Controversial imam Adil Charkaoui has made public calls for violence in speeches in Montreal since the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
“O God, take care of the aggressor Zionists. Take charge of the enemies of Gaza. Count them one by one and kill them in the long term and do not exclude any of them,” he declared in a speech in Arabic accessible on his Tiktok account.
The invocation was delivered in front of Place des Arts, downtown, as part of a pro-Palestine demonstration in late October, in front of a large crowd.
In another speech, dating from mid-October, the one who coordinates the Canadian Anti-Islamophobia Collective implores in the same way, in Arabic, that the enemies of the Gazans “be identified and killed without any remaining” and that they are experiencing a “black day”.
He says he wants the release of prisoners from Zionist jails.
Other declarations
Adil Charkaoui is best known for being imprisoned for almost two years starting in 2003, due to alleged links to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.
The imam, who has been a Canadian citizen since 2014 and currently preaches in a mosque in the Rosemont district of Montreal, is not making his first controversial statements since October 7.
“Settlers are fleeing like rats from the land they have illegally occupied. Alhamdoulilah [Dieu merci en français]“, he wrote on X on October 7, adding the hashtag “AqsaTorrent” to the publication (the very name of the Hamas terrorist operation).
Adil Charkaoui welcomes the al-Aqsa terrorist operation on X (formerly Twitter). Photo credit: X account screenshot of Adil Charkaoui
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His message was linked to a video he relayed where we see people fleeing into the desert. Some 1,400 people were massacred in Israel during the October 7 terrorist attacks, including young participants at a music festival trying to flee into the desert.
In another publication, Charkaoui reported the capture by Hamas terrorists of Israeli general Nimrod Aloni.
Which Palestine?
“Liberation of several localities in occupied Palestine! The wall of shame was destroyed, several soldiers were taken prisoner, the settlers fled like rats… Saturday at dawn, the al-Aqsa operation began,” Charkaoui wrote in early October in another message, using the same image of fleeing rats and again referring to the name of the Hamas terrorist operation.
Adil Charkaoui welcomes the al-Aqsa terrorist operation on X (formerly Twitter). Photo credit: X account screenshot of Adil Charkaoui
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Contacted by our Investigation Office, Adil Charkaoui did not respond to our messages.
Not a first
This is not the first time that Adil Charkaoui has been suspected of having sympathy for radical movements:
2003: Suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda, he was arrested by the Canadian government in May 2003. He was released after 21 months of incarceration with conditions.
2015: Sabrine Djermane and El Mahdi Jamali are accused of wanting to leave Canada to join the ranks of the Islamic State, or Daesh. It was established that Mr. Jamali attended the Assahaba mosque where Mr. Charkaoui preaches, before being arrested in April 2015.
2021: Adil Charkaoui preaches in favor of the Taliban, a group considered by Canada to be a terrorist entity. “Afghanistan has never been so secure […] Men, women and children are finally enjoying liberation,” writes Charkaoui on Twitter.
– With the collaboration of Chrystian Viens, Yves Lévesque and Sarah-Maude Lefebvre.