A youth was arrested and charged on Dec. 15 for two terrorist-related offences, in what the RCMP said was a plot directed against the Jewish community.
The federal police force says it’s noticing a “concerning trend” of violent extremism and of terrorists using the internet as it arrested another youth on terrorism-related offences—the fifth this year.
The RCMP raised the alarm in a Dec. 16
statement indicating it had arrested and charged a young person in Ottawa for two terrorist-related offences the day before, in what was said to be a plot directed against the Jewish community. The youth was also accused of having explosives in his possession.
“The RCMP is seeing a concerning trend of violent extremism and terrorist use of the internet, including amongst young persons,” said the police force.
So far in 2023, the RCMP says it has arrested five minors for terrorism-related offences. Details are being withheld due to the age of the suspects.
The RCMP is asking adults in positions of authority, such as parents and teachers, to be alert to behaviours that may be linked to violent extremism or other issues that it says should not be ignored.
Those include the adoption of antagonistic “us vs. them” attitude, the belief that violence is the only solution to perceived problems, the dehumanization of others, and extreme anti-government attitudes.
“Advanced recognition of the early warning signs of radicalization to violence and intervening at an early stage is essential in helping to prevent an individual from participating in criminal activities, and mobilizing towards violent behaviour,” says the RCMP.
Global News
reported on Dec. 17 that the father of the youth arrested in Ottawa allegedly made Facebook posts that are derogatory against Jews and Zionists after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas.
A Jewish advocacy organization has called on police to investigate the matter.
“We’ve seen screenshots of the posts mentioned in this article & they appear to be incitement to violence,” wrote the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in a
post on X. “We expect law enforcement to investigate this additional hatred targeting the Jewish community.”
The arrest came after a number of anti-Semitic incidents that have rocked the country since Oct. 7, from Jewish institutions being shot at or firebombed, to businesses owned by Jews being attacked.
‘This Generation Lives Online’
Phil Gurski, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) analyst specializing in jihadi terrorism, says the RCMP’s framing of the online radicalization problem requires more context.“There’s no question online is part of it. This generation lives online,” he says. “A lot of information is put online, but it doesn’t mean that online is radicalizing. It means that online is the platform through which you are connecting with people to learn this stuff.”
Mr. Gurski, who now runs Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting, told The Epoch Times that what has changed recently is increased calls by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Qaeda to attack Jews across the world following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
He also challenged the views of some experts as well as
CSIS that the national intelligence agency needs to devote 50 percent of its counter-terrorism resources to “actors, influencers, and promoters” of what it calls ideologically motivated violent extremism. CSIS categorizes violent extremism into
three types: religiously motivated, politically motivated, and ideologically motivated.
Violence committed in the name of Islam still represents “99.9 percent” of terrorist acts worldwide, Mr. Gurski says.
“People want to move on to new stories, and they don’t want to worry about past threats,“ he said. ”But what happens if the past threats continue? Which is exactly what I think is happening here.”
He is also concerned that, along with online activities, the home environment can have an impact on the development of extremist attitudes. “There are many cases that I worked on at [CSIS] where it did become a family affair,” he said.
Calgary Link
Other cases of youths being arrested for terrorism-related offences this year have a Calgary connection.On June 15, the RCMP and Calgary police arrested Zakarya Rida Hussein, 20, and charged him with two
counts of facilitating a terrorist activity and two counts of participating in or contributing to an activity of a terrorist group.
He pleaded guilty to one charge on Dec. 1, having admitted to sharing a recruitment video for ISIL on social media. An agreed statement of facts entered in court said police found bomb-making instructions and an ISIL flag when searching his home and vehicle.
The same day Mr. Hussein was arrested, a Calgary youth was also
arrested in relation to a concern that he could commit a terrorism offence.
In October, police
arrested a 15-year-old Calgarian in connection to the investigation of Mr. Hussein and the other youth. And on Dec. 13, a 16-year-old from Calgary was
arrested as part of the ongoing investigation.
Calgary has seen other prominent terrorism cases linked to ISIL in recent years. In May 2022,
Hussein Sobhe Borhot was sentenced to 12 years for fighting for ISIL in Syria. Jamal Taan Borhot, a family relative, is also accused of travelling to Syria to fight for ISIL and is awaiting his trial.
More Arrests
The RCMP also arrested other young people this year in relation to terrorism. Mohamed Amine Assal of Montreal, who was 18 at the time, was
arrested preventively in March after he was flagged by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Mr. Assal conceded in court in November that the RCMP had reason to fear he would conduct a terrorist act. An affidavit filed in his case said the FBI found a user of the Telegram Messenger app “discussing violent acts of terrorism motivated by radical Islamist ideology,” reported the
Montreal Gazette. The IP addresses the person used were found to be addresses at Mr. Assal’s school and at his home.
The RCMP also announced charges against Ottawa resident
Daniel Houde, 19, in early January. Mr. Houde allegedly posted “numerous threats on Twitter” and was charged with “terrorist hoax” and uttering threats.
In February 2022, a Kingston, Ontario, youth who pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges was sentenced to two years in custody and one year in the community under supervision.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
