Antisemitic remarks by anti-Israel activist part of worrying trend: expert

Published Sep 06, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Canadian anti-Israel extremist Firas Al-Najim participates in a webcast hosted by a Pakistani Muslim students' organization. Photo by Screencapture via MEMRI

OTTAWA — Disturbing statements made by a notorious Toronto anti-Israel activist are part of a worrying trend of extremism and hate in Canada, one expert warns.

On Aug. 20, Firas Al-Najim made a number of blatantly antisemitic and hateful comments during a webinar organized by Imamia Student Organization Pakistan, based in Lahore.

Addressing participants in English, Al-Najim referred to Jews as “deviants” who use deception and treachery to achieve their goals.

“They are people who have a very treacherous and very deceiving manner,” al-Najim told the webcast.

“They know how to work with the media, they know how to convince people, they know how to steal, they know how to bribe, they know how to blackmail, they know how to do all kinds of treacherous activities.”

Al-Najim ended with a prayer in Arabic, followed by almawt li’iisrayiyl — “Death to Israel.”

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These vile comments prompted the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies to file a complaint with Toronto police.

“This individual holds a leadership role in the anti-Israel movements locally,” the Centre’s Jaime Kirzner-Roberts told the Toronto Sun.

“We can really see the mask slipping off, if we look at the evolution of the rhetoric this individual and others in leadership positions in these movements have been using.”

Inquires by the Sun to Toronto Police about the status of the investigation went unacknowledged.

She said the days using euphemisms like “zionists” in lieu of “Jews” has come to an end among Canadian extremists.

“These activists are emboldened by the impunity they’ve witnessed around them, not only engaging in hateful speech, but hateful actions and hateful crimes.”

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Hate crimes against Jews skyrocketed in Toronto since the Oct. 7 terror attacks, with anti-Israel extremists marching through Jewish neighbourhoods, and anti-Israel intimidation encampments infesting numerous universities.

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Casey Babb, a senior Macdonald Laurier Institute fellow and an advisor to Secure Canada, said unfettered antisemitism is reaching dangerous levels.

“You have people preaching, calling for the death of Jews in front of hundreds, if not thousands of individuals, Jewish day schools being shot up, synagogues being burned, Jewish people being harassed on campuses, including professors,” he said, emboldened by troubling levels of tolerance by both politicians and police.

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Babb said Al Najim is very well known in his circles, describing him as a familiar face in Toronto’s anti-Israel scene.

“He’s a very loud, Jew-hating individual who consistently spreads antisemitic conspiracy theories and extremist rhetoric,” Babb said.

Canada, Babb said, has a very serious problem with extremists — citing the number of arrests for foiled terror plots in Canada since Oct. 7, including a Toronto man arrested Wednesday in Ormstown, Que., near the U.S. border.

“Canadians really need to wake up to the fact that we have serious issues here,” Babb said.

“Our tolerance is going to end up getting us killed.”

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