May 3, 2022
OTTAWA – The question of why the Government hasn’t yet deported a high-ranking terrorist living in Canada hit a new level Tuesday, when a Senator publicly posed a question about it.
Leo Housakos used his time in the Senate Question Period to ask the Government about the Khaled Barakat scandal, exposed by acclaimed columnist Terry Glavin in last week’s National Post editions. B’nai Brith Canada has been alerting officials about Barakat for more than two years but has had no response.
Tuesday, Senator Housakos received no concrete answers from the Government.
Barakat is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist entity in Canada. As the Senator noted, Barakat has been allowed to thrive in Canada despite being barred from the United States and Germany. His legal status in Canada remains undisclosed by the Government.
The PFLP’s proxy in Canada is the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group with which Barakat is closely associated. For more than two years, B’nai Brith Canada has been gathering intelligence, and urging the Government and all relevant law-enforcement agencies to act against Barakat and to dissolve Samidoun.
“We have provided the Government with credible and convincing information, yet we have had no response,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “The recent National Post story has made the situation even more critical and more alarming.
“The Government needs to act immediately and deport Khaled Barakat. Samidoun also needs to be decertified as a corporation immediately, and it should never have been certified in the first place.
“We’re glad that Senator (Marc) Gold acknowledged today that Government is aware of this national security concern, but Canadians are still waiting for a substantive response.”
Mostyn said B’nai Brith applauds Senator Housakos for raising this important security risk in the Senate. “Our own attempts to urge the Government to take action have fallen on deaf ears, sadly, despite its claims to be fighting antisemitism and terrorism.”
The PFLP carries out assassinations, airplane hijacking, and public massacres in pursuit of its goal of destroying Israel – the sole Jewish state. While in Canada, Barakat has published articles in which he calls for acts of international terrorism by the PFLP, targeting Israeli and “Zionist” targets beyond the Middle East.
