Israel is running a widespread and deeply embedded, covert influence operation in Canada, and the government has refused to treat it as interference by a foreign actor, a new report by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) has said.

The group is now calling on Ottawa to designate Israel as a “key threat actor” alongside the likes of China and India, expel Israeli diplomats, and ban Israeli spyware, among other recommendations published on Wednesday.

“The pattern of deception and disinformation outlined in this report demonstrates the malicious role of the Israeli state in interfering in Canadian public affairs, undermining the rights and safety of Canadians,” CJPME said.

Five examples are provided in the document, all of which are designed to shape Canadian public opinion, government regulations, and media narratives via local intermediaries, as CJPME described.

The citations rely on reporting from the Canadian investigative outfit, The Breach, the left-leaning news site, Press Progress, and papers such as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Haaretz, and The New York Times.

The first example is of “secretly” funded polling in the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, “which used biased language to sway results in support of Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza [and] was conducted by Toronto public relations firm Aurora Strategies Global without disclosing that it was on behalf of the Israeli consulate”, the report said.

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