A new report details how the Israeli government is covertly and illicitly trying to influence public affairs in Canada.

While countries regularly lobby one another, four cases of Israel’s actions crossed a line because they were done in secret, according to Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CJPME), the advocacy group behind the report.

First, in October 2023, the Israeli consulate in Toronto secretly commissioned an opinion poll that “manipulated Canadian public opinion about Israel’s war on Gaza,” according to an investigation by The Breach. The poll used “completely and totally loaded questions,” another pollster commented, to sway results in support of Israel’s bombing of Gaza and to make it appear that Canadians were concerned about pro-Palestine protests. The poll was conducted by high-powered Toronto PR firm Aurora Strategies Global without disclosing it was paid for by the Israeli consulate. A select group of Liberal MPs received the results before the poll was published and discussed how to bring it to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attention.

Second, Israel’s Ministry of Justice secretly hired the high-powered Torys law firm in Toronto in 2019 to intervene in a legal dispute over Canada’s labelling of wines from illegal West Bank settlements, according to The Breach. After the intervention by Torys, the government appealed an earlier court decision, fighting the courts in Israel’s favour.

Third, Israel has secretly funded a series of propaganda trips to Israel for politicians and journalists. This includes trips organized by the Ontario-based Exigent Foundation, which took place as recently as 2025, according to a PressProgress investigation.

Fourth, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs funded a secret campaign targeting Canada and the U.S. by making websites for fake groups, along with hundreds of fake social media accounts powered by ChatGPT, according to Haaretz and the New York Times. The campaign spread pro-Israel and Islamophobic messages, portraying Muslims as a threat to the West. Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister at the time, Chrystia Freeland, said this was unacceptable.

The report also raises the alarm about how Israeli ministries and leaders are doxxing Canadian activists and openly calling for restricting Canadians’ right to protest.

Canadian media ignores report, government staying quiet

While concerns around foreign interference from Russia, India, China and other nations receive significant attention from Canadian politicians and media, the new CJPME report was not covered by Canadian media nor discussed publicly by Mark Carney’s Liberal government.

International outlets The Cradle and Middle East Eye published articles about it.

CJPME tells The Grind they sent the report to Parliament’s Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development for their ongoing study on Global Impact of Transnational Repression. The subcommittee acknowledged receipt of the report, according to CJPME, but it has not yet been added as a brief to their website.

Global Affairs Canada did not answer The Grind’s questions for this article, telling us to ask Public Safety Canada instead. Nearly two weeks after receiving questions, Public Safety sent generic comment, which did not answer our questions. Their only update was that “Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) assessed that the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada remains unchanged.”

Neither Public Safety nor Global Affairs Canada would say whether the government had received and read CJPME’s report.

Public Safety suggested asking the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) for comment. The NSICOP had published a report in 2024 titled Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions. The report does not mention Israel, but CJPME notes Israel may have been one of the three countries that was redacted in Chapter 2 of the report, titled “Key Threat Actors,” which identified the six “primary perpetrators of repression against ethnocultural communities in Canada.”

In February 2023, the Toronto Star reported that, according to a Conservative Party source, Canadian security agencies had flagged Israel as one of six countries potentially engaging in influence activities, along with China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran. While the U.S. wields enormous influence over Canadian affairs in overt ways, Canada’s security agencies haven’t raised the alarm about covert American influence, at least not publicly.

NSICOP would not comment directly on the CJPME report, saying the committee only comments through its official reports. A spokesperson also said they would not reveal the names of the redacted countries in their 2024 report.

The NSICOP Secretariat suggested contacting the Privy Council Office (PCO) for comment. The PCO, which provides non-partisan support to the prime minister and cabinet, responded to say they had nothing to add to the comments Public Safety sent The Grind..

Why the lack of concern?

“The CJPME report is authoritative, provocative (in the best sense of that word) and demands a fuller investigation by the Canadian government itself,” Michael Lynk tells The Grind by email. Lynk is an emeritus law professor at the University of Windsor and is a former UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967.

To date, Lynk says, “the Canadian government has not taken the issue of foreign interference coming from Israel seriously, certainly not to the scale of its apparent interference.”

Asked why Israel seems to get off easy, Lynk states that “no other foreign state has as effective a domestic lobby in Canada advocating on its behalf and closely coordinating its advocacy with this foreign state.”

“There is no Russia lobby or a very effective China lobby in Canada,” Lynk continued. The organizations in the Israeli lobby,” which are separate from the Israeli government, “are not doing anything illegal, but they are advocating for a state that is in multiple violations on international law and hundreds of UN resolutions.”

“I cannot think of another country that stands so firmly on the wrong side of international law, yet continues to enjoy normal relationships with Canada,” he added.

Lynk believes the government should take the report seriously, but doubts it will. This, he says, will be “the litmus test on whether the mild criticisms that the Carney government has issued towards Israel over the past year have any real substance or are meant as eyewash.”

The Israeli consulate in Toronto, Torys, Aurora Strategies Global and the the Exigent Foundation did not respond to The Grind’s requests for comment.

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