Terrorism

Iran’s fingerprints are on much that counters our prevailing values in this country. This week, a groundswell of voices from Canada and around the world joined The Abraham Global Peace Initiative in calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor John Tory to stop the hateful and antisemitic Iranian-backed “Al-Quds Day.”  

We will hear condemnations from our leaders to appease the Jewish community — especially in an election year. But ultimately this annual hate fest against Jewish people will continue despite the fact our provincial and federal governments are investing millions of dollars to combat antisemitism. Antisemitism at Al-Quds Day events and on our university campuses is not being addressed in law and public policy. 

Instead, money is being thrown back at the very community that is being attacked, for it to mount a counter-offensive alone. This is equivalent to asking assault victims to stand up for themselves.  Al-Quds Day was invented by the Iranian regime as a way to incite violence and hatred. As we all know, many nations consider Iran a state sponsor of terrorism. Its Holocaust denial and promotion of antisemitism is well documented, and it has engaged in terrorist activity for decades. 

In the past number of weeks, Argentina commemorated the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, in which 29 died and for which a group linked to Iran claimed responsibility. Iran was also blamed for the bombing two years later of the Jewish Community Centre (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, in which 86 people died.  

Al-Quds Day was invented by the Iranian regime to incite violence and hatred  This, of course, is merely the tip of the iceberg of crimes Iran has committed, and the toxic antisemitism it has bred. It has bolstered such terrorist groups as Hezbollah and Hamas, while expanding its own terrorist activities into Syria — engaging in the slaughter of thousands of civilians — in order to protect Bashar Assad, now believed to be the world’s No. 1 war criminal.  

Just last week, former Canadian cabinet ministers Peter MacKay, John Baird and Stockwell Day and many other leading Canadians joined me in warning U.S. President Joe Biden against consenting to Iran’s demand that its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) be dropped from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Canadians know Iran’s terrorism well. On Jan. 8, 2020, the IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 with 167 people on board, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. Like the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, the Iranian community in Canada has been calling for justice.  

This is why fighting Al-Quds Day is significant not only for the Jewish community, but for all Canadians. The Jewish community is the vanguard of rebuffing threats to freedom and democracy. If you believe this is an internal tribal squabble between two rival ethnic groups, you are missing the radicalization taking place in our country.  

Over the years, Torontonians have witnessed speaker after speaker defame the state of Israel and, by extension, motivate the rising tide of hatred of Jewish people. Young people attending the rallies are infected by hateful propaganda that undermines our peaceful communities.  

 In truth, no other religious or ethnic community in Toronto is as maliciously and continuously attacked as the Jewish community. Last May, we witnessed brawls and violent attacks by pro-Palestinian demonstrators targeting Jewish people.  Justifiably, we condemn the horrific war crimes unfolding now in Ukraine and take action. At the same time, society turns away from calls for violence against Israelis. But we cannot have double standards when it comes to ethics and morality — speaking out and taking action for some persecuted groups and not for others.  Canadians need to start paying closer attention to foreign-driven threats to peace upon our soil. Otherwise, the security and freedom of all citizens here is in jeopardy. 

 National Post April 22, 2022

BUENOS AIRES — Iran has been committing and supporting heinous acts of terrorism in the Middle East and around the world for years. It is responsible for war crimes committed in Syria, for supporting Hamas and Hezbollah’s hostility against Israel and for financing the war in Yemen. Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing 167 passengers, including many Canadians. It is also responsible for the horrific bombing of the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. Can you imagine an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons?

  Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the devastating attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina. On that horrific day in 1992, 29 people were killed by the blast and 242 were injured.  Iran struck again just two years later, hitting the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), killing 85 people and injuring hundreds more in the vicinity. Argentine state commissions and international investigations have implicated Iran and its terror proxies in the bombings, which were part of its shadow war against the State of Israel.  

Argentina immediately broke off diplomatic relations and severed its ties with the Islamic republic, accusing Iran of murdering Argentinian nationals. Yet despite Argentina’s obvious support for Israel and its Jewish community, the wounds and trauma of these terror attacks resonate profoundly with the country's Jewish population.  Argentina has issued five requests through Interpol for the extradition of suspected Iranian terrorists who were identified as having been complicit in the attacks. 

Still, most Latin-American Jewish community leaders who are currently in Argentina for meetings with the Latin Jewish Congress expressed shock and dismay at the lack of progress in bringing the perpetrators to justice.  In fact, Argentina’s top Jewish leader, Jorge Knoblovits — who sits on the Abraham Global Peace Initiative's board of advisors and presides over the community’s umbrella organization, the Asociationes Israelitas Argentinas — is concerned that Iran will demand immunity for its crimes, as part of the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna.  By most accounts, the Argentinian Jewish community is highly respected by the government. In a meeting I attended with Argentinian President Alberto Fernández earlier this week, he spoke of the nation’s shared values and the importance of its Jewish community. This sentiment was shared by multiple government officials with whom I had the pleasure of meeting.  

The City of Buenos Aires’ undersecretary for human rights and cultural pluralism, Pamela Malewicz, told me that the city instituted legislation marking March 17 as the Day of Memory and Solidarity with the Victims of the Attack on the Embassy of Israel, to make people aware of the consequences of international terrorism and promote peace. Most significantly, the legislation is incorporated into the school calendar so that each year all students read a text of remembrance of the attack against the Israeli Embassy.  While the terror attacks against Jewish institutions unified the city, life hasn’t been the same ever since. Nearly every Jewish building I toured, including the Macabi Jewish community centre and the AMIA complex, is defended by massive concrete barriers. Every visitor must endure a complex system of security measures upon entry, which is often more stringent than airport security. 

The doors on these buildings are all made from bullet- and blast-proof heavy metal. Even the newly renovated Holocaust Museum is heavily guarded (imagine the sad irony).  As nuclear negotiations between the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and Iran continue in Vienna, the West must make every effort to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons. Russia’s assault on Ukraine illustrates just how dangerous it is for the West to deal with genocidal regimes, especially when they fall under the protection of a nuclear umbrella.  

Iran has a history of supporting terrorism and extremism throughout the Middle East and around the world and has threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Even while Iran was sitting across the negotiation table from the United States, it launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraq’s northern city of Erbil, which was described by Reuters as "an unprecedented assault on the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region that appeared to target the United States and its allies."

  This year’s anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina is more important than ever. The Iranians may be sitting in beautifully tailored suits in fancy hotels in Vienna, creating an illusion of civility. But make no mistake: an Iran guided by religious fundamentalism with a nuclear weapon is much more dangerous than even Russia.  

So why are we making a deal with the devil?  National Post - March 18, 2022

That the attack by a lone gunman on Jewish worshippers at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, was immediately labelled a “hostage-taking,” instead of a terror attack, highlights the blind spot that many people in authority and in the media have when it comes to violent anti-Semitism.

For nearly 24 hours during and following the incident, authorities refused to label the attack as terrorism — despite the fact that most of the evidence pointed in that direction.

To his credit, U.S. President Joe Biden eventually declared the incident a terrorist attack. But there is still a strange debate about whether the terrorist, Malik Faisal Akram, was motivated by anti-Semitism. This is despite the fact he chose to vent his anger by targeting a synagogue on the Sabbath.

Suggesting he wasn't motivated by anti-Semitism would be like arguing that, in 2015, Amedy Coulibaly chose to attack the Hypercacher Kosher Supermarket in Paris at random, rather than because he knew it would be full of Jewish people shopping for Shabbat.

Indeed, despite recent evidence showing that Akram was motivated by Islamism and had made anti-Semitic comments before the attack, one FBI agent was quoted as saying that Akram was “singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community.”

As naive as that may sound, he seemed to believe Akram was only driven by a desire to free Aafia Siddiqui — a Pakistani neuroscientist with links to al-Qaida, who was sentenced to 86 years for the attempted murder of American soldiers and is being held in Fort Worth, Texas.

Well, my friends, let me say this: the minute anyone enters a synagogue with a gun and points it at Jewish people, it becomes an issue related to the Jewish community. This was not merely an act of “hostage-taking”; it was a terrorist attack motivated by anti-Semitism.

If the definition of terrorism is the unlawful use of violence and intimidation against civilians in the pursuit of political aims, Akram’s assault to force the release of Siddiqui and his intimidation of civilians clearly qualifies him as a terrorist.

To its credit, the FBI immediately flew in top officers and negotiators and, together with local law enforcement, succeeded in killing the terrorist and freeing the four Jewish hostages. It is becoming clear that law-enforcement agencies throughout North America are now paying more attention to the dangerous trend of violence perpetrated against Jewish institutions.

In 2018, following the attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh, I sent an alert to police agencies across the country about the need to secure Jewish communities. This time around, as the terrorist attack was unfolding in Texas, local and national police immediately contacted me to reassure me that extra patrols were being immediately deployed to Jewish institutions to guard against copy-cat attacks.

In my remarks at this week’s launch of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative's Power of One exhibit at Vancouver police headquarters, I spoke about the necessity for law enforcement to secure our communities. Without question, the work of police services is more essential than ever in protecting and defending faith communities from targeted assaults. Often times, this is done in collaboration and partnership with the communities themselves.

Even though Akram had been investigated for possible terror activity in the United Kingdom, he was able to sneak into the United States in an attempt to carry out an attack against the Jewish community. This should concern intelligence agencies in both countries. While lone-wolf attacks are often challenging to uncover, we cannot let our guard down when it comes to potential acts of terrorism.

To a large degree, Akram, and others like him, represent a moral and ethical failing of our society. He apparently thought that Jewish people wielded so much power that they could free Siddiqui with a single call to the White House. How ignorant.

Whereas in past decades, anti-Semitism was deemed to be reprehensible and forced to the extreme margins of society, today, conspiracy theories like this one have become normalized. Instead of countering these lies with truth, our education system is propagating them.

Nearly four generations of students have now graduated university falsely believing that Israel practices apartheid and that Jewish people are “colonizers” of their own homeland. Some high schools are also getting in on the action by supporting students organizing “free Palestine” walkouts.

Despite being a free and democratic state, left-wing media is refusing to position Israel in a positive light, while “woke” culture refuses to even acknowledge racism against Jewish people. Is it any wonder that violence against Jewish people is increasing?

Let's start calling a spade a spade: what happened in Texas last weekend was terrorism — full stop.

National Post January 21, 2022

Let’s put everything on the table: there is no equivalence between Hamas and Israel. The latter is a nation just like any other and should be treated with the respect and dignity it deserves. The former is a globally designated terrorist organization that should be treated with the disrespect and the indignity it deserves. There should be no ifs, ands, or buts.

Instead, what we are starting to see once again in the media and in some political circles are attempts to excuse Hamas for sending 1,500 high-powered Iranian-made rockets into civilian populations in Israel. Rockets that are launched indiscriminately targeting civilian populations (not the military) are classified as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. They are intended to murder as many people as possible — including children.

In the past 72 hours, five-year-old Ido Avigal was fatally struck by shrapnel that penetrated his home in Sderot during one Hamas rocket barrage. I have visited Sderot many times and met with its mayor, seen the piles of rockets at the local police station and noted that every bus stop is also used as a bunker against rockets. The town is within eyesight of the northern tip of the Gaza Strip and is the most targeted by Hamas terrorists. I have seen art-therapy drawings by its children — they are traumatized and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Many have nightmares. Some wet their beds at night from fear. Others cry spontaneously.

So when politicians like NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh stand up in Canada’s Parliament and denounce Israel for so-called human rights violations, they should be answerable to the Jewish and Muslim children of Israel who hunker underground in fear of a murderous terrorist organization that is out to kill them. 

Before standing in our House and accusing Israel of anything, Singh and similar minded leaders should step into the shoes of every Israeli child. That includes 16-year-old Nadine Awad, an Arab citizen of Israel, who was killed alongside her 52-year-old father, Khalil, when a Hamas rocket hit their home in central Israel.

Israel does not discriminate against defending and saving the lives of its citizens, no matter their faith. Conversely, Hamas does not discriminate in wanting to kill any Israeli citizen, no matter their faith. When a rocket is launched from Gaza at Israel, crowds are heard cheering and yelling “Allah Akbar.” When Israel sends its soldiers to the border with Gaza, mothers and fathers cry in pain and sorrow that their children may have to fire a weapon to defend their nation state.

While strongly condemning Hamas and rocket fire into Israel, our government leaders are also unfortunately drawing a moral equivalence of some sort. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would always support “Israel’s right to assure its own security.” But in the next sentence, he added, “We are also gravely concerned by the continued expansion of settlements and evictions.” What does this have to do with terrorist rocket attacks on innocent civilians in Israel? Do land disputes justify bombing an ally? Would Ottawa allow bombs to fall on any Canadian city without taking action?

Bassem Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist living in Jerusalem, wrote that he only blames Hamas: “The fanatics who rule over Gaza with an iron fist cannot resist the opportunity to stir up anti-Jewish violence for their own political gain. If innocent Jews and Muslims die in the process, all the better for them. The pretext for the latest missile barrage is the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in Jerusalem, where a long-running legal dispute was scheduled for a court hearing. It is the kind of situation that would be handled by a local municipal court in any other country and there would be no public interest.”

Exactly. Instead, what we are seeing once again is that some Western governments are excusing the bombing of Israel and interfering in the civic and security affairs of a free and democratic state. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Iran has been deeply involved in arming Hamas, and in the past week, inciting the violence now taking place. Given the fact that Iran shot down an airliner killing nearly 60 Canadians, Canada’s leaders should be well aware of what Iranian proxies like Hamas are capable of.

Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper got it right when he tweeted days ago, “Attacks on the State of Israel are attacks on us all and must be immediately condemned by international leaders.” Harper understands there is no moral equivalency between a free and democratic state that shares the same values as Canada, and Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. This conflict is not about so-called “settlements,” “evictions” or land disputes. It is not about the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is treated with the utmost respect by Israel and all Jews alike. This is about a terrorist group whosr mission statement and raison d’être is the destruction of the State of Israel.

To excuse this terrorist attack on Israel with “ifs, ands, or buts” endangers freedom, democracy and human rights worldwide.