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Far-right Israeli minister finds enemy in JDC, the mainstream American Jewish aid group
(JTA) — An American Jewish group that has provided aid to Jewish communities in crisis for more than a century has become the target of one of Israel’s newly empowered far-right ministers.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, who serves as national security minister, said on Wednesday that he was shutting down a program dedicated to reducing violence in Arab Israeli towns. His reason: The program is operated by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which he called a “leftist organization.”
“JDC is a nonpolitical organization and has been so since our founding in 1914,” Michael Geller, a spokesperson for JDC, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Ben-Gvir’s characterization baffled many across the Jewish communal world who know the JDC as a nonpartisan group with an extensive track record of providing humanitarian aid to Jews in distress.
To them, Ben-Gvir’s criticism of the group is the latest sign that the rupture of political norms in Israel extends beyond the judicial reforms advanced by the government, which have drawn unprecedented protests.
“To call the JDC a left-wing organization is a joke. It is not political in any way,” said Amnon Be’eri-Sulitzeanu, co-CEO of the Abraham Initiatives, a nonprofit that works toward an “equal and shared society” for Jewish and Arab Israelis.
Be’eri-Sulitzeanu, who is Jewish, said he anticipated changes by the right-wing government, which was inaugurated in December. But he was surprised by Ben-Gvir’s announcement.
“I could expect revisiting collaboration with organizations that are branded as civil rights or human rights or Israeli-Palestinian organizations,” he added. “But the JDC — it’s very strange.”
Founded in 1914 by the American Jewish banker Jacob Schiff to aid Jews living in Palestine, the “Joint” has distributed billions of dollars in assistance across 70 countries — including, over the last year, to 43,000 Ukrainian Jews amid the war there. It played a central role in aiding Holocaust survivors following World War II, as well as in the resettlement of Jews from the former Soviet Union.
Among its biggest sources of support are Jewish federations, the nonpartisan umbrella charities found in nearly every major North American Jewish community.
“JDC is an apolitical organization that has worked with every government since the establishment of the State of Israel, providing critical services to the elderly, youth-at-risk, people with disabilities and other underserved populations across all sectors, including Haredim and Arab-Israelis,” the Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement. “JDC’s activities are a living and breathing example of the Jewish values of tikkun olam and tzedakah that guide Jewish Federations’ work every day,” Hebrew phrases that connote the Jewish imperative to repair the world, as well as charity.
JDC staff packing matzahs and haggadahs for online seders in Odessa, Ukraine, April 7, 2022. (JDC)
In Israel, the group funds and operates efforts to help needy populations — including immigrants, the elderly, people with disabilities and people living in poverty. Those efforts often involve working with the government, which in 2007 gave the JDC Israel’s most prestigious prize for its work. This year, according to a spokesman, the group is spending $129 million on Israel initiatives.
The JDC’s government-funded programs include the anti-violence effort that Ben-Gvir is targeting. It was made possible last year due to nearly $1 billion in funding to curb crime in Arab communities by the previous governing coalition, which was centrist. The allocation followed lobbying by Arab and civil society organizations, including the Abraham Initiatives, which is now monitoring how the money is being used as well as its impact.
Arab citizens of Israel make up 84% of crime victims despite comprising just 20% of the population, according to government data released last year that showed a sharp rise in the proportion of Arab Israelis who had experienced violent crime.
Many in Arab communities have called for heightened law enforcement and have charged Israeli police with making inadequate efforts to keep their communities safe. This week, commenting on the shooting death of an Arab Israeli woman, Arab Israeli opposition lawmaker Ahmad Tibi accused Ben-Gvir of being “occupied with other matters,” such as clashes with the attorney general and police officials in Tel Aviv. “Maybe the time has come for senior officials to demonstrate responsibility when it comes to crime organizations and weapons running rampant,” Tibi said.
Other initiatives have aimed to tackle the violence in ways that go beyond policing. The program that Ben-Gvir said he is shutting down is one of them. Called Stop the Bleeding, it involves multiple government ministries as well as local community groups and education efforts and has operated in seven cities with large Arab populations, including a Bedouin town and Lod, a city with significant Arab organized crime networks that also has a large Jewish population.
Be’eri-Sulitzeanu said the program was already starting to bear fruit and had contributed to a slowdown in a multi-year rise in murders. Canceling the program, he said, reflects the current government’s general approach to tackling Israel’s problems.
“It’s not about collaboration. It’s not about hearing the concerns and pain and hopes and needs of the Arab community,” he said. “It’s about doing everything unilaterally, and really without a lot of care for the lives of those people. I think that’s what we are watching.”
MK Ahmad Tibi attends a meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Dec. 6, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
A year ago, around the time when the previous government awarded the Stop the Bleeding contract to the JDC, Bezalel Smotrich, a key Ben-Gvir ally who was then an opposition lawmaker and now serves alongside Ben-Gvir as finance minister, proposed that Israel create a “command center” of “all of the relevant entities” that provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian Jewish refugees. Included on his list, alongside the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Red Cross: the JDC.
The JDC is not the first mainstream group to be targeted by far-right members of Israel’s new right-wing government, whose signature legislative effort aims to sap the power and independence of the country’s judiciary. That legislation has given rise to a sweeping protest movement and to grave warnings about Israel’s future from a broad range of public figures — including elder statesmen, foreign governments and religious leaders.
Avi Maoz, the leader of the anti-LGBTQ Noam Party who briefly held a leadership role in Israel’s Education Ministry, compiled a list of American and British groups that he believes are trying to impose their liberal values on Israeli schoolchildren. “We must protect our people and our state from the infiltration of the alien bodies that arrive from foreign countries, foreign bodies, foreign foundations,” Maoz once said. Maoz has since resigned from that role, saying that he did not think he was being sufficiently empowered to fulfill his goals by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
But Be’eri-Sulitzeanu said he remains concerned about civil-society programs, especially those falling under the purview of far-right ministers including Ben-Gvir or those funded by American Jews, whom some on the right perceive as universally liberal.
People who are paying attention to local governance in Israel expect further tensions around initiatives that do not match Ben-Gvir’s attitudes about harsh policing. Ben-Gvir wants officers to have the right to shoot Arabs who throw stones, has called for a crackdown on anti-government protesters and is increasingly clashing with police officials who believe his orders could jeopardize public safety. Multiple former police commissioners have called for his dismissal.
“Ben-Gvir has his own political agenda and he has his own ax to grind, and at the moment, I think he’s not keen on developing services of the Arab population, either in security or juvenile delinquency or education,” said Amos Avgar, who worked for the JDC in Israel, Russia and the United States for 30 years until 2010, including as chief programming officer.
Avgar emphasized that the JDC has always studiously avoided political activity. “If there’s one thing that the JDC is not, it is not political,” he said. “It always shied [away] from anything that had the smell of politics and never dealt with any project by political agenda.”
It’s unclear how quickly Ben-Gvir’s announcement, made during a government meeting and first reported by Israel’s public broadcaster, will ultimately translate into changes. Geller, the JDC spokesman, said the organization had learned about the criticism only from the media, not from Ben-Gvir’s office. Later, amid an outcry, Ben-Gvir’s office said the funding decision had followed a review of contracts that revealed missing documentation from the JDC, a charge that the JDC denied.
Amnon-Sulitzeanu said he didn’t have high hopes for the program’s future.
“I think the first [characterization] is unfortunately going to be the correct one — that he is actually intending to stop it, which is very unfortunate because it is among the more serious programs that are willing to deal with this catastrophe,” he said. “And it shows again that the current minister is not so much interested in saving lives of Arab citizens.”
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Taiwan Donates Humanitarian Aid to Israel, Sends ‘Message of Hope and Solidarity’ Amid Iran Strikes
A Taiwan flag can be seen on an overpass ahead of National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ann Wang
Taiwan has donated NT$5.14 million (more than $160,000) for emergency operations and life-saving equipment to Israel amid Iranian ballistic missiles strikes on the Jewish state, expressing “solidarity” with a fellow democracy under constant threat as China continues to support Iran.
Taiwan’s representative to Israel, Abby Lee, said on Tuesday that the donation reflected continued cooperation and mutual concern for civilian safety amid shared security challenges, Taiwan News reported.
“Our contribution is more than financial assistance. It is a message of hope and solidarity to those affected by the war,” Lee said on Tuesday at a conference for ZAKA, Israel’s volunteer civilian emergency service and rescue organization. “Taiwan and Israel may be geographically distant, but we are neighbors in our values, small democracies under constant external threat that continue to thrive and stand by one another.”
The announcement came after the US and Israel last weekend launched a military campaign against Iran, targeting the Iranian military and security apparatus. Tehran has responded with drone and ballistic missile strikes at Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, aimed specifically at civilian sites.
One Iranian missile strike hit the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding dozens, in what authorities described as a direct impact on a public bomb shelter.
Lee said that ZAKA volunteers used portable lighting towers purchased with Taiwan’s donation and that the equipment enabled emergency work under complex conditions and at night.
“We are particularly proud to contribute to initiatives led by ZAKA and are pleased to see our contribution transformed into equipment of real value on the ground,” she said.
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, “Taiwan was among the first to strongly condemn the terrorist attacks and provided humanitarian aid and financial assistance to support kibbutzim, communities, and local authorities that were affected by the attacks and the threats that followed them,” Lee added.
The donation came less than three months after China condemned a senior Taiwanese official’s reported secret trip to Israel. The Reuters news agency reported in December that Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicized visit to Israel.
China considers Taiwan, a nearby island run by a democratic government, as a renegade Chinese province that must be reunited with the mainland — by force, if necessary. Due to pressure from Beijing, few countries have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Israel only recognizes Beijing but not Taipei, which has been increasingly looking to Israel for defense cooperation.
In October, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said that Israel is a model for Taiwan to learn from in strengthening its defenses, citing the Biblical story of David versus Goliath on the need to stand up to authoritarianism.
“The Taiwanese people often look to the example of the Jewish people when facing challenges to our international standing and threats to our sovereignty from China. The people of Taiwan have never become discouraged,” he said. “Israel’s determination and capacity to defend its territory provides a valuable model for Taiwan. I have always believed that Taiwan needs to channel the spirit of David against Goliath in standing up to authoritarian coercion.”
He made the remarks during a dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Taiwan.
Lai in October also announced a new multi-layered air defense system called “T-Dome” to defend itself against a possible future attack by China. It is partly modeled on Israel’s air defense system.
Lai told the AIPAC dinner that T-Dome had been inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, as well as US President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield plan.
“I believe that trilateral Taiwan-US-Israel cooperation can help achieve regional peace, stability, and prosperity,” he said.
Meanwhile, China, a key diplomatic and economic backer of Iran, has moved to deepen ties with the Islamist regime in recent years, signing a 25-year cooperation agreement, holding joint naval drills, and continuing to purchase Iranian oil despite US sanctions.
China is the largest importer of Iranian oil, with nearly 90 percent of Iran’s crude and condensate exports going to Beijing.
With regional tensions rising and great-power competition shaping the Middle East, diplomatic and security relations between Beijing and Jerusalem have become increasingly strained.
Last year, China slammed the Jewish state for joining a United Nations declaration condemning Beijing’s human rights record.
Israel had endorsed a US-backed declaration, signed by 15 other countries — including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan — that expressed “deep and ongoing concerns” over human rights violations in China.
In a rare move, Jerusalem broke with its traditionally cautious approach to China — aimed at preserving diplomatic and economic ties — by signing on to the statement. The signatory countries denounced China’s repression of ethnic and religious minority groups, citing arbitrary detentions, forced labor, mass surveillance, and restrictions on cultural and religious expression.
These diplomatic moves came amid an already tense relationship with China, strained since the start of the war in Gaza. In September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Beijing, along with Qatar, of funding a “media blockade” against the Jewish state.
According to a report released by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), an Israeli think tank, China has increasingly used state media and covert campaigns to spread anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives in the United States.
The report examined how China’s state media portrays Israel and the United States as solely responsible for the war in Gaza, depicting them as destabilizing actors while spreading anti-Israel and antisemitic messages.
“It is evident that China and its proxies play a significant role in the current wave of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the United States,” Ofir Dayan, a research associate in the Israel-China Policy Center at INSS, wrote in the report.
Last month, the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) published a new report showing how China has embraced overt antisemitic messaging in its domestic propaganda in recent years. The study tied the move to both geopolitical rivalry with the United States and efforts to curry favor with Arab and Muslim countries hostile to Israel.
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Israeli Government Report Reveals a ‘Significant Penetration of Muslim Brotherhood Ideology’ Across Europe
General view of the hemicycle during the debate on the European resolution proposal of the DR group aiming to include the Muslim Brotherhood movement on the European list of terrorist organizations at the National Assembly in Paris France on Jan. 22, 2026. Photo: Sami Karaali / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has published a new report detailing dozens of activists and organizations affiliated with the European wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which researchers characterized as acting “autonomous” from its Middle East allies rather than under their direction.
“The Muslim Brotherhood operates in Europe through deceptive methods that project an outward appearance of moderation and pragmatism,” said Avi Cohen-Scali, director general of the ministry. “This front is used to advance dangerous ideological goals. Despite its external ‘moderation,’ the movement consistently rejects liberal democratic principles and Western values, which conflict with its radical aspirations — including efforts to Islamize Europe.”
Amichai Chikli, minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, warned that “those who close their eyes today will pay tomorrow — with the security of their citizens and with Jewish lives.”
Founded in Egypt in 1928 by schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in response to the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate on March 3, 1924, the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to implement Islamic law across the entire planet by any means necessary. Operating as a secret society informed by 1930s fascist and communist revolutionary organizing methods, over the last 90 years the Brotherhood has embraced both violent terrorism and lawful political activity, the latter largely through the creation of front groups dubbed by German security as “legalist Islamists” (Legalisten).
The most influential Muslim Brotherhood-created terrorist group today is Hamas, perpetrator of the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, the deadliest massacre of Jews since the end of World War II.
The Israeli ministry names the primary threats posed by the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe as escalating incitement through aggressive organizing, radicalizing the Muslim community with extremist Koranic interpretations, supporting terrorist groups, platforming radical figures at events, and systemically delegitimizing Israel.
The report quotes a 2004 statement by Muhammad Akef, who served as the General Guide (Murshid) of the Brotherhood in Egypt from 2004 through 2010, explaining that the Brotherhood operates more by shared beliefs rather than a top-down command structure.
“We do not have an international organization; we have an organization through our perception of things (ideology). We are present in every country – wherever there are people who believe in the message of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Akef said. “In France, the Union of Islamic Organizations of France (MF/UOIF) does not belong to the Brotherhood organization. They operate according to their own laws and rules.”
Another figured cited to explain this strategy is Muhammad Habib, the former first deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
“There are entities that exist in many countries across the world. These entities share the same ideology, principles, and objectives, but they operate under different circumstances and contexts,” he said in 2008. “Therefore, it is logical that there be decentralization in action, such that each entity operates in accordance with its own circumstances and the challenges it faces, and within its own framework.”
The report lays out a spider’s web of interlocking organizations described in a ministry release as showing a “significant penetration of Muslim Brotherhood ideology into European countries” which, alongside financial connections to terrorists, “poses a direct threat to Jewish communities.”
On Feb. 26, 2026, the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism published a new report detailing the significant penetration of extremist ideology into terrorist organizations seeking to target Jewish communities across Europe. Map available here: https://embed.kumu.io/a3c1883e3bbd4ff775f3959eb3da5cf1#untitled-map
According to the ministry’s researchers, five organizations “form the core of the Muslim Brotherhood’s pan-European structure,” with each serving a different function and often sharing overlapping leadership.
The primary umbrella group is the Council of European Muslims (CEM), which was previously known as the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) until a 2020 rebrand led by Abdallah Ben Mansour, who had served as chairman of the group from 2014-2018 and again from 2022-2024. European intelligence officials quoted in the report stated that “in every European country, the organization that is a member of FIOE is the central body of the Muslim Brotherhood’s militia in that country.”
The second key Brotherhood body is the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), which is responsible for issuing Islamic legal rulings to guide Muslims residing in Europe for how to align Islamic law with their country’s civil law. The late Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi served as president of the council for more than 20 years. He was known for his support of Hamas and defense of suicide bombings, as well as for serving as the “spiritual leader” of the Brotherhood. France and the United Kingdom banned him from entry due to his advocacy of violent jihad.
The third pillar of the European Muslim Brotherhood is the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO), which French intelligence said in 2025 served as the CEM’s youth branch and provided a “training structure for potential senior figures within the Muslim Brotherhood.” Qatar provided more than one million Euros of funding since 2016.
Mahmoud Aldiba is an ex-member of the Brotherhood in Sweden who helped found the local youth network. The report quotes an open letter he wrote upon leaving the movement in which he reveals the deceitful tactics used to deceive naive Westerners.
“The problem is the dual message, which is the most damaging. They conduct official dialogue with Christian and Jewish groups, yet internally spread fear of them. They speak about democracy, but in practice do the opposite,” Aldiba wrote. “In official forums they speak about democracy to achieve objectives, but within the organization there is a deep aversion to democracy, equality, and freedom of expression.”
An example of this tactic named in the report was the hosting by the League of Muslims of Belgium of Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood leader Tareq Al-Suwaidan, author of an antisemitic book titled The Jews.
The fourth central organization operates as the continent’s seminary, the European Institute of Human Sciences (IESH). Qaradawi previously led the organization until his death on Sept. 26, 2022. The school has since replaced him with Mohamed Karmous, also a Brotherhood figure. Qatar has supplied millions in funding.
The report emphasizes the role of Qatari funding in fueling the Brotherhood’s network.
“Qatar’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood has been shaped through strategic ambiguity in its foreign policy: Qatar has cultivated close ties with Islamist networks associated with the movement while denying publicly giving them direct support,” the report states. “Despite these denials, Qatar provides political refuge and a political base for senior Hamas figures, including members of its political bureau. Additionally, Qatar uses the state-funded media network Al Jazeera to disseminate the movement’s ideology worldwide.”
The last “pillar” of the Islamist establishment in Europe is arguably its most vital. The Europe Trust provides the financial backing for the other organizations, operating a network of real estate investments to fund the activities of the other four.
The report details charitable groups too, such as the Union of Good (a network led by Qaradawi), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), and the Al Aqsa Foundation. Israel banned IRW in June 2014 after intelligence reports linked the group to funding Hamas. The United Arab Emirates followed suit in December 2014, labeling the “charity” a terrorist organization while citing its relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as justification.
Another group emphasized in the report is Interpal, a British organization which both the United States and the United Kingdom designated as a terrorist entity. Ibrahim Hewitt, a convert to Islam, leads the group as chairman of the board of trustees. He has engaged in Holocaust denial and promoted Islamic extremism. Meanwhile, the organization’s director-general is Issam Youssef Mustafa, who a US Treasury report documented working on Hamas’s executive committee and with Qaradawi.
In 2021, an Austrian government report found that “although the Brotherhood is not involved in terrorism, its activity is legal but not legitimate – its objectives contradict democratic norms.” Other European countries’ intelligence services have come to similar conclusions.
“The Muslim Brotherhood is not a civil society movement; it is a conduit for extremism and terror in the heart of Europe,” Chikli said. “Behind a façade of ‘moderation’ lies a network tied to Hamas and foreign funding that destabilizes democracies from within. Europe must wake up.”
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Antisemitic Attacks Across Canada Spark Alarm as Jewish Community Faces Surge of Violence, Harassment
People attend Canada’s Rally for the Jewish People at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, in December 2023. Photo: Shawn Goldberg via Reuters Connect
A wave of antisemitic incidents across Canada is raising alarm within the country’s Jewish community, as tensions linked to conflict in the Middle East continue to drive a surge in vandalism, harassment, and violence targeting Jews and Israelis.
In one of the latest antisemitic incidents, a kosher restaurant and a neighboring business in Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec, were vandalized on Wednesday, with antisemitic graffiti and swastikas spray-painted across their walls.
The incidents followed separate attacks in Toronto, a city in the province of Ontario, where shots were fired at a Jewish-owned restaurant and at a local synagogue.
A kosher restaurant in Montreal was spray painted with swastikas on its entrance in what is the most radical Islamist city in Canada. pic.twitter.com/pAgte47pyM
— Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) March 4, 2026
In another troubling antisemitic incident, a 15-year-old Jewish student in Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, has been forced to continue his education online after his school failed to stop repeated antisemitic harassment and bullying.
In an interview with the National Post, the boy’s mother, Aviva Rubin-Schneider, described how her son had been harassed for years by classmates at Park West School.
He reportedly found swastika graffiti in the bathroom and was repeatedly subjected to antisemitic slurs such as “Jewseph” and “Jewboy,” while some students were also said to have performed Nazi salutes toward him in the school hallways.
The situation further escalated in 2024 when the boy was physically assaulted on school grounds, with fellow students punching and kicking him, throwing him to the ground, and hurling antisemitic slurs.
After the attack, Rubin-Schneider said her son “never really went back to school,” prompting the family to withdraw him entirely while citing Park West School’s inability to provide a safe learning environment.
Now, the boy continues his education virtually through the public school system and requires ongoing therapy.
“He literally doesn’t go to school anymore. He has absolutely no desire to be in school,” Rubin-Schneider told the National Post. “I’ve pulled him out completely. He’s got no desire to learn. He has no faith in any of the schools, the systems or anything of that sort.”
“The fact that my son does not go to school anymore just tells you he’s petrified,” she continued. “He doesn’t want to go to school. He doesn’t want to be around these kids. He knows he’s just going to be bullied again.”
When the incidents first began, the boy’s mother reached out to Halifax Regional Police’s hate-crime unit, leading an officer to meet with the school principal and later conduct student sessions on racism, intolerance, and hate crimes.
However, Aviva Rubin-Schneider said no further action followed, even after her son was physically assaulted on school grounds.
Like most countries across the Western world, Canada has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Canadian Jews have been hit by a wave of antisemitic incidents, with at least 32 reported across five provinces in just the first week of January this year, according to data collected by the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith.
“Antisemitism in Canada is now accelerating at an increasing rate, spreading across provinces, platforms, and public spaces. That is a warning signal, and it demands more than piecemeal reactions,” the group wrote in a letter urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to create a Royal Commission that would explore the problem and draft policy proposals for solving it.
According to the group’s latest audit released last year, antisemitic incidents in 2024 rose 7.4 percent from 2023, with 6,219 adding up to the highest total recorded since it began tracking such data in 1982.
Seventeen incidents occurred on average every day, while online antisemitism exploded a harrowing 161 percent since 2022. As standalone provinces, Quebec and Alberta saw the largest percentage increases, by 215 percent and 160 percent, respectively.
Now, concerns are growing about increasing targeted attacks on the local Jewish community, fears that Iran may activate sleeper cells abroad, and the risk of politically motivated violence linked to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Hours after the announced death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a boxing gym run by Iranian-Canadian dissident activist Salar Gholami in Richmond Hill, a suburb north of Toronto in Ontario, was struck by gunfire.