In a move that has alarmed Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians, the federal government paid $128,000 to the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) to monitor pro-Israel social media activity, branding many Jewish advocates and supporters of Israel as “right-wing extremists” motivated by “anti-Muslim hatred”. The contract, awarded just months after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, was part of a project titled “Digital Analysis Situation Room and Rapid Response Programming for Israel/Gaza-related Extremism, Hate and Mis/Disinformation in Canada.”
ISD’s reports, funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, painted a disturbing picture: “discontentment with pro-Palestine protests” and even the suggestion that some federal politicians were “more dedicated to matters in Gaza than Canadian affairs” were cited as evidence of extremism. Influential pro-Israel accounts on X (formerly Twitter) were specifically flagged for their “staunch pro-Israeli position since the attacks on October 7,” with the reports warning of rising “extremism, hate and disinformation” among Canadian right-wing actors.
The reports refused to cite sources or link to any “extremist content,” offering only that “details of specific posts can be shared with select researchers upon request.” One example cited was a Facebook post criticizing the inconsistent policing of anti-Israel protests, hardly an isolated view, given the documented presence of “death to Israel” chants, banners glorifying “armed resistance,” and rallies openly celebrating the October 7 massacre by groups like the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Yet, ISD’s monitoring labeled it “extremist” to point out that these demonstrations were “protesting for the death of Jews and the Jewish state”. Meanwhile, the government’s funding of UNRWA, a UN agency repeatedly linked to Hamas, including staffers allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks, was off-limits for criticism. Any post connecting Canadian taxpayer funding of UNRWA to Hamas terrorism was flagged as “right-wing extremism,” despite UNRWA’s admission that a top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon was on its payroll.
The government’s Digital Citizen Contribution Program, originally pitched to “counter online disinformation,” funded the ISD contract. This comes as the Liberal government has pushed for new powers to police online speech, including the now-defunct Online Harms Act, which would have allowed for pre-emptive detention of Canadians suspected of future “hateful” posts.
The result: while anti-Israel groups in Canada openly celebrated terror and incited against Jews, it was Jewish Canadians and their allies, those sounding the alarm on antisemitism, who found themselves under government surveillance, their legitimate concerns smeared as “hate.”
The Jewish and pro-Israel community is demanding answers and accountability for this unprecedented targeting of Canadian citizens who refuse to stay silent in the face of rising Jew-hatred.
We are not right wing extremists… Jews have been abandoned by the Liberal government