Ukraine's largest, most populous cities. 

 

A Ukrainian railway carriage that was attacked by a Russian drone on Jan. 27, 2026, is displayed at the Kyiv central train station on Feb. 23, 2026. | Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images

 

Departing Kharkiv overnight, passengers making sleep preparations are given warning their rest could be rudely interrupted through the necessity of an emergency evacuation. "We brought them aboard the train, we must get them to their destination alive", explains 50-year-old train attendant Mykola Kryvenko. Mere  hours into the journey the night-time silence in the carriage is disturbed when the sound of hurried footsteps break out and there are compartment door knocks. "Evacuation, evacuation", the rudely awakened passengers hear the train attendant's call. The sounds of nearby Russian drones clear drowsy heads.

 

The platform swiftly fills with people intently aware of sounds in the sky. Attendants urge passengers to place some distance between themselves and the emptied carriages, as the sounds of approaching drones increase in volume. Suddenly the sky is lit with explosions in the near distance, and passengers pick up a running pace to separate from the train while others quietly edge further and then further again from direct proximity to the stilled train. 

 

Refugees arriving in Lviv on evacuation trains from Kharkiv and Kryvy Rih make their way through the train station. Photograph: Jelle Krings

 

 Once the sounds of explosions fade and danger seems to have passed, the passengers soon re-embark when the crew announces an all-clear, and the journey continues. But Ukraine's winter is approaching and uppermost in mind is the fear that this winter will be harsh and train travel will become even more fraught with danger. Should potential disruptions take place to electricity, water and heating resulting from Russian attacks on energy infrastructure intensify, the near future is one of anxious apprehension.

Frequent train pauses and the evacuations that accompany them will become all the more difficult with the onset of freezing temperatures, snowfall and deadly interruptions. Plans are underway at Ukrainian Railways to allow passengers to remain on board paused trains at preventative stops. Golovashcenko, head of the passenger company, adds that blankets and heating pads will be on hand with the new preparations to ensure that people keep warm in harsh winter conditions  

 

Pixabay.com via Defence24

 

 

Xi's Campaign to Eliminate Rivals

Chinese Communist Party confirms expulsion of 33 officials   NHK World News

 

"[The Central Committee], with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core [has eliminated serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state and the military."

"[The Party had been guided by the sense of mission that] we would rather offend thousands [ejected from the CCP] than let down 1.4 billion people [the unwitting population]."

Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) 

 

Security personnel gather by Jingxi Hotel as China’s Communist Party leaders open the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee behind closed doors in Beijing, China, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

When China's President Xi Jinping first attained to his supreme post, he pledged to root out corruption in the Chinese Communist Party. This became a first priority and meetings of the Central Committee where such announcements of names and dismissals have been periodically revealed have become a routine part of the president's administrative processes. Woe betide any of the powerful politicians and military men whose influence and power has aroused the suspicion of a president whose word is law and whose wary eye can linger on any from whom a whisper of potential challenge can be envisaged.

 

"Serious hidden dangers" lurk within the Communist Party and the Chinese military and any that are detected must, above all, be eradicated. Authorities confirmed having carried out the expulsion of a record number of officials, previously in good standing at the elite level of government and the military. In a decade's time, President Xi has put into motion a grinding series of identified 'threats' to China through suspicious activities on the part of dozens of members of the powerful Central Committee and top military officers. In the process, thousands have been eliminated.

 

Thursday saw a four-day plenum of the Central Committee complete their work confirming that 33 additional dignitaries had been ejected. Included among them former Politburo member Zhang Youxia, whose successful military career had allowed him to rise to the very top, as China's highest-ranking general. The plenum's consensus was to adopt a decision on "advancing full and rigorous governance of the party", reducing corruption among cadres included, according to state news agency Xinhua. 

 

Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia arrives for a group photo session before the opening ceremony of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao, Shandong province, China April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo

 

Beijing-watchers in analyzing these events interpret them as President Xi maneuvering events to pave the way for extending his leadership administrative rule in the second half of 2027, at a Party Congress. Supporters of the process claim that the purge of corrupt politicians and military advances clean governance. Zhang Youxia, at the time the highest-ranking general, had been removed previously in the wake of a months-long graft investigation. His expulsion from the party was confirmed on Thursday. 

 

Another former top Xinjiang official -- Ma Xingrui -- whose removal was also confirmed, had been removed from all his posts previously, over corruption allegations, with the inclusion of nepotism, bribery and paying for sex. According to the CCDI's Zhang Fuahi, discipline inspections and supervisory arms of the government had, since 2012, seen 7.9 million people punished for similar identified criminal activity.

 

Zhang Shengmin, who spearheaded the anti-graft campaign within the military, serving as President Xi's No.2 in the Central Military Commission, was promoted this week to the Politburo, the CCP's elite decision-making body. He will doubtless enjoy the privileges, prestige and respect that come with that position -- until his time comes when charges of graft and corruption come his way, and he is removed as another potential risk to the presidency. 

 

A meeting communique called for the adoption of "a holistic approach" combining severe punishment, targeted remedies and effective prevention to carry the fight against corruption"through to the end." President Xi emphasized political loyalty and heightened supervision of officials. Ten alternate Central Committee members were elevated to full membership, thus eliminating some of the vacancies of previous removals.

 

Police officers guard in Tiananmen Square as China’s Communist Party leaders open the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee behind closed doors, in Beijing, China, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

"[Efforts to weed out corruption will be] deepened, [particularly in sectors] characterized by the concentration of power, large amounts of funds and rich resource."

"We will prioritize the investigation of issues where political and economic problems are intertwined, collision between government and business, and the infiltration of capital into the political sphere."

"We will thoroughly investigate new forms of corruption and hidden corruption, and routinely address misconduct and corruption affecting the public at the grassroots level."

Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection 

Desperate Migrants, Desperately Unwilling Havens

"The Taliban have real leverage, and the European Union is quite powerless."

"European countries are under so much pressure that they are ready to do almost any deal to remove criminal refugees."

Conrad Schetter, director, Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies, Germany 

 

"The question is if it is indeed safe to return anyone to Afghanistan under the Taliban rule."

"No-one should be deported to Afghanistan given the dire human rights and living situation there."

"This is a fundamental principle of international refugee law, the non-refoulement principle."

Law professor Lena Riemer, Central European University, Vienna

 

"This was a historic visit as first time ever that delegation from Islamic Emirate visited the EU and held talks with member states in Brussels."

"[They spoke about] restarting broad-range consular services for Afghans in EU zone, including need for trust-building measures, consular presence and dignified return process."

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson, Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs  

Kabul airport after the Taliban takeover of power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, credit: Belga

 

"Any engagement with the Taliban needs to prioritize protecting human rights and accountability — not deporting people to danger there."

"EU countries are undermining their credibility by condemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the other."

Fereshta Abbasi, researcher, Human Rights Watch 

 

"Belgium cannot confer legitimacy on a regime accused of serious human rights violations."

"Making a meeting possible in the framework of our host-state policy does not amount to recognition, does not amount to legitimacy, and does not constitute an invitation by the Belgian government [but it is prepared to comply with EU requests for visas for Afghans]."

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot  

Germany leads European push to expand Afghan deportations through Taliban deals / CC: VOA

 

Europe's governments, in condemnation of the Taliban restrictions on women and girls have long shunned the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Under pressure, with the migration epidemic flooding the continent, those same governments have been deporting refugees back to Afghanistan, in the process negotiating with the Taliban government. Over 20 European officials met in Brussels with five Taliban representatives in late June to discuss deportations.

 

According to three participants in the talks, the European side made no mention of human rights abuses. The focus was strictly on an agreement to be reached with Afghanistan accepting the return of their nationals. One of the major sources of migrants -- leaving Afghanistan for refuge in Europe -- the talks were meant to be viewed as technical, limited to expulsions, but have led to condemnation by human rights groups warning that the deportations risk the lives of those forced to return to their country of origin.

 

"The European Union cannot credibly condemn the Taliban's systematic repression while engaging with them to deport Afghans into the very abuses they claim to oppose", charged Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. Russia remains the sole country in the world that formally recognizes the Taliban as a legitimate government. 

 

From the Taliban's perspective the view is that engaging positively on deportation represents an opening to advance acceptance of their rule as a recognized reality. Taliban officials have been permitted by Germany to operate in the Afghan diplomatic missions in Berlin and Bonn, a de facto recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate government. To do likewise is being considered by France. Greece, Austria, Poland and Norway are among representatives from 15 other European countries who have met the Taliban delegation in Brussels. 

 

For their part, the impoverished Taliban have requested wider access to Afghan missions from European governments, along with financial support to manage the reintegration of expelled Afghans. Broader economic assistance -- a red line for European governments which have limited their assistance to humanitarian aid -- is also among their quid pro quo expectations. European governments view development assistance as literally financing the Taliban government, which could be of benefit to officials under international sanctions.

 

450,000 Afghans have been expelled from Pakistan since 1 November 2022. OCHA/Sayed Habib Bidell

 

 Germany has pledged to aggressively deport migrants with criminal records, and has been leading the movement of expelling Afghan migrants. German officials in late 2025 struck  an agreement with the Taliban government to permit direct deportations of unauthorized Afghan migrants, rather than routing returnees through third countries.

 

A pact that "creates a reliable basis for direct and permanent deportations to Afghanistan", stated Alexander Dobrindt, German interior minister. More latterly, federal officials have embarked on a plan to speedily deport Afghan migrant men without criminal records, while women remain shielded from the effort. Close to 95 percent of Afghan women who applied for German asylum were granted protection, the first half of 2026. 

 

Pascal Confavreux, a spokesman for the French foreign ministry, informed a news briefing that the purpose of the discussions was to "facilitate the removal of Afghan nationals who are in the country illegally and who pose a national security risk". Along with Britain keeping tabs on developments in the EU, several other European countries are considering direct agreements with the Taliban. 

 

The Taliban ambassador to Qatar, Suhail Shaheeen, informed European diplomats they should provide economic assistance to Afghanistan. Should they not, he warned, numbers of migrating Afghans reaching Europe is bound to increase. "If there is unemployment and an economic crisis in Afghanistan, Afghans will go like a flood to Europe".    

"Criminals must leave our country."

"That is one of the reasons why deportations to Afghanistan are a regular and reliable part of our migration policy."

"Our course is clear: control, consistency, and a state governed by the rule of law that enforces its decisions."

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt   

The German Interior Ministry said 303 Afghan men had been deported since the start of the current legislative term | File Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa/picture alliance

 

 

 

Hello!! I'd Like You To Debase Yourself

"Hello!!"

"I'd like to come try the food but I'm mindful where I spent my money these days."

"I saw your restaurant on the boycott list but I wanted to confirm with you what your views are about the genocide in Palestine [as the boycott lists might be misinformed]."

"Look forward to hearing back."

"Thank you!" 

Enquiry on Instagram by prospective diner

 

"Are we serving politics with a side of pancakes now?"

"There's a boycott list that's been going around since October 7. I don't think I can do anything about it. I think no matter what you do, people will assume a lot of things about you and your policies and your politics."

"I've been very adamant about not discussing politics, I definitely don't want that to define us. I just thought it was interesting that we were receiving that line of questioning, and I was fairly certain that other fellow restaurateurs were not receiving the same line of questioning."

"I don't hide the fact that I'm Jewish, right? I don't think I should have to. Absolutely not. No. But I also don't think I need to discuss foreign policy in order to conduct business in Montreal, Quebec."

"We all just want to make great food, feed our families, go home."

Raegan Steinberg, chief, restaurateur, Montrealer 

Is this normal? Is this the new normal?, Chef Raegan Steinberg asks in a social media post. nationalpost.com 

 

A fourth generation Canadian, Raegan Steinberg was inspired by her father whose influence on her future profession led to her pursuing culinary training at the Art Institute of Vancouver, on her professional journey to becoming an acclaimed chef. When she returned to Montreal, she began her adventures in creative cuisine by taking employment at the well-known Joe Beef establishment. 

 

After receiving that enquiry through Instagram recently, she gave thought to why she was being queried in such a manner, and how she should proceed. Those thoughts prompted her to reach out to others in the profession in the city. She spoke in turn with a number of fellow Montreal restaurateurs and chefs, the majority of whom hadn't been tasked to respond to such questions as a preliminary to hosting a potential client who prior to committing themselves to a meal demanded to be informed of their possible relationship with Israel.

 

"Jewish restaurants were definitely a higher percentage of the few people that I spoke to", she explained in an interview, "but I think that some Jewish restaurants are more targeted than others". Possibly as a result of those that are targeted being known for their popularity reflecting the quality of their menu choices and expert food preparation. Ms. Steinberg is referred to as "a top chef" by Tastet, a Canadian restaurant guide.

 

fplmtl  Filipinos for Palestinian Liberation

 

🫒🇵🇸 Before you go out to eat in Montreal, make sure the owner doesn’t support a military regime responsible for the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians 😵‍💫 Many of these restaurants also claim to serve “Israeli” food and wine.

 

She is, as well, the operator of three popular restaurants in the Montreal area: Arthurs Nosh Bar in Saint-Henri, Dirty Greens and Arthurs Nosh Bar at Le Cathcart, as well as Romies located in Old Montreal.  Perhaps being associated with those well-known and successful  enterprises might lead those who look to punish entrepreneurs whose expert skills make them public figure of note in their professions, should they be rash enough to risk all by publicly stating an allegiance to Israel.

 

She and her partner opened Back of House Catering as a preliminary to opening their first Arthurs Nosh Bar in 2015 which became a Montreal brunch staple on Notre-Dame Street West. The restaurant named after her father as a tribute to him, offering Jewish cuisine seen through a Moroccan gustatory lens. 

 

That successful venture was followed by Dirty Greens at Le Cathcart where gourmet salads are featured. Raegan and partner Alexandre Cohen opened Romies in 2024, a contemporary American bistro, That was followed by Arthur's Dinette in the NDG neighbourhood in 2026.  Well and truly established. Truly successful ventures by food-adventurous and food-knowledgeable professionals whose services to the public rewarded them amply.

 

Chef Raegan Steinberg filming an Instagram reel in one of her Montreal restaurants. Photo by Instagram

 

"I don’t think there’s like a negative stain on us or anything like that."

"We’re very happy, you know. I just think it’s important for people to know what goes on behind the scenes sometimes."

Chef Raegan Steinberg  

While nothing could quite prepare them and other Jewish-owned businesses from the malevolently ignorant harassment and poisonous charges of 'genocide' that accompany Jews in Canada living out their lives in the years since Palestinian terrorists launched a horrific maelstrom of mass rape, savage murder and hostage-taking of Israeli children, teens, elderly, foreign farm workers and members of the IDF, kept in inhumane conditions in Gaza, tormented by their captors while awaiting eventual release from captivity. 

 

Arthurs Nosh Bar, Tripadvisor

 

The Wholesale Disarray of European Politics

"What connects them is less a common agenda than a growing sense that the future promises less than the present generation was led to expect."

"[A] misleading narrative of a pan-European revolt [has allowed scenes of unrest to be taken out of their national context and offered] as proof that a chaotic Europe is ungovernable."

Alberta Alemanno, professor of European Law, HEC Paris business school

"We're sick of putting up with empty promises."

"Today, young people everywhere are demanding the right to a future."

"We are demanding a break with this old world that has made life difficult, not only in France."

Lena Guerrier, French student activist 

Protesters take cover behind a plywood board as French riot police and gendarmes use a water canon amid clashes during an authorised demonstration in Paris, October 24, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

 

 In Paris, Milan and Madrid, and elsewhere student rioting has been convulsing nations throughout Europe. In the East, from Bangladesh to India, students have been demanding to be heard. Slow economic growth, higher costs of food, housing and fuel and decrepit schools have aroused the anger of students here, there and everywhere. It is not just recently that it has occurred to the youth in Europe and Asia that their parents' comfortable lifestyles in a bygone era inaccessible to them, holds out no future promise for them.

 

Centrist President Emmanuel Macron grapples with a fiery eruption of anger over budget cuts and the kind of political paralysis that has led to the appointment of seven prime ministers over a period less than a decade.  Spain's Pedro Sanchez as the furthest left European leaders yet, has announced a snap election in an effort to capitalize over housing costs protests, hoping to emerge with a majority government by smearing his conservative opposition favouring landlords while threatening to privatize pension.

 

And then there is the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, where Italy is confronting the ire of truckers facing steep energy price rises and the general public angered by the rising cost of living and other grievances. The autumn of discontent and protests throughout Europe go well behind ideological posturing, but rise on a scaffold of a universal problem that wars in Ukraine and Iran have exacerbated, with rising energy costs impacting the cost of all consumer commodities. 

 

Anti-riot police clashed with demonstrators in Milan last weekend.Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images

 

 A recent European survey saw 52 percent of  young adults between ages 16 and 26 living with the morose expectation that their futures will be nothing like what their parents had anticipated in their day. The unrest in Spain, Italy and France, the three major countries in the European Union, with leaders from the left, right and centre which along with Germany form the political and economic pillars of the European project does not bode well for the near future.

 

Enemies in the Kremlin portray the state of crisis and the chaos it has engendered in their own preferred observations, side-skipping the fallout of economic dysfunction, but representing evidence of the imminent collapse of Western liberalism. With a generous helping of unregulated, immigration. The political campaigns of hard-right and far-left parties inclusive of Alternative for Germany, National Rally and France Unbowed in France, and in Spain, Vox have been buoyed by the prospect of opportunities they see opening before them as opponents of the incumbents.  

 

Police stand guard as students protest against underresourced schools in Paris  Thibault Camus, AP

 

"The crisis brings joy to Moscow, Washington and others who fan the flames, but its origins are global and shared by liberal democracies", stated a former French ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud. No outreach by the government authorities of those countries has succeeded in convincing the protesters that their grievances are being heard, and steps will be taken to make some of the changes they demand. That argument falls on deaf ears of protesters who have faced police brutality in efforts to stem the violent tide of insurrection.

 

Hundreds of thousands of people throng the streets of France's cities, one weekend after another, and with the lawful action of the bulk of the protests, accompanying groups with grievances of another variety hoist flags of the Palestine Territories, smash shop windows, loot stores, set fire to vehicles and shops, indulging in criminal mayhem of a more worrying hostility backed by foreign interests and interference in European affairs. All manner of ideological politicians in Europe and abroad are fixated on images of burnt-out vehicles, shattered storefronts as they face deep scrutiny for their failure in containing the disorder.

 

Protesters set trash cans on fire during clashes with police following a demonstration over Spain's housing crisis at the beginning of October.  Emilio Morenatti/AP

 

 

Typically and with fairly good reason, some among the right-wing authorities have pointed to immigration and cultural disaffection with European values and opportunities for those who migrated with expectations their numbers in dissent would usher in a different kind of opposition demanding rights and entitlements not yet earned, have been responsible for the violence and looting. Voters due to go to the polls in Spain, France, Italy and Poland where hard-right parties challenge the centrist leaders of Europe will have their say at the ballot box.

 

While Italy's Meloni subscribes to the version of blame that casts a net over immigration, Macron in France denies any such ascription. While Meloni blames "second-generation Italians" for the vandalism seen in Milan, Macron denounces such rhetoric, insisting that all France's citizens must be viewed on an equal lens of fidelity to the nation, in a cross-section of society as a whole, realities in the banlieus and periodic riots of volatile violence aside.

 

Several European nations struggle with weak growth, stagnant wages and inequalities between the rich and poor steadily expanding in a continent where the world's biggest welfare spenders govern. Following years of global crises where the pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine have strained resources and raised costs of energy and all consumer goods from food to household items that must be delivered by truck and rail, have skyrocketed in costs.

 

"We are not living through the end of the world but the end of a world -- their world", mocked Marine LePen from her nationalist anti-immigrant platform. "Look at what's happening in other European countries. You can see clearly that the youth are rising up all over.  t is a formidable moment, and I hope we actually listen to them", noted Olivier Faure, head, centre-left Socialist Party in France. 

 

A protester holding a banner reading "we are governed by clowns" lies on the ground during a protest against skyrocketing housing costs at Rossio Square in Lisbon on Thursday.

Patricia de Melo Moriera/AFP/Getty Images

 

Muslim Brotherhood Entryism in Canada

"[The TCMV] is a national, non-partisan charity empowering Canadian Muslims through civic engagement and education."

"[It does not] endorse parties, tell you how to vote, lobby politicians, or preach religion."

The Canadian Muslim Vote website

 

"[The Canadian Muslim Vote's mandate is to] empower Canadian Muslims through civic education, political engagement, and leadership, fostering an informed and active community that contributes to Canada's democracy."

"That means encouraging everyone, including our community, to get involved in Canada's democratic system."

"[TCMV does not target some 60 to 80 ridings for the purpose to mobilize Muslim voters, but it] encouraged all Canadians, including all Canadian Muslims, to get out and vote."

Jeff Saikaley, TCMV legal spokesperson

 

"Under the radar, Canada is being infiltrated."

"In the West -- in Canada, but in other Western democratic countries -- we don't really understand what the Muslim Brotherhood is."

"It sounds like a benevolent organization. It's a nice name, [but] we don't understand the ideology, the goals, the religious worldview of the Brotherhood, what the strategic and military or philosophical underpinnings are, and they have mastered us."

Charles Small, founder/director, ISGAP (Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy) "The ISGAP report is nothing more than recycled Islamophobic tropes dressed up as research."

"It is a biased, unsubstantiated hit piece that relies on discredited allegations that were themselves challenged by the Ontario Superior Court for their apparent bias."

"It amplifies narratives designed to fuel Islamophobia and sow division within Canadian society."

Muslim Association of Canada 

Recently releasing a 200-page study, ISGAP outlines an organized campaign of pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Islamophobia charges that -- the international Islamist group that is outlawed in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, but has sprawling outreach globally -- the Muslim Brotherhood and other allied groups have been engaging in, fomenting antisemitism in Canada. Funded through sophisticated financial channels by Qatar, they have infiltrated and established positions of influence within many of Canada's largest and most academically trusted universities.

 

The University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University are given special attention in the report where "consistent concerns are identified". Those concerns are inclusive of limited disclosures on sources of foreign funding, a reluctance to disclose intellectual property contracts, plus "use of campus environments as platforms for sustained mobilization, coalition building, and narrative development", among other allied issues.

 

Through Qatar's sovereign Qatar Investment Fund or Qatar National Research Fund, financing activities have backed Canadian university programs which frequently  have rules on limited disclosures. A number of research projects backed by Qatar in such strategic fields as smart grids, carbon systems and secure communications are listed. Details surrounding issues such as intellectual property rights, data access or contractual terms, fail to be disclosed at Toronto Metropolitan University, Waterloo and University of Toronto.

Anti-Israel Protest on the anniversary of 7 October 2023, Moment of silence during vigil held outside of Sidney Smith Hall. CELESTA MANIATOGIANNI/THE VARSITY University of Toronto

 

The influence that has permeated these universities has resulted in their campuses becoming hotbeds of pro-Palestine sentiments, university administrators frequently opting to silence critics and bypass pro-Israel events, according to the report. Responding to an investigative journalist's requests, a spokesperson for University of Toronto  confirmed 11 research grants totalling $1.75M in value from the Qatar National Research Fund. An amount, pointed out the university, minuscule in comparison to the billions it receives from fundraising sources. 

"The university is not subject to foreign influence via research awards, donations or partnerships."

"The university has robust policies that protect the academic integrity of the institution and safeguard research independence and autonomy, and all partnerships and funding agreements comply with these policies and with Canadian regulations."

"[Claims by the report that campus groups at University of Toronto and students support anti-Israel ideation are] without merit." 

University of Toronto spokesperson (name withheld)

An anti-Israel protest outside Concordia University in Montreal on Oct. 7, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette/Postmedia

 

The ISGAP report outlines how groups such as the Muslim Association of Canada aid in advancing ideologies of interests sympathetic to the causes of the Muslim Brotherhood through affiliation with non-profits and other groups based in Canada. The Canada Revenue Agency preliminary audit of Muslim Association of Canada alleged that some of its activities "appear to be in furtherance of the Muslim Brotherhood organization"; that many activities of the charity failed the test of explicit charity designation.
 

 That the Muslim Association of Canada had widened its holdings of real estate property which totalled $12 million in 2006 to over $51 million nine years later, it was the Canada Revenue Agency's position that these property holdings investments were of a non-charitable purpose, in direct contradiction to their claims. "There appears to be a significant difference between what the MAC represents it stands for and the activities that it appears to conduct." To substantiate the CRA's observation of links to the Muslim Brotherhood, it pointed out that members of the Brotherhood on coming to Canada, become members of the Muslim Association of Canada

 

The ISGAP report concludes by calling for a number of policy changes; greater oversight of academic partnerships with foreign entities at universities, among them. Along with greater transparency for foreign funding to universities, and granting additional review powers for government agencies toward non-profits and charities. A universal unfamiliarity with the geopolitical aims of these foreign entities such as the Muslim Brotherhood invariably leads to a lack of critical sovereign awareness.

 

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a photo at the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) Eid Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 6, 2025.  Arab Weekly

  

"Recent Islamist terror attacks in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu remind us of the mounting terrorist threats facing Canadians. But evidence gathered by Point de Bascule indicates that the main danger facing Canada may go beyond the violent jihadist threat — and be made worse — by a little-discussed associated phenomenon, the penetration of our institutions by Islamists."

"There are two consequences to this penetration. First, it reduces Canada's ability to respond to the violent Islamist threat, and second, it leads to the gradual introduction of sharia rules in Canada."

"By penetration, I refer to the presence of Islamists and their sympathizers within a range of institutions from political and government organizations to NGOs and corporate entities. Those involved could themselves range from non-violent fundamentalists attempting, whether clandestinely or otherwise, to sway policy from the inside, to those that are violently inclined."

"Particular concerns have been raised about sabotage risks that could be posed by penetration of security or emergency services, no small worry when one considers what the Muslim Brotherhood revealed in a document produced for evidentiary purposes in the most important anti-terrorism trial in the U.S. in 2008.

This is an excerpt from what is described as an internalization memorandum of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it comes from their own memorandum: "The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers."

Marc Lebuis, founding director, independent research organization Point de Bascule, 2015 testimony at the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence  

"[The Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood] support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.

"The military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel."

U.S. government 2025 terrorism designation for the Muslim Brotherhood