Report traces alleged Muslim Brotherhood influence in Canada - National Post

An anti-Israel protest outside Concordia University in Montreal on Oct. 7, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette/PostmediaArticle contentA new report alleges that the Muslim Brotherhood is infiltrating Canadian institutions through various non-profit organizations and universities, a trend that it frames as part of a broader transnational ideological strategy.

In a sprawling 200-page study, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) argues that, through an organized campaign of pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Islamophobia rhetoric, the Brotherhood and other groups are helping to foment antisemitism in Canada. The organizations, the report alleges, are often funded through highly sophisticated financial channels that run through Qatar, and have embedded themselves in some of Canada’s biggest universities.

“Under the radar, Canada is being infiltrated,” said Charles Small, founder and director of ISGAP.

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The report comes after the New York-based ISGAP’s separate study last year, which asserted that the Muslim Brotherhood was systematically influencing various U.S. institutions, and called for the group to be designated as a terrorist organization. (Days later, the Trump administration indeed said it would designate certain chapters of the Brotherhood as global terrorists.)

The Muslim Brotherhood is a movement that began in Egypt in the 1920s and, at its root, seeks to establish core Islamic values as a foundation for society. Today, the group has multiple chapters spread across the Middle East, each with differing compositions and objectives.

Various Middle Eastern nations, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have outlawed the Brotherhood and designated it a terrorist organization. Canadian lawmakers have faced pressure domestically to also designate the group as such.

The ISGAP report argues that the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to embed pro-Islamism into Canadian life primarily through “entryism,” or the act of changing institutions — cultural, governmental, educational, or others — from within.

Canada, with its preference for multicultural ideals and lax immigration laws, is particularly susceptible to such efforts, Small said. While the report cites Canadian organizations that avoid the more radical Muslim Brotherhood values, it asserts that many such charities and advocacy groups push specific transnational interests, often under the guise of inclusivity, Pro-Palestine activism or efforts to combat “Islamophobic” ideas.