Even though Canada has severed diplomatic ties with Iran, there seems to be a strong influence of the Iranian regime in Shia Mosques in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Recently, there have been gatherings to commemorate and give blessings to none other than Iranian arch-terrorist Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike.

In these sermons, he’s lauded as a martyr and his death is called a war crime.

This Iranian regime influence has also led to anti-Semitic incidents:

On May 16, 2020, a man named Firas Al Najim used a loudspeaker to give the call to prayer outside the Jaffari Islamic Centre in Thornhill, Ontario. (I’ve already expressed my opinion about having public calls to prayer during the COVID-19 pandemic.)

But in this case, what was appalling was that Al Najim used this opportunity to call upon Muslims to boycott and refrain from doing any business transactions with what he called "the illegitimate Zionist regime."

Firas Al Najim is also the co-manager of an organization called Canadian Defenders for Human Rights (CD4HR,) and is seen in a Twitter post promoting a Walk Against Israel.

Following this fracas, Thornhill MPP Gila Martow issued a press release noting her disappointment at the Jaffari Centre.

The next day, Vice President of the Islamic Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Toronto issued a press release in response. He claimed that the person giving the "Azaan" (that is, Firas Al Najim), is not associated with ISIJ. He further expressed concern about Gila Martow’s statement. The Vice President claimed that he “does not know the individual” — although last year he co-signed a letter written by Al Najim to the Prime Minister.

At the same time, who jumps into the fray but the National Council of Canadian Muslims (previously CAIR-Canada)? You will recall that CAIR USA are unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Mosque terrorism trial in Dallas.

In this recent press release, they demanded an apology from MPP Gila Martow.

Not surprisingly, on May 19, a joint statement issued by NCCM, ISIJ and Gila Martow claimed that they had had a "meaningful dialogue":

MPP Martow commits to contacting representatives of the organizations directly should any further unfortunate incidents occur, and apologizes for any hurt she caused to the community of the Jaffari Community Centre.

If the politicians like Gila Martow can be cowed down by bullies, we have a long struggle ahead of us.