Jewish groups are watching with concern the trial of two alleged Islamic extremists in Toronto accused of plotting to derail a Canadian passenger train and who the prosecution says also planned to target Jews.
One of the accused, Raed Jaser, a Palestinian born in Abu Dhabi who has been living in Toronto since 1993, allegedly told an undercover FBI agent in 2012 that his longer term plans were to assassinate Jews or “Zionists,” as well as Canadian political leaders, the court heard on the trial’s opening day, Feb. 2.
Jaser and Tunisian-born Chiheb Esseghaeir, a former PhD student in Quebec, are charged in the alleged 2012 plot to derail a Via Rail train travelling between Toronto and New York by tampering with a bridge on the Canadian side of the route.
Their demand was that Canada and the United States withdraw their armies from Muslim lands, the court heard.
Crown attorney Croft Michaelson said Esseghaier was receiving orders from his “Mujahedeen brothers” in Iran where he had trained on two occasions in 2011 and 2012.
In September 2012, Jaser and Esseghaeir brought the undercover agent to the Highland Creek rail bridge in Scarborough and revealed plans to cut a hole in it, the court heard.
Michaelson said Jaser abandoned the train derailment idea after he felt police suspected him, but Esseghaier, with whom he then fell out, tried to find another accomplice.
According to Michaelson, Jaser allegedly said it would have more impact “to kill the expensive Jew, the Zionist” with a sniper rifle and spoke of getting a gun license. In conversation with the agent, he is alleged to have talked about how easy it would be to gain access to “powerful and wealthy members” of the Canadian Jewish community.
Jaser and Esseghaier were arrested in April 2013. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Martin Sampson, national communications director for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), said the accusations are further evidence that “radical Islam is real and exists in Canada.
“There are those walking among us who would not only attack their fellow citizens, but our democratic principles.”
Jaser’s alleged intention to kill Jews is “chilling, but not surprising. Islamists are anti-Semitic,” he said.
B’nai Brith Canada chief executive officer Michael Mostyn said media reports of at least one of the defendants allegedly interchangeably using the words “‘Jew” and “Zionist” when referring to possible targets warrants attention.
“It has long been standard practice by radical Islamists to conflate these two terms when referring to their intended victims in a transparent attempt to mask their hatred toward Jews,” he said.
“This phenomenon can be seen on our university campuses and even the grounds of [the] Ontario legislature, and is something B’nai Brith has been actively exposing and condemning.
“We hope that police, government officials and the broader Canadian society better understand this hateful propaganda as more details from the trial emerge.”
Sampson said CIJA is in regular communication with public security agencies across Canada, and “we have no information of a specific or credible threat against the Jewish community at this time. We are following the security protocols in place.
“Obviously, as an at-risk community, we must be vigilant.”
Rabbi Reuben Poupko, who chairs the Montreal Jewish community’s security committee, said, “First of all, we have to applaud the authorities for disrupting this plot, because I shudder to think of the carnage that would have ensued if it came to fruition.”
This alleged plot, and the killing of two soldiers in St. Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa last year by people who were apparently motivated by jihadism, is, according to Rabbi Poupko, “a reminder of the compelling need for Canadian intelligence agencies to have adequate resources to protect Canadian lives from Islamic radicalism.”
He also reiterated that local Muslim leaders should be alert to any signs of radicalism in their communities.
The jury trial is scheduled to last between six and eight weeks.
