Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks in Canada
"The Port of Montreal is a known link where luxury vehicles are shipped to Lebanon, financially supporting Hezbollah."
"While
the volume of terrorist financing in Canada is assessed to be low, the
consequences of enabling deadly and destructive terrorist attacks in
Canada and abroad are grave."
"The misuse of the charitable and NPO sectors has been observed as a prominent financing method used by Hamas and Hezbollah."
"Hezbollah
remains a highly active global player in the cocaine, heroin, fentanyl,
and captagon trades with trafficking networks spanning Latin America,
Canada, and the United States."
Department of Finance report
"Organizations
like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide
humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for
much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups."
Treasury spokesman Bradley T. Smith
 |
| Hezbollah fighters Photo by AP Photo/Hussein Malla |
Canada
remains a hub for terrorist financing, enabling extremist groups to
capitalize on everything from charitable fraud to rising rates of drug
trafficking as well as auto theft, according to a newly-released 125
page report from the Department of Finance. Hezbollah, the Lebanese
terrorist group is recognized as a leading recipient of funding
originating from Canada, the black market vehicle trade in particular.
Compared
to the problem of conventional money laundering, the amount of
terrorist financing originating in Canada is deemed relatively low, but
the authors of the report note that the damage that can be done by "a lone terrorist actor or terrorist group" represents a threat of potential negative consequences proportionately higher.
Canadian
money ends up with the Palestinian terror group Hamas, not only
Hezbollah, in addition to extremist Sikh groups named as Babbar Khalsa
International and the International Sikh Youth Federation; all
organizations that "have been observed by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to receive financial support originating from Canada", the report notes.
The funding is derived from various sources; from "crowdfunding" to crypto currencies to "abuse of non-profit organizations".
Toronto resident Khalilullh Yousuf was given a 12-year sentence four
months ago for organizing GoFundMe campaigns to, on the surface, raise
money for humanitarian purposes for Gaza, while actually funnelling it
to Islamic State affiliates.
Canada
listed Samidoun, the Vancouver-based anti-Israel group last October as a
terror entity, as did the United States. Long active in promoting
terrorist ideology in Canada and abroad, Samidoun's status was that of a
fundraiser for terror groups, specifically the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, cited as the primary focus to list it as a
terror group. Despite which its status has not changed, it remains
listed as a charitable group, and it is free to continue its illegal
activities due to the fact that the Liberal government has done nothing
to disrupt its activities as the illegal entity it is.
 |
| Samidoun Website |
The
Department of Justice cited Canada's lucrative illicit drug trade as
one where terrorist groups were the likely beneficiaries. Hezbollah's
use of the Port of Montreal to ship out luxury cars represents only one
of several criminal organizations that use the same tactics. When rates
of auto theft were at all-time highs in 2022, industry representatives
stated that it was well-known that stolen cars were headed to Montreal
on their way to leaving Canada. "The
question is, how serious, or how bad does this situation have to become
before the authorities really do something about it?" said a frustrated David Adams, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada.
CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service)
estimates Canadian money laundering networks move between $45 to $113
billion annually in total, of which money laundering for terrorism is
but a relatively small part. The real alarm raised by the report notes
that hostile state actors manage similar money laundering networks to
finance interference plots within Canada itself.
 |
| The Port of Montreal's location makes it a hub for the illegal export of stolen vehicles to Africa and the Middle East. (Charles Contant/CBC) |
"Foreign states seeking to interfere in Canada often rely on networks of proxies within Canada to carry out their activities."
"Foreign
states seeking to funnel money into foreign interference activities can
take advantage of existing networks, often criminal in nature, to
co-mingle and launder funds from different sources."
Department of Finance report
 |
| Deputy
Commissioner Marty Kearns,
Investigations and Organized Crime at the Ontario Provincial Police,
left, talks with Deputy Chief Benoit Dube of the Surete du Quebec beside
two recovered stolen vehicles during a news conference in
Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press) |
Labels: Canada, Department of Finance Report, Money Laundering, Terrorist Groups
In Its Own Words: Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic Liberation and Resistance Movement Whose Goal is to Liberate Palestine and Confront the Zionist Project
"It's
an honour to have contributed to this critically important application
... against the criminalization of Palestinian resistance in Britain,
the imperial power responsible for Zionist colonialism in Palestine."
"[Aiding and assisting on request an application to de-list Hamas in the U.K. as a] proscribed/banned [terror group]."
Charlotte Kates, leader, Samidoun
"The British government’s decision to proscribe Hamas is an unjust one
that is symptomatic of its unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid,
occupation, and ethnic cleansing in Palestine for over a century."
"Hamas does not and never has posed a threat to Britain,
despite the latter’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of our people."
"Hamas
is] a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal
is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project."
Legal Petition to the United Kingdom by Hamas
"The legal profession is being damaged by ideologues exploiting their
status to platform extremism."
"This isn’t about free speech. It’s about a man [Riverway Law attorney Fahad Ansari], who
repeatedly crosses the line into open support for terrorism — all while
the authorities look away."
British Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick
"They pose an ongoing threat to our security and to the peace and
stability of the Middle East and have weapons and training facilities
that put lives at risk and threaten our interests."
"They show no respect for human rights, life, and dignity and
have oppressed people living in Gaza for too long."
"Those campaigning to end the proscription of Hamas fail to
understand the seriousness of the threats this terrorist organization
poses."
"[Hamas is an] evil Iranian-backed terrorist organization, which kidnaps,
tortures, and murders people, including British nationals."
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel
 |
| Demonstrators hold Israeli and British flags outside the Law Courts,
during a march against antisemitism, after an increase in the UK, during
a temporary truce between the Palestinian Islamist terrorists Hamas and
Israel, in London, Britain, Nov. 26, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Susannah
Ireland |
The
United Kingdom classified the 'military wing' of Hamas as a terror
organization in 2001; a definition expanded two decades later to
encompass the entire organization, including the political arm. Hamas
encourages the West to think of it as a legitimate group fighting
oppression, with distinct arms: a Health Authority, a political wing, a
military wing and an executive body. In reality Hamas itself scoffs
derisively at the very thought that there are such executive divisions;
they consider the entire group as single-mindedly focused and engaged in
its singular purpose: the destruction of the State of Israel.
A
legal group by the name of Riverway Law which is supporting Hamas in
its application to the U.K. government for the terrorist designation to
be rescinded, contacted Charlotte Kates, herself head of a
Vancouver-based outfit that advertises itself as a support for
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, and which advocates as well
for the legalization of Hamas and other terrorist groups as 'freedom
fighters' and is part of a group proscribed in Canada as a terrorist
entity.
One
of Samidoun's leaders, Kates's husband, has direct links to the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine as a leading figure within it,
another terrorist group that is proscribed as such in Canada. Riverway
Law contacted Kates with a request for an "expert report" representing
Samidoun that she and her husband co-founded, and Kates we happy to
comply, as an ardent supporter of Hamas in Canada. Notorious for leading
public chants of "Long Live October 7!"
 |
| It
is such an honor to be here in Beirut today, one among a sea of over a
million people in collective tribute, mourning, love and commitment to
the road of resistance and liberation exemplified by Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah and Sayyed Hisham Safieddine. Kates on X |
According to Kates, the savage atrocities in Israel were "heroic and brave".
So committed is she that she attended Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah's public funeral that took place in Lebanon in February,
memorializing him as a "great
anti-imperialist leader of our day, the great Arab and international
revolutionary, the beloved speaker of truth and warrior of justice".
A Hamas political leader, Mousa Abu Marzouk, who lives in Qatar, rejected charges of antisemitism: "Our
struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. Our struggle
is not against Jewish people because of their religion but against the
Zionists who occupy Palestine. Hamas is of the view that the Jewish
problem of antisemitism and the persecution of the Jews are phenomena
fundamentally linked to European history and not to the history of the
Arabs and the Muslims or to their heritage", he wrote in a witness statement to the Riverway application.
"[Hamas's
terror listing runs]contrary to the European Court of Human Rights [and
is] disproportionate" , wrote the Riverway Law application addressed to
U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as they were "instructed by Hamas" to do. "The reality is that [Hamas] poses no threat to the U.K. people and have been explicit about this" -- handily bypassing the 15 British nationals who were slaughtered in the October 7 southern Israel attack in 2023.
"A
whole host of legal and mental gymnastics were provided by the head of
the law firm to explain why their actions are legitimate and how this is
somehow a valid pathway to ending the bloodshed in Gaza and responding
to the daily scenes of murdered Palestinian children."
"None
of these individuals, including those at the law firm, bothered to
understand that Hamas is the very root of the destruction of Gaza and
the collapse of the Palestinian national project, having served the
interests of the far right and the anti-Palestinian forces within
Israeli politics and society."
Palestinian American researcher Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib 
Labels: A Terrorist Is A Terrorist Is a Terrorist, Declaration of Resistance to Occupation, Hamas, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Samidoun, Terrorist Groups
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories
"It is unacceptable for any official -- independent or not -- to engage in Holocaust distortion."
"This is harmful to Jewish communities and others in Canada and across the globe, which is why there have been condemnations of these statements from multiple countries, elected officials and organizations."
Special Canadian Envoy on Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons
"AS UN Special Rapporteur Albanese visits New York, I want to reiterate the U.S. belief she is unfit for her role."
"The United Nations should not tolerate antisemitism from a UN-affiliated official hired to promote human rights."
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield
"Francesca Albanese has a long history of using antisemitic tropes."
"It is absolutely baffling to me that the United Nations condones her behaviour and does not remove her from her position."
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Liberal special adviser on antisemitism
"The recent remarks by Francesca Albanese are unacceptable and incompatible with her duty of impartiality, probity and good faith as an independent Special Rapporteur."
"Antisemitism has no place anywhere."
Canadian mission in Geneva
"We are calling on the Canadian government to deny her an entry visa, on account of her record of supporting terrorism and antisemitism."
"Given the repeated violent antisemitic attacks in Canada, Albanese's visit -- certain to fuel more hatred and support for terrorism -- poses a national security threat."
Hillel Neuer, chief, UN Watch
 |
| United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories
Francesca Albanese has withdrawn from a Montreal conference featuring
Charlotte Kates, the founder of Samidoun, a designated terror group |
Francesca Albanese -- 'special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967' -- appointed by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations is recognized as an independent expert whose reports go directly to the administration of the United Nations. In October this independent expert on human rights spoke of Israel as the Third Reich, on a mission of genocide in Palestine, their goal to create a "pure race". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was compared by this human rights expert to Adolf Hitler, in July.
A requisite for any human rights position anywhere, is that the holder be seen and heard to be objectively neutral when approaching situations of controversial upheaval. Her outrageous and clearly antisemitic comments have garnered attention and condemnation from various sources who decry her overt bias which reflects a mind steeped deep in the oldest racism in human history. Canada's envoy in combating antisemitism, in condemning Albanese's Holocaust-comparison statements references the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.
That IHRA definition is one that many countries of the world have endorsed, including Canada, yet it is obvious that Canada's commitment to the IHRA is on the 'virtue' level, entirely lacking the will or the interest in acting responsibly to reflect the IHRA. Its deliberately obtuse and oblivious reaction to the antisemitic flare-ups on the streets of Canada's cities across the country has failed to use existing laws on the prosecution of hate-mongers who commit to both verbal and physical violence in harassing and threatening the Canadian Jewish community.
And although Canada's officially appointed Liberal representative on antisemitism speaks loudly and clearly in support of condemning antisemitism, particularly in its current iteration of mass anti-Israel, pro-Hamas/terrorist gatherings shouting for Jews to 'go back to Europe' where they were exterminated by the millions during World War II, and condemning Israel for 'occupying' its ancestral geographic patrimony claiming it to be rightfully Arab Palestinian heritage 'from the river to the sea', he lacks the moral fibre to separate himself from the Liberal government which has permitted the volatile anarchy of Muslim rage to permeate society.
Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, has no interest whatever in responding positively to the overtures of Jewish organizations to use the letter of the law to abolish the current racist-mongering public gatherings' ability to broadcast slander against Israel and the Canadian Jewish population. The UN's rapporteur on Palestine has embarked on a public relations campaign of speaking engagements in North America, her itinerary including appearances at the University of Toronto as well as the University of Montreal.
The controversial opinionated remarks assaulting the character of Jews were not confined to post-UN-appointment comments; long before her appointment, Albanese distinguished herself by emitting statements supporting anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiments. She is not oblivious to the uproar over her messaging addressing her obvious anti-Jew rhetoric, and claims to be misunderstood. Calls for her removal from the post she occupies at the UN have elicited a response from her; she is "deeply disappointed" international leaders "have been misled by spurious, recycled allegations against me. Criticism of Israel's actions and polici'es does not render one antisemitic".
Prior to her 2022 appointment at the UN, she had celebrated when the European Union had removed Hamas from a terror group designation in 2014. "America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust", she remarked in 2014. She joined her voice to the many justifying the October 7 atrocities as the understandable reaction of an oppressed people. "Today's violence must be put in context", she averred.
"The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in reaction to Israel's oppression. France and the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims", she wrote in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's statement that the October 7 atrocities represented the "greatest antisemitic massacre of the century". Reports of rape and beheadings were unverified rumours, Albanese wrote, despite that the Hamas charter is explicit in its goal of destroying Israel.
This special rapporteur representing the United Nations' interest in the welfare of Arab Palestinians condemned the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders' deaths, characterizing them as "acts of aggression" -- murder. Yahya Sinwar's death struck her as "quite inhumane".
"We call on the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Government of Canada to condemn Albanese's behaviour in no uncertain terms."
"Canada must take a strong stance against any form of antisemitism, particularly when it emanates from individuals in positions of influence such as Albanese."
"Her presence in Canada should not be allowed to pass without a clear response from the government."
"Antisemitism, in all its forms, must be unequivocally condemned, especially when it is cloaked in the guise of human rights advocacy."
Centre for Israel and Public Affairs
 |
| Ayelet
Levy Shachar, mother of 19-year-old Naama Levy, who was abducted by
Hamas during the October 7 attacks, attends a demonstration in Tel Aviv,
Israel, on November 4, calling for the immediate release of hostages. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
|
Labels: Francesca Albanese, Human Rights, Outspoken Antisemitism, Palestinian Territories, Terrorist Groups, United Nations
