Report: Canada's Arabic-Language Publications Contribute to Anti-Semitism Spike

Anti-Semitism hit a record-high in Canada in 2016, with a 26 percent increase in anti-Jewish incidents from the previous year, B'nai Brith Canada's Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents shows.

More than 1,700 anti-Semitic incidents were reported across Canada.

B'nai Brith, which describes itself as the Canadian Jewish community's "preeminent human rights agency," recorded more incidents of anti-Semitism in eight of the past 10 years.

Incidents of Holocaust denial, a particular form of anti-Semitism, significantly increased last year. Holocaust denial comprised 5 percent of total reported anti-Semitic acts in 2015, but skyrocketed to 20 per cent of total incidents in 2016.

"The Audit also highlights the emergence of a new and frightening trend in Canadian antisemitism: incitement against Jews in mass media, especially in Arabic-language publications," B'nai Brith reports. While the organization "was successful in exposing and removing many of the most egregious examples, the lack of response from law enforcement and government paints a worrying picture of this phenomenon going forward."

The Audit found that the anti-Semitic incidents in Canada declined during the months surrounding the U.S. election compared to previous years. Those months historically experience the highest levels of anti-Semitism. These findings suggest that the increase in Canadian anti-Semitism is a "made-in-Canada" issue.

Click here to read the full Audit.

This year, two Canadian imams attracted media attention for their past incendiary and anti-Semitic sermons.

Ryerson University in Toronto announced that it fired Ayman Elkasrawy from his teaching assistant position following reports he prayed for Allah to "purify" Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque "from the filth of the Jews."

He also prayed that anyone who "displaced" Muslims be destroyed: "Count their number; slay them one by one and spare not one of them, O Allah! Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews!"

In another case, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted videos showing an imam in Montreal, Sheikh Wael Al-Ghitawi, denying Jewish roots in Israel.

"Jews do not have any historical right to Palestine," Al-Ghitawi said in the 2014 sermon. He falsely asserted that "for long periods of time, there was not a single Jew in Jerusalem and Palestine."

Last year, MEMRI exposed a sermon by an imam in Edmonton, Alberta, who urged Muslims to "look forward" as "Rome will be conquered." Shaban Sherif Mady also glorified the restoration of the "rightly-guided" Islamic Caliphate – mirroring similar calls by the Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

With the spread of radical Islamism among some Arabic-language publications and imams, it is no surprise that anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise in Canada.

Trump Tells Abbas to Stop Violent Incitement and Terrorist Salaries

Screenshot: President Trump Meets with President Abbas - whitehouse.gov

Palestinians cannot expect to see a lasting peace until their "leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to ... violence and hate," President Donald Trump told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a White House meeting Wednesday. The president also raised concerns over the PA's program of paying terrorists and their families.

Abbas is unlikely to end the program, with a top aide calling the idea "insane."

Amid growing pressure to halt this practice, it is important to note that Abbas is directly behind the policy surrounding terrorist transfers. By amending the Palestinian Prisoners Law in 2010, Abbas increased monthly installments from approximately $275-$1110 to $390-$3320 per month, reports Palestinian Media Watch.

"Who else has elevated the cause of the Palestinian prisoners other than President Mahmoud Abbas?" asked Deputy Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Ziyad Abu Ein, in a 2014 interview on Official PA TV, adding that "all the laws, the tenfold increase of the budget of the Ministry of Prisoners' [Affairs] - [all this] was done during the tenure of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and according to the wishes of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas..."

That year, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) assumed responsibility for paying terrorist prisoners in an effort to mask PA's involvements. Longer prison sentences lead to more money for terrorists' families, which further encourage future generations to engage in terrorism.

Abbas previously acknowledged that the PA "ordered" Palestinians to engage in terrorism during the Second Intifada, in an effort to justify payments to convicted terrorists and secure their eventual release.

"This is war. One [Israel] ordered a soldier to kill, and I ordered my son, brother, or others, to carry out the duty of resistance (Palestinian term referring to violence). This person killed and the other person killed," Abbas admitted in a 2005 interview on official PA TV and translated by PMW.

Abbas may claim that Palestinians are raising youth in a "culture of peace," but overwhelming evidence shows that the PA and other Palestinian factions systematically promote violence against Jews and Israelis.

In March, Abbas met with Palestinians who conducted attacks during the most recent Palestinian terror campaign, including a 14-year-old who tried to stab Israeli civilians in September.

Abbas' incitement in September 2015 helped spark a wave of violence against Israelis when he called for Palestinians to prevent Jews from entering Al-Aqsa mosque with "everything in our power."

"The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours... and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem...Every martyr (Shahid) will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah," Abbas said in a speech, segments of which were aired on official PA TV and posted on his website.

American Muslims for Palestine Leader Visits Rep. Connolly, State Department

Facebook and Twitter posts disclose that Osama Abu Irshaid, an openly pro-Hamas leader of the rabidly anti-Israel group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), met with Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and State Department representatives on Monday. The meetings took place as part of AMP's 2017 Palestine Advocacy Day.

Abu Irshaid and AMP representatives met with "dozens for representatives and senators," an AMP statement claimed. They also attended a State Department briefing.

They asked officials to reaffirm the U.S. position that Israeli settlements are illegal; and urged an IRS investigation into the tax exempt status of the Hebron Fund and Jewish National Fund, two groups that help Jewish settlers. They also lobbied against moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Abu Irshaid's participation in the meetings should raise eyebrows considering his history of pro-Hamas advocacy. He previously served as editor of Al-Zaitounah, a pro-Hamas Arabic periodical published by the now-defunct Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). IAP was the propaganda arm of a U.S.-based Hamas support network organized by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Al-Zaitounah included advertisements by terrorist-tied charities, including the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), and the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF).

Abu Irshaid also was listed as a research fellow with the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), another Palestine Committee branch that was founded by Hamas political leader Moussa Abu Marzook.

Like the Palestine Committee, Abu Irshaid opposed the U.S.-brokered Oslo Accords, which granted Palestinians unprecedented autonomy and raised hopes for a lasting peace. "The most unfortunate aspect of these agreements is that they put an end to the zero-sum game of 'occupied Palestine or independent Israel,' in favor of the latter, an independent Israel," Abu Irshaid wrote in The Middle East Affairs Journal.

During a 2011 program, Abu Irshaid defended Hamas rocket fire as "a legitimate resistance." At the time, those rockets terrorized hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians within their range.

In a December 2014 Facebook post, Abu Irshaid described Hamas as "an army for liberation" whose battalions rise up for the blood of the martyrs instead of capitulating to Israel like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

A few months later, Abu Irshaid condemned Egypt for classifying Hamas as a terrorist organization: "Cairo Aviv" designates Hamas as a terrorist organization. Realy! (sic) Look who's talking!? A terrorist murder regime."

Connolly's office and the State Department could not be reached for comment.

Report: European States Finance NGOs That Support Terrorism Against Israel

Several European governments fund NGOs that often justify attacks against Israeli civilians and maintain ties to terrorists, according to a report by the research institute NGO Monitor.

The report, "White Washing 'Resistance' – Human Rights Funding to Organizations Blurring the Line Between Violence and Nonviolence," outlines several groups with links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization designated by the EU and other Western states. According to the report's findings, many of these NGOs fail to clearly distinguish between the legitimacy of non-violent and violent activity, and frequently promote the concept of "resistance" – a term Palestinians often exploit in reference to terrorist attacks targeting Israel.

The report describes how the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), for example, often justifies attacks against Israelis as a "legitimate right to resist the occupation."

PFLP operatives founded some of the listed NGOs directly, while other groups include staff members who were convicted of terrorism-related charges by Israeli courts. These so-called human rights organizations are at the forefront for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, while prominent individuals within some of the NGOs are known to promote violence and anti-Semitism.

"Donors to the PFLP-linked NGOs include the EU, the governments of Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Ireland, UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, and Switzerland, and the United Nations," the report's authors outline.

Using EU funds, the Spanish NGO Novact hosted a conference in February on preventing violent extremism, inviting two Palestinians with a history of extremist views and associations, Manal Tamimi and Munther Amira. After the two entered the country, Spanish authorities arrested Tamimi and Amira, members of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC), for suspected terrorist related activity.

The NGO Monitor report lists other European-funded groups with ties to the PFLP, such as the Addameer association and Al-Haq. For example, Addameer's vice chairwoman - Khalida Jarrar - was indicted for being a PFLP member and for calling on terrorists to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

"The examples presented in this report are symptomatic of an overall lack of accountability and scrutiny in government funding to NGOs that are politically active in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This results in financial backing for groups that legitimize violence, in sharp contradistinction to the government funders that are otherwise committed to facilitating a negotiated "two-state" vision," write the report's authors before providing recommendations.

The report was released days before a diplomatic quarrel intensified between Israel and Germany, fuelled by Germany's support for anti-Israel NGOs.

Refusing to adhere to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel met with representatives from B'tselem and Breaking the Silence – far-Left groups devoted to targeting the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by cancelling a meeting with Gabriel scheduled for April 25.

"In his actions, Prime Minister Netanyahu is seeking to put this irresponsible NGO funding by Europe on the agenda, and to trigger long-overdue changes," NGO Monitor president Gerald Steinberg told Jewish News Service, adding that European and German state funds allow "fringe groups like Breaking the Silence to travel the world attacking the IDF."

Half of Prominent Jihadis Tied to "Non-Violent" Islamism, New Study Shows

Half of the prominent jihadists profiled in a new study by The Centre on Religion & Geopolitics had ties to supposedly non-violent Islamists prior to joining terrorist organizations.

The study's authors – Mubaraz Ahmed, Milo Comerford, and Emman El-Badawy – explore pathways to militancy among 100 prominent figures within the wider Salafi-Jihadi movement. The individuals examined derive from the Middle East and Africa, across multiple generations. Some of the findings suggest that membership or ties to non-violent Islamist organizations can be associated with an individual's trajectory towards violence and terrorism.

51 percent of the terrorists under study were previously connected to Islamist groups that claim to be non-violent, including "bodies that are not necessarily political activist organizations but form a functioning arm of existing Islamist groups, such as youth wings, student associations, and other societies." Since membership in Islamist groups is often secretive and sometimes prohibited in various Middle Eastern countries, the authors acknowledge that the proportion of jihadists with Islamist affiliations are likely higher.

Some of the case studies explored in the report include Djamel Zitouni, the leader of the Armed Islamic Group who was previously a member of an Islamist organization that supposedly eschewed violence – the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). Senior Al-Qaeda leaders, including Abdullah Azzam and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, were involved with or direct members of the Muslim Brotherhood before turning to violent jihad.

One in four of the jihadists examined had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliated groups.

Another interesting finding shows that 65 percent of the sample had been imprisoned at some point throughout their lives, some of whom served time before engaging in violent jihad. There has been growing concern for years about Islamist radicalization of potential terrorist recruits in prisons worldwide.

The study shows that personal networks are critical in the formation and development of the global Salafi-jihadi movement.

"Our data links the leaders of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS today to the forefathers of the movement through people they met in prison, at university, and on the battlefield," write the authors.

Purportedly non-violent Islamist groups not only serve as potential incubators for radicalization and violence – they also continue to engage in violent incitement, encouraging others to carry out terrorist attacks.

For example, on Wednesday, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, 'Izz Al-Din Dwedar, called for an "intifada" targeting Egyptian embassies around the world, in a Facebook post translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

In protest of death sentences handed to members of the Brotherhood in Egypt, Dwedar suggested for violent action on May 3.

Egyptians abroad should "protest [outside] Egyptian embassies and lay siege to them, and steadily escalate [their actions], up to and including raiding the embassies in some countries, disrupting their work and occupying them if possible, in order to raises awareness to our cause," wrote Dwedar.

Congressional Caucus Seeks New Approach to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) was launched on Thursday in an effort to revitalize U.S. engagement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, building on perspectives espoused by the Middle East Forum (MEF).

The caucus calls for the need to put the onus of peace on the Palestinians, to give up their rejectionist claims about Israel's right to exist as Jewish state. The initiative also calls for the U.S. to cease pressuring Israel to make major concessions that often lead to more Palestinian violence and terrorism.

Co-chairs, Reps. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, expressed strong support for Israel and its right to defend itself at Thursday's launch event, which featured several other Republican congressmen.

"Israel is not the problem in the Middle East; it is the solution to many of the problems that bedevil the region. American policy must ensure that Israel emerges victorious against those who deny or threaten her existence," DeSantis said in a statement announcing the initiative.

The caucus wants the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop its violent incitement against Jews and Israelis. It aims to help reverse one sided, anti-Israel United Nations resolutions and oppose efforts to delegitimize Israel through initiatives such as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Palestinian incitement prevents peace from materializing, Johnson said, specifically calling out the widespread practice of naming Palestinian institutions and schools after terrorists responsible for murdering innocent Israelis.

DeSantis also blasted the PA for continuing to pay terrorists' families after they committed attacks against Israelis.

"Any financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority by American taxpayers cannot continue so long as the PA continues to pay pensions and salaries for families of terrorists. It's a simply inappropriate use of taxpayer money and it's not fair to the American taxpayer," DeSantis said at Thursday's event.

The Taylor Force Act, a bill named after a 28-year-old American tourist killed by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel last year, would prohibit U.S. assistance to the PA until terrorist salaries and payments cease.

"If you die as a terrorist, as a 'martyr,' your family will get an annual stipend greater than the average Palestinian earns. In this case, the terrorist who killed Taylor Force...was hailed as a hero, was basically given a state funeral, and his family was given money by the state," says sponsor Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Germany: Iran Plotting Terror on Jewish and Israeli Targets

Iran is responsible for a significant amount of espionage activity in Germany over the past decade, and is responsible for planning terrorist attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets, the Jerusalem Post reports.

In a letter sent to a Left Party deputy from German's interior ministry, the federal government launched 22 criminal investigations concerning Iran's illegal espionage activity – more than China and Turkey who were suspected in 15 spy cases each. Only Russia, with 27 cases, is involved in more suspected espionage activity than Iran.

In one case, German prosecutors allege that Haidar Syed-Naqfi was ordered to identify Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany and other Western European countries as potential targets for terrorist attacks. For example, he was accused of monitoring the headquarters of a Jewish newspaper in Berlin. Syed-Naqfi also identified several Israel supporters, including the former chief of the German-Israel Friendship Society and a French-Israeli business professor. German authorities believe his preparations were "a clear indication of an assassination attempt."

Between July 2015 and July 2016, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) al-Quds Force paid Syed-Naqi more than $2,200.

Half of Germany's state governments reported Iranian attempts to acquire material related to nuclear activities in 2015, the Post reports. An examination of intelligence sources in 2016 also produced new revelations surrounding Iran's chemical and biological weapons programs.

Iran pursued German businesses in the Rhineland-Palatinate state seeking dual-use goods that could be "used for atomic, biological and chemical weapons in a war," according to that state's intelligence report.

An estimated 250 active Iranian-backed Hizballah operatives, out of about 950 Hizballah members throughout Germany, according to a 2014 Berlin intelligence report summarized by the Post.

Last month, Bahrain security authorities arrested members of an Iranian-sponsored terrorist cell, accusing them of planning to assassinate senior government officials. The IRGC reportedly provided military training to several cell members.

Iran has been accused of plotting terrorist attacks in recent years – mainly through proxies like Hizballah and IRGC's Quds Force – in countries such as Egypt, Cyprus, Georgia, Thailand, India and others. In July 2012, a bus bomb widely attributed to Hizballah killed five Israeli tourists and a bus driver in Bulgaria.

In October 2011, the United Stated disrupted an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington D.C. and bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in the U.S. capital.

Rotterdam Allows Pro-Hamas Conference, Blocks Anti-Hamas Protest

Correction: De Standaard is a Belgian newspaper and Antwerp a Belgian city. The original version of this story misidentified both.

A Hamas front group hosted a conference in Rotterdam on Saturday as Dutch authorities denied pro-Israel activists from protesting the event, the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) reports.

The Palestinian Return Center (PRC) – banned by Israel in 2010 for alleged Hamas ties – organized the "Palestinians in Europe" conference that attracted a few hundred people. In a statement released Friday ahead of the conference, Israel's embassy in the Netherlands voiced "great concern" over the event and identified the PRC as a Hamas front organization. Israeli embassies rarely issue comments or statements concerning similar events abroad.

The PRC conference featured speakers like Dyab Abou Jahjah, who has a history of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements. He was fired by the Belgian newspaper De Standaard earlier this year after praising a truck ramming in Jerusalem that killed four soldiers.

"I know there are officers of justice in the room, waiting to write down things. Let me tell you from now on: I have no problem supporting the Palestinian resistance against occupation by any means necessary," Jahjah said at the event on Saturday.

His call for violence against Israelis generated loud applause. In the past, Jahjah has referred to the Belgian city of Antwerp as the "international capital of the Zionist lobby."

Meanwhile, officials denied a petition to protest the conference by Christians for Israel – a move condemned by some Dutch politicians.

"It defies logic that people are free to preach for subjugation, whereas a peaceful group like Christians for Israel is banned from performing a silent protest," said Dutch politician Joel Voordewind in a statement on Friday.

Rotterdam's Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb refused to prohibit the event following requests from Jewish community officials.

The German government previously referred to the PRC as an affiliate of Hamas – a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot and designated terrorist organization according to several countries and the European Union.

"Hamas does not operate openly in Europe. Instead it uses, for instance, the Palestinian Return Center in London as a forum," the German Ministry of Interior said in a 2011 report.

Additional widespread support for Islamism was expressed in Rotterdam over the weekend.

After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to emerge as the victor in that country's historic constitutional referendum on Sunday, supporters approached the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam to celebrate the Islamist leader's consolidation of power. An overwhelming majority (71 percent) of Dutch-Turks who participated in the referendum voted in favor of a stronger executive branch, which will accelerate Islamist encroachment throughout Turkey.

FBI Sting Nets Two Chicago Area ISIS Supporters

Two Chicago area men face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of providing material support to ISIS Joseph D. Jones and Edward Schimenti, both 35, were arrested Wednesday morning. They tried to provided ISIS cellphones and personnel, an FBI affidavit alleges.

The supplies were given instead to an FBI informant. Jones, aka "Yusuf Abdulhaqq," and Schimenti, aka "Abdul Wali," thought the phones would be used to detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Jones told an undercover FBI employee he declared his allegiance – or bayah – to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

They also worked to help the informant travel overseas to fight for ISIS and encouraged him to get into fighting shape, the affidavit said. Jones and Schimenti told the informant to be careful and avoid law enforcement detection.

The sting began in September 2015, when Jones met an undercover FBI employee. The meeting took place inside the Zion Police Department, where Jones was being interviewed about a friend's recent murder. Both Jones and Schimenti expressed support when the undercover later said he wanted to join ISIS.

Other undercover agents tricked Jones and Schimenti into thinking their new friend did make it to Syria.

A year ago, Jones and Schimenti posed for pictures holding an ISIS flag at the entrance to the Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Ill. Jones sent the picture to another undercover FBI agent with whom he communicated online. ISIS supporters also posted the image after a fourth undercover FBI employee asked Jones' permission to share it via social media.

Jones also made numerous statements endorsing violent jihad on his Google+ account under the name "Yusuf Abdulahad," the complaint said. Among other things, Jones called moderate Muslims "weak minded material loving sellouts." He also called jihad the "best deed" and praised martyrdom.

Schimenti made similar posts using the Google + account "Ed Schimenti." "Kuffar [unbelievers], we are coming to slay you," Schimenti wrote in an April 2015 post.

In February, Schimenti and Jones met the informant for a workout at a Zion gym. When the informant said the workout would help prepare for fighting, Schimenti responded, "Right, right, right...it's about that strength and that endurance."

Jones and Schimenti worked with the informant last month to collect cellphones. They believed the phones would be sent to ISIS and used as bomb detonators. Last week, the two drove the informant to O'Hare Airport, thinking he was traveling to Syria to fight for ISIS.

Jones said he was ashamed not to be going, too. Schimenti said he wanted the informant to "drench that land with they, they blood."

WhatsApp Message Links German Bus Bombing to ISIS

Notes left at the scene of Tuesday's bombing of a bus carrying the German Borussa Dortmund soccer team and circulated among ISIS supporters via WhatsApp suggest a connection to the terror group.

Three pipe bombs hit the bus as the team left its hotel before a Champions League match. One player and a police officer were injured and the bus's glass shattered.

A copy of the note circulated on WhatsApp claimed the attack came in reaction to Germany's participation in the fight against ISIS. It refers to the deaths of 12 "unbelievers" who were killed by "our blessed brothers in Germany." Britain's Daily Star newspaper reports this refers to the December attack on a Berlin Christmas market.

It berates German Chancellor Angela Merkel for continuing to fight ISIS.

"Your tornados (German jet fighters) are still flying over the Caliphate to murder Muslims. But we will remain steadfast because of Allah's mercy," the note said.

"Unbelieving" actors, sportsmen and celebrities from Germany and other Western nations are on ISIS's death list, the note said. If genuine, this marks the first time ISIS has publicly threatened the lives of Western celebrities.

Germany must close Ramstein Air Base used by the U.S. military and end its use of its Tornados in missions against ISIS in Syria, the note said.

The bus bombing marks the third ISIS-related terrorist attack in Europe in the past month. Last Friday an ISIS inspired attacker plowed a truck into a building in Stockholm, Sweden, killing four people and wounding 13 others. On March 22, an ISIS-inspired attacker drove a car into pedestrians near London's Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British parliament, killing five people and injuring 49 others.

Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for German federal prosecutors, said they were focusing on two suspected Islamic extremists and have searched their homes. They are also investigating the credibility of the notes, she said. One suspect was arrested.

Other motives are being investigated. The note could be "an attempt to lay a false trail," Ralf Jaeger, German Interior Minister for the North Rhine-Westphalia state, told the Associated Press.

"We are investigating in every direction, and it's really meant that way," Jaeger said. "It could be left-wing extremism or right-wing extremism. It could be the violent fan scene, it could be Islamic extremism."

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