The RCMP arrested two teens in connection with an alleged plot to bomb a pro-Israel rally on Parliament Hill.
The boys, both minors, were local to Ottawa and arrested last December and February as part of two separate RCMP investigations over what police called a terrorist plot against Ottawa’s Jewish community.
According to RCMP records, the two minors “knowingly facilitate terrorist activity by making available and exchanging instructional material and propaganda.”
While the specifics of their plan have yet to be disclosed, newly released allegations filed in court provided details of the suspected target.
“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,” wrote the Department of Justice.
One of the accused is being charged with possession of acetone, oxidizer and metal ball bearings, all of which are common components used when assembling a homemade bomb.
According to the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, a government agency, the plot was allegedly linked to ISIS, also known as Daesh and was “possibly accelerated” by the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 2023.
“Although radicalization of these individuals reportedly began prior to the October 2023 Hamas attack, at least one of the individuals was reportedly in contact with DAESH overseas and the arrests occurred during a period of DAESH calls to violence in response to the conflict,” it said.
News of the alleged target being an Ottawa pro-Israel rally only surfaced following an “application by federal lawyers to withhold sensitive national security information from the youths’ trials,” according to documents obtained by Global News.
“It doesn’t come as a surprise,” president and CEO president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Shimon Koffler Fogel told Global News.
“And I think it’s consistent with what we have seen across the country, where the violent and radicalized protests that have manifested themselves on our streets are losing all constraints in terms of how far they are prepared to go in order to advance their position.”
Fogel accused Canadian law enforcement of failing the Jewish community.
“They understand the extent to which we are under threat,” said Fogel. “Yet they are not taking all the steps necessary, they are not using the provisions of the Criminal Code in ways that are going to offer protection to those who are at risk.”
“And equally important, they are not signalling to those who are advancing this toxic and violent manifestation of hate that in Canada there is no room for that kind of exhibit.”
The first of the two youth involved was arrested on Dec. 15 and has remained in custody ever since, being charged with multiple terrorism offences, including “communicating instructional material related to an explosive substance.”
Additionally, he was also charged with instructing a second person to “carry out a terrorist activity against Jewish persons” and subsequently charged with murder conspiracy.
The youth’s father said that his family, who are Iraqi, had warned their son to avoid falling into the trap of extremists and made him attend sessions with an imam.
However, the father’s Facebook page includes posts portraying Zionists and Jews negatively, with one post saying to get rid of all Israelis.
His alleged co-conspirator was arrested on Feb. 15 and charged with three counts of terrorism, including agreeing to commit murder and seeking a prohibited firearm.
“The plot involved a reported threat to the Jewish community, which exemplifies how significant international events, amongst other personal grievances, can likely influence an overall path of mobilization,” reads the ITAC report, released under the Access to Information Act.
The arrests come at a time when the country is facing a growing trend of domestic attacks targeting Canada’s Jewish community.
Toronto Police Services arrested a man and youth in connection with a firearm discharge targeting a Jewish girl’s elementary school for the second time in October.
Additionally, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 20-year-old foreign student residing in Canada, was arrested on September 6 in Ormstown, Que. as he attempted to enter the US border with plans to carry out an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack against Jews living in New York.