Canadian PM Criticized for Including Omar Alghabra on Antisemitism Council
Ottawa says it is confronting antisemitism with new urgency, but critics say Alghabra's appointment places a long-contested record inside the government’s strategy
Jewish Onliner is an independent publication. If you find our work valuable, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government announced a new antisemitism push in Toronto on June 1, naming a Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion and directing it to begin by reassessing the “nature, scale, and drivers” of antisemitism in Canada. The same announcement said Jewish Canadians, roughly 1 percent of the population, were targeted in more than two-thirds of religion-motivated hate crimes last year.
Yet one of the council's appointees is Omar Alghabra, P.C., a former Liberal minister and former president of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) — an organization that opposed Canada's designation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as terrorist entities, rejected the labeling of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade as a terrorist group after Ottawa had already listed it, and pressured Toronto's police chief not to participate in a Walk with Israel event.
Alghabra himself told the Jewish Tribune in 2006 that he did not believe Hamas sought Israel's elimination. As Canadian citizen journalist Masha Kleiner documented, even after the October 7, 2023 massacre Alghabra declined, when directly asked, to condemn Hamas — while continuing to describe Israel as "brutal and cruel."
The Crisis Ottawa Says It’s Answering
Canada’s antisemitism crisis is not theoretical. Statistics Canada reported 1,342 police-reported hate crimes targeting religion in 2024, with 70 percent directed at Jewish Canadians and 17 percent at Muslim Canadians. The number of police-reported hate crimes has more than doubled since 2018, rising 169 percent over six years.
The Toronto figures are similarly stark. The Toronto Police Service’s 2024 hate crime report found that anti-Jewish incidents represented the largest single category of reported hate crimes in the city, including 148 anti-Jewish mischief-related occurrences, or 33 percent of all reported hate crimes. Carney’s office framed the federal response around this surge, pledging new Criminal Code tools, security funding, and a council tasked with shaping government-wide policy.
Alghabra’s CAF Record
Alghabra’s controversial record largely centers on his time with the Canadian Arab Federation. A 2015 archived chronology documented that CAF issued a December 2002 press release opposing Canada’s designation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as terrorist entities.
Alghabra became CAF president in 2004 — after that position was adopted — but led the organization while it remained part of CAF's public record. Canada had listed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on November 27, 2002; Public Safety Canada’s current terrorist-entity list continues to include Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
The pattern continued under his leadership. A September 2004 CAF press release during his presidency criticized a newspaper for identifying the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade as a "terrorist group" — more than a year after Ottawa's official listing. In June 2005, Alghabra personally sent a letter opposing Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair's participation in a "Walk with Israel" event, arguing it created the appearance of endorsing Israeli practices.
Then came the clearest Hamas-related statement. In January 2006, Alghabra reportedly told the Jewish Tribune: “I don’t believe that Hamas wants the elimination of Israel.” The statement sat directly against Hamas’s own charter language and Canada’s terrorism designation.
A Broader Pattern, Documented
Citizen journalist Masha Kleiner compiled a wider record of Alghabra’s public positions, noting that he has repeatedly argued Hamas and Hezbollah should be removed from Canada’s terrorist entities list, publicly mourned Yasser Arafat, and — even after October 7, 2023 — declined to condemn Hamas when directly asked, while routinely describing Israel as “brutal and cruel.”
Kleiner also documented his calls for Toronto officials to boycott Jewish charity events and his opposition to cooperation between Canadian police and Israeli counter-terrorism units.
CAF’s Federal Funding Collapse
CAF’s later federal funding fight amplified the concerns around the organization Alghabra had led. The Supreme Court of Canada case summary records that then-immigration minister Jason Kenney refused a new contribution agreement after saying CAF had made public statements “promoting hatred, anti-Semitism and support for the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.” The Federal Court dismissed CAF’s judicial review in 2013, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in 2015, and the Supreme Court dismissed CAF’s leave application in 2016. That litigation concerned CAF’s later leadership, not only Alghabra’s tenure.
Carney's council is tasked with defining the drivers of antisemitism, improving data, and measuring whether Ottawa's response protects Jewish Canadians. Alghabra's appointment places a figure with a decades-long record of minimizing Hamas and opposing pro-Israel engagement inside the very room where that policy will be written — a contradiction the government has yet to explain.
Unbelievably nuts as always!