Canadian organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood have masqueraded “as charitable or humanitarian organizations” and funneled millions of dollars toward supporting Hamas, according to a report published in late June by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.
Many of the groups still operate, “rebranded and unimpeded” and get “substantial” federal funding, according to the report.
Canada’s “direct funding of organizations with documented links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas is a betrayal of public trust and a threat to Canada’s national security,” stated Charles Small, executive director of ISGAP.
Those groups “are exploiting the very values of tolerance and pluralism that Canada holds dear, weaponizing public institutions against Jewish communities and undermining Canadian democracy itself,” he said.
The report also notes Qatar’s academic partnerships, including McGill University. In 2012, the Qatari ambassador to Canada announced a $1.25 million (U.S.) grant to McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies, and in 2019, Qatar Airways and McGill’s Institute for Air and Space Law forged a partnership, per the report.
Qatar’s influence also extends to Islamic institutions and charitable organizations that have terror ties, like the Muslim Association of Canada, which the report says has a “deep-seated connection to the Muslim Brotherhood,” as well as “other organizations that have been implicated in terror-related offenses.”
The country has also increased its investments in Canadian energy as a means of “potentially giving Qatar influence over a portion of Canada’s energy production” and possibly more international leverage, per the report.
McGill, Concordia University, the University of Toronto and York University have become “epicenters of anti-Israel and antisemitic activity,” the report states.
“Anti-Israel protests have included physical and verbal attacks against Jewish students and faculty and the glorification of Hamas terrorism, as well as the widespread use of antisemitic rhetoric and classic antisemitic tropes,” it says.
The report recommends that the Canadian government launch investigations into organizations with terror ties and into the role Qatar and other governments play in supporting extremist organizations. It also calls for universities to denounce the movement to boycott Israel and to offer training about Jew-hatred.
The Canadian government also should investigate the “financial and ideological backing of campus protests,” the report says. “Given revelations that these are largely manifestations of foreign interference campaigns by countries such as Russia, China and the Iranian regime, there are significant national security implications.”
