Parliamentarians are calling for an emergency probe into Canada’s vulnerability to Islamist terror after the RCMP foiled an alleged terrorist attack against a pro-Israel rally on Parliament Hill.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that Canada is a high priority target for ISIS inspired terrorists,” reads a Wednesday letter signed by Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.
They called for the committee to be convened for an emergency session to probe “this most recent foiled terror attack.”
As reported by Global News journalist Stewart Bell, two Ottawa teen boys were arrested and charged with plotting a deadly attack against pro-Israel demonstrators on Parliament Hill. “They are alleged to have formed a plan last fall to violently attack Jewish persons in Ottawa, possibly through the detonation of an explosive device at a pro-Israel rally,” read a department of justice filing obtained by Global News, which also said the boys were in possession acetone, oxidizer and metal ball bearings.
The arrests were made in December 2023 and February 2024. Although the December arrest of a 15-year-old Ottawa suspect on terrorism charges was made public at the time, the specific details of the alleged plot were not. Global News only learned of them via court filings.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the organizer of several pro-Israel rallies on Parliament Hill, said they learned of the alleged bomb plot only when contacted by Global.
The 15-year-old has not been named due to a publication ban, but following his arrest, Global News reported that a Facebook account allegedly belonging to the boy’s father was filled with extremist rhetoric, including calls to get rid of all Israelis.
And the alleged Parliament Hill bomb plot is only the latest in a string of arrests related to domestic terror plots with alleged Islamist or anti-Israel motives.
In July, RCMP anti-terror investigators arrested a father and son who they say were planning a “serious, violent attack in Toronto.” Ahmed Eldidi, 62, and Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested at a hotel in Richmond Hill, where they were said to be in the “advanced stages” of planning an attack.
In September, Pakistani national Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was arrested in Canada as part of a U.S. investigation alleging that he intended to stage a terrorist attack against a New York City Jewish site to mark the anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 massacres.
“The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement at the time.
Canada has also witnessed a wave of shooting attacks and attempted arsons of Jewish sites. Last month, Toronto Police arrested Helder Antonio De Ameida, 20, in connection with a shooting attack on Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, a Jewish girls’ school.
De Ameida was accused of firing multiple shots into the school on the night of Oct. 12; 14 shell casings were found at the site. He is alleged to have carried out the attack with a 17-year-old accomplice who was subject to a release order at the time.
That same school has been targeted by a near-identical attack in May, although Toronto Police do not know if the two incidents are related.
In July, an Alberta man actually did stage an attempted terror attack in Israel.
Video released by the Israel Defense Forces showed Zachareah Adam Quraishi, 21, brandishing a knife and rushing at armed guards outside the gates of the Israeli village of Netiv Ha’asara while screaming “Free Palestine.” Quraishi was then shot dead by the guards. Originally from Airdrie, he had entered Israel the day prior as a tourist.