Prime Minister Mark Carney warned this week that Jewish Canadians are being «brutally targeted,» while also announcing a new anti-racism council that reportedly includes two members with troubling views on the Jewish state.

Following Carney’s speech on antisemitism, critics reacted with anger at the makeup of the council and questioned how a body meant to fight hate and antisemitism includes two members who are reportedly hostile to the concerns of the Jewish community.

Omar Alghabra, a former Liberal party cabinet minister and Member of Parliament, has faced criticism for publicly mourning former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The former leader of the PLO was described by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as «the father of modern terrorism.» In the days following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, he declined a request to condemn them, when asked by Canada’s Rebel News. 

Alghabra has also faced scrutiny over past comments regarding Israel. In 2005, he criticized Toronto’s police chief for participating in and leading a «Walk with Israel» event, according to The Jerusalem Post. He described the event as «a show of solidarity for a foreign state currently in the midst of an unresolved conflict» and referred to Israel as «a country that is conducting a brutal and the longest contemporary military occupation in the world.»

CANADA’S CARNEY UNDER PRESSURE TO ACT AFTER SYNAGOGUES SHOT AT IN LATEST ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS

Canada’s opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, pointed to a separate encounter with him involving a terrorist organization. «I remember Mr. Alghabra lobbying me before he was in politics to keep Hezbollah legal, so I’m not sure that he’s the right guy to combat antisemitism,» he told reporters. 

Howeer, the Jerusalem Post reported that Alghabra had described Hamas as a terrorist organization during a 2016 parliamentary debate.

The other controversial member of the council, Avnish Nanda, represented efforts to keep a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Alberta in place. Critics of the encampment argued it created a hostile atmosphere for Jewish students following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. 

The then Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra speaks with the Toronto Star at an editorial board meeting at the Well building in Toronto.  (Lance McMillan/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

In April, B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights released a report showing that 6,800 antisemitic incidents took place in the country in 2025, representing a 9.4% increase over 2024. On average, this represented 18.6 incidents a day and was the «highest volume» the group has recorded since it began tracking incidents.

«I’m a Canadian-born Jew serving as rabbi of the vibrant Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem community in Montreal, and I was truly shocked to learn that among the people chosen to sit on Prime Minister Carney’s newest council is Omar Alghabra, who publicly mourned the death of Yasser Arafat and remained silent when asked to condemn the attacks of October 7th,» Rabbi Zolly Claman of Montreal’s Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Congregation told Fox News Digital.

The Talmud Torah Elementary School in Montreal was one of two schools hit with gunfire this week, according to Montreal police. (Google Maps)

«Canadian Jews are struggling to understand how our prime minister believed this would be a constructive appointment,» Claman said.

When announcing the new Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, Carney stated, «The council has a clear mission to combat racism and hate in all their forms and to guide the Government of Canada as part of our efforts to build a fairer, more just, more inclusive society,» He also said that, «The crisis of antisemitism in Canada today is specific, it’s severe, and it demands a targeted response. And that is what our government is fully committed to,» Reuters reported.

FROM AUSCHWITZ, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR ISSUES URGENT WARNING OVER RISING ANTISEMITISM IN CANADA

When asked about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement, B’nai Brith Canada, one of the country’s leading Jewish advocacy organizations said that while it welcomed the prime minister’s acknowledgment of rising antisemitism, it believes additional action is needed to address what it views as a growing crisis facing Canada’s Jewish community.

Anti-Israel protesters hold antisemitic posters in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via AP)

«B’nai Brith Canada acknowledges the Prime Minister’s solidarity with the Jewish community,» Simon Wolle, the organization’s chief executive officer, told Fox News Digital. «He was right to mandate that the Special Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion prioritize researching and combating antisemitism.»

At the same time, Wolle questioned whether the newly announced council has the authority and scope necessary to effectively address the problem.

«But we are concerned because the council does not have the power or scale to address this crisis in an appropriate and meaningful manner,» he said. «It is an important aspect of the government’s approach to combating antisemitism, but it is not sufficient.»

Anti-Israel demonstrators gathered outside Union Station in downtown Toronto during a rally on Jan. 4, 2024, demanding a ceasefire. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu)

Wolle added that B’nai Brith Canada will «continue to call on the government to establish a National Emergency Task Force on Antisemitism, among other initiatives, because the Jewish community needs immediate action, not just words during this time of violence, hate, and threats to our right to exist and participate in Canadian society,» he said. Wolle did not offer comment on either Omar Alghabra and Avnish Nanda appointments.

NON-JEWISH PROFESSOR SAYS HE WAS FIRED FOR CALLING OUT HAMAS SUPPORTERS IN ONLINE POST

Canadian Jewish activist Ariella Kimmel also questioned the effectiveness of the newly announced council.

«The Jewish community makes up just 1.2% of Canada’s population, yet is the target of 75% of hate crimes, which is astoundingly disproportionate. Canada does not have a hate problem; it has a Jew-hatred problem. There is a very specific virus spreading rapidly across this country, and our prime minister is administering a broad catch-all antibiotic that will not help.»

Temple Emanu-El in Toronto was shot at on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Kimmel said his speech lacked concrete solutions and failed to address what she described as growing hostility toward Jewish communities.

SIGN UP FOR ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED NEWSLETTER

«There was nothing on the vile chants we hear on the streets, nothing about the mobs that target Jewish neighborhoods, nothing calling for police to enforce the laws that already exist,» she said.

«What Canada doesn’t need is another special council on racism. We need to address the real elephant in the room, the targeting of Jews using ‘Zionism’ as an excusable reason, led by radicalized progressives and Islamist fundamentalists.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Carney’s office and Omar Alghabra and Avnish Nanda for comment.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Cambio en el plan de gobierno

Keiko Fujimori busca la presidencia de Perú por cuarta vez. Foto: REUTERS

FIRST ON FOX: A top Republican confirmed he will seek a «full investigation» of a likely Democratic colleague whose ties to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind roiled the 2026 midterm landscape after New Jersey’s Tuesday primaries.

Dr. Adam Hisham Hamawy is a veteran combat plastic surgeon who operates his own practice near Princeton but has been heavily criticized for his ties to and service as a defense witness for terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman — better known as the «Blind Sheikh» — who later died in a North Carolina federal prison.

Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee, expressed his concerns about Hamawy serving in Congress and later confirmed to Fox News Digital that he will indeed seek a probe of the controversial progressive.

Hamawy won a 12-way Democratic primary Tuesday for a Central Jersey seat that has not elected a Republican this century — and now faces perennial candidate Prof. Gregg Mele in November.

LONE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FINDS HIS EDGE AS A DOZEN DEMOCRATS CLASH IN RACE TO REPLACE MIKIE SHERRILL

Lawler told Fox News Digital that Hamawy’s resume is more than disqualifying for someone whose day job would give him access to the nation’s most sensitive national security information.

«Adam Hamawy was a defense witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Blind Sheikh behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and a year earlier volunteered in Bosnia with an organization the U.S. Treasury designated a financier of terrorism and the 9/11 Commission tied to Osama bin Laden’s network,» Lawler said.

«He has never answered for any of it.»

Lawler questioned Hamawy’s «fit[ness] to serve» in Congress and to be privy to the same information he is on the Foreign Affairs panel.

«If he’s elected in November, I’ll push for a full investigation because the American people deserve the truth.»

Lawler notably represents Rockland County, N.Y. — an area just north of New York City with a sizable Orthodox Jewish population — and has been a steadfast defender of Israel and the Jewish people against threats from Iran and Hezbollah.

DEM FREE-FOR-ALL ENGULFS NJ AS 13 CONTENDERS SCRAMBLE FOR SHERRILL’S HOUSE SEAT AHEAD OF CRITICAL 2026 FIGHT

Hamawy previously volunteered at a Gaza hospital amid the conflict.

Lawler’s district recently hosted President Donald Trump’s rally featuring New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart — and his visibility on counterterrorism and Israel issues was brought to the fore when Sen. Rand Paul’s, R-Ky., son drunkenly confronted Lawler at a Washington bar and «accused» him of being Jewish during a diatribe about Israel.

Neighboring Congressman Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from North Jersey, didn’t directly call for a probe but told Jewish Insider that he has «serious questions and deep concerns» about Hamawy’s «associations with terrorist organization and leaders who have attacked America.»

Like Lawler, Gottheimer said Hamawy must answer for these connections to the people of the Garden State.

Abdel-Rahman’s team called Hamawy as a witness, where he described traveling to Detroit for a conference at which the extremist cleric would appear.

Hamawy testified Abdel-Rahman regularly spoke of «jihad» and that at one point the Sheikh questioned Emad Salem — who later became a government informant — as to why Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had not yet been assassinated.

Hamawy has blamed Islamophobia for some of the invective directed his way — and pushed back on similar characterizations, including from one of his own Democratic primary challengers, Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp.

«Any Muslim is going to be called a terrorist at some point, and these tropes are outdated and worn,» he told the New Jersey Monitor in response to Mapp.

Hamawy’s campaign previously told Fox News Digital that he was in the military when the events covered Abdel-Rahman’s trial took place, and pointed to allies like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who credited the surgeon with saving her life on the battlefield.

The prosecutor who led the U.S. government’s case against Abdel-Rahman, however, noted how Hamawy appeared voluntarily to defend the Blind Sheikh.

«He didn’t have to come unless he wanted to,» former U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy told «The Story» on Wednesday.

Dr. Adam Hisham Hamawy, left; Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., right. (Islam Dogru/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

«It wasn’t like I subpoenaed him. It wasn’t like the government brought him in as a hostile witness. He volunteered to testify for this guy. He knew exactly who he was. And in fact, on cross-examination, his testimony that he didn’t recall a conversation about Mubarak was not very persuasive,» McCarthy said, referring to the cleric’s trip to Detroit.

Hamawy also greeted Abdel-Rahman from the stand with the Muslim greeting of Salaam Alaykum, suggesting personal familiarity, according to several critics.

When pressed by reporters earlier in the primary, Hamawy argued that Abdel-Rahman was a spiritual leader in the state’s Muslim community and «wasn’t preaching death and destruction all the time» while adding that he himself abhors all violence.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Hamawy and Abdel-Rahman first met at a middle school forum in Matawan, New Jersey, in 1991, according to the former’s testimony in court.

The candidate did not respond to Fox News’ latest request for comment.