Anti-Jewish terror attack in Canada ‘imminent,’ ‘inevitable’

Article content

OTTAWA — It’s just a matter of time.

Article content

That’s what security experts and former diplomats told the Toronto Sun in the wake of Sunday’s deadly anti-Jewish terror attack on Bondi Beach in Australia, which left at least 15 dead and dozens more injured.

Article content

Article content

Canadian attack only a matter of time

“We should not assume that we’re immune from this kind of attack in Canada — in fact, I’m worried it’s imminent,” said Artur Wilczynski, a former Canadian ambassador and senior national security official.

“It only takes one failure on the part of Canada’s national security and intelligence agencies, and only takes on failure on the part of police for something like that to happen here in our own country.”

Australian police say Sajid Akram and his 25-year-old son Naveed are accused of opening fire during a Hanukkah event on the world-famous sands of Bondi Beach, southeast of Sydney. The father was fatally shot by police while the son was shot and wounded and is in custody.

Article content

Article content

Canada, like Australia, has seen an explosion in anti-Jewish hatred since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks, which saw scores of Hamas terrorists conduct a campaign of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault against innocent Israeli men, women and children.

Extremism becoming normalized in Canada

Far-left and Islamist activists here in Canada responded to Oct. 7 with regular anti-Israel marches on city streets and even through Toronto’s Jewish neighbourhoods.

And with levels of extremism on a precipitously worrying increase, Casey Babb — a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and advisor to Secure Canada — says a Bondi-style attack here in Canada is all but inevitable.

“We’ve seen, since Oct. 7, the complete normalization of extremist rhetoric — language that only a few years ago you would have heard coming out of a prison cell in Egypt or a cave in Afghanistan,” he told the Sun. “Now you’re hearing it in your local coffee shop, universities, or outside restaurants in some of the busiest cities in the country.”

Article content

Data, he said, shows that extremism and radicalization in Canada are at dangerous levels.

“It has felt like an attack is right around the corner,” Babb said.

“In the year following Oct. 7, terrorism-related charges in this country are up almost 500%.”

Toronto Police “just don’t care,’ says former ambassador

Former Canadian ambassador to Israel Vivian Bercovici said the blame for this explosion of extremism can be firmly placed on officials and politicians who allow it to happen.

“(Anti-Israel protesters) chant slogans that are direct calls for the annihilation of Israel … inciting hatred and violence towards Jews,” she said.

“These are all Criminal Code of Canada violations, yet the law has never really been enforced with respect to these so-called demonstrators. In fact, the opposite happens.”

Article content

Toronto Police have garnered intense criticism over their response to the protests, most notoriously the January 2024 incident were a uniformed Toronto Police officer cheerfully delivered coffee to anti-Israel activists illegally occupying the Avenue Rd. 401 overpass.

“This is way beyond Olivia Chow or Doug Ford — have they abdicated in their duties? Absolutely. Has (Toronto Police Chief) Myron Demkiw abdicated in his duty and upholding his oath to serve and protect? Absolutely. But this is now a national crisis,” Bercovici said, saying Toronto’s Jews are quickly losing faith in the ability — and the willingness — of Toronto Police to protect their community.

“Toronto Police just don’t care,” he said.

Father-son terror team frightening reminders of Eldidi arrests

Numerous terror attacks have been thwarted in Canada since Oct. 7.

Article content

In December 2023, a 15-year-old Ottawa youth was arrested in what police allege was a foiled plot targeting Jews, with police saying they discovered explosive substances and communications with others on how to construct bombs.

In January 2024, Bezhani Sarvar, 28, was accused of storming Edmonton City Hall with a rifle and molotov cocktails, opening fire and setting fires. 

In a manifesto posted online, he allegedly urged people to “rise up” against the so-called “genocide” in Gaza — a common claim by anti-Israel activists.

Last July, 21-year-old Zachareah Adam Quraishi — recently released from the Canadian Armed Forces — travelled from Alberta to Israel in an alleged attempt to murder Israeli soldiers with a knife.

Article content

He was shot dead by guards patrolling the gate of the moshav he attempted to storm.

One month later, RCMP announced the arrest of a Toronto-area youth accused of “participating in the activities of a listed terrorist group.”

Babb painted some worrying parallels between Canada and the Bondi Beach shootings, specifically the arrest of a father-son duo.

In July, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and his son Mostafa were arrested north of Toronto in connection with an alleged foiled terror plot — an arrest that took place just three months after the elder Eldidi became a Canadian citizen.

Immigration officials, however, failed to identify Eldidi as a participant in a 2015 ISIS torture video shot in Iraq that featured an alleged spy being dismembered alive.

“It’s not a miracle that we haven’t seen this in Canada — it’s the work of security officials who’ve saved the lives of countless individuals,” Babb said.

“But at a certain point, you can only play Whack-a-Mole for so long.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Article content