A former Salafi jihadist who later worked as an undercover operative for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told a royal commission on Thursday that antisemitism functions as the 'connective tissue across extremist ideologies,' accounting for roughly 70 per cent of cases handled by his current counter-extremism organisation.
Former jihadist turned undercover operative tells antisemitism royal commission about radicalisation and deradicalisation
A former Salafi jihadist who later worked as an undercover operative for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told a royal commission on Thursday that antisemitism functions as the 'connective tissue across extremist ideologies,' accounting for roughly 70 per cent of cases handled by his current counter-extremism organisation.
Mubinoddin Shaikh appeared before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which has been examining pathways to violent extremism and subsequent disengagement from harmful ideologies.
Shaikh grew up in a conservative Muslim household in Toronto, Canada. He told the commission he travelled to Pakistan in mid-1995 on an immersive religious tour with the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic movement. He described a prior incident — being caught by his uncle hosting a party while his parents were away — as pivotal in setting him on a path toward religious extremism.
During that trip, Shaikh said he had a chance encounter with armed Taliban members at a mosque. He recounted one of them picking up an AK-47 and saying: 'If you want to succeed in this life and the next, you do it with this.' Shaikh told the commission he 'became enamoured' with the men at a time when he was seeking a sense of belonging. 'I wanted to be like them, I wanted to join them,' he said. 'I thought I had found the group that I should have been with.'
Upon returning to Canada, Shaikh left Tablighi Jamaat and joined an extremist Salafist group. He said the group discussed geopolitical conflicts, including the possibility of travelling to fight in Chechnya, though members were ultimately dissuaded. 'Going overseas and fighting the great jihad was that umbrella desire … that we all had,' he said. He described the group's dynamic as resembling a 'gang mentality' and said members were aware they were 'intimidating people.'
Shaikh said he met regularly with the group between 1995 and 1998 and began distancing himself after he married and started planning for a family.
He described the 9/11 attacks as the trigger for his deradicalisation. He said he could not reconcile the mass violence with Islamic tradition. 'Especially seeing planes fly into buildings … I could not understand how this fit into the Islamic war tradition,' he told the commission. He said others in his Salafist group were 'jubilant' over the attacks, which prompted him to sever ties entirely.
In the years that followed, Shaikh pursued Arabic, Islamic, and Sufi spirituality studies in Syria before being recruited as an undercover operative by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He was also involved in counter-ISIS activities for the US military.
Shaikh now works with Peace for Parents, a not-for-profit organisation supporting families and groups affected by extremism. He works one-on-one with young people referred by parents, guardians, or schools. He told the commission the organisation had recently established a specific intervention strategy for antisemitism-related cases, noting that 70 per cent of its cases show 'some kind of antisemitic influence.'
- The Royal Commission's own findings, interim conclusions, or formal recommendations are not stated in the source.
- No response or position from any other witness, commissioner, or party appearing before the commission is included.
- The source does not specify which country or jurisdiction convened the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
- The source does not describe the full scope or mandate of the royal commission beyond its examination of pathways to violent extremism.
- No detail is provided about the nature or duration of Shaikh's undercover work for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
- The source does not describe the size, reach, or funding of Peace for Parents, beyond identifying it as a not-for-profit.
- The total number of cases handled by Peace for Parents is not given, making the 70 per cent figure difficult to contextualise.
Read the original at ABC News Australia