Islam in Canada and Australia > Iran behind McGill U. protest camp; Australia raises terror threat level to 'probable'

 

Iran masterminded anti-Israel protest

in Canadian university

by Negar Mojtahedi, Iran International, August 2, 2024:

Iran was behind the anti-Israel protests on at least one Canadian university in an attempt to undermine Western support for Israel and fuel divisiveness on Canadian soil, sources combating digital disinformation told Iran International.

Cyber security company XPOZ, through the use of a large-scale analysis of factual evidence and data that’s collected on social networks, came to the conclusion that Iran was behind the campus protests at McGill university in Montreal.

Analysts working for the American cyber company, which monitors social media, use AI technology to unmask the networks and campaigns behind “inauthentic” users interacting on a large scale.

They dug deeper into inauthentic accounts, which could be defined as either bots or fake users managed by a foreign power, operating in a highly coordinated matter on social platforms. They said the coordination aspect is key because that’s how social media algorithms work to push a certain narrative. The analysts also used technology to investigate the content such users post.

What they found was that there was a high-percentage of inauthentic accounts primarily written in Farsi, coming from Iranians inside Iran linked to the regime and IRGC, fueling the campus protests at McGill. Analysts told Iran International they are confident…

Neil Oberman, a Canadian lawyer who recently represented students who filed an injunction against the McGill encampment, said the XPOZ data suggesting Iran’s role in the protests proves “foreign interference.”…

For Oberman, this is not an issue of antisemitism or the Jewish and Iranian communities but rather about Canada and the safety of all Canadians.

And therefore, it will continue to be ignored by the hapless Canadian government. 

 

Australia raises terror threat level to 'probable'

By Clyde Hughes 

Director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization Mike Burgess said the country had raised its terror threat level to "probable" amid an increased threat of domestic terror. File Photo by Darren England/EPA-EFE

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Australia on Monday raised its terror threat alert level to "probable," citing an increased threat of domestic terrorism due to radicalization, mostly online.

The government's website said the change from "possible" to "probable" indicated a greater than 50% chance of an "onshore attack or attack planning" in the next 12 months.

"Australia's security landscape has entered a vulnerable period and is being challenged by new threats with concerning trajectories," it said in a statement.

"Our landscape reflects the social and political environment in which we live -- social cohesion is lower, and trust in governments and democratic processes globally are eroding."

It added the Australian Security Intelligence organization had observed emerging domestic terror actors "increasingly driven by socio-political issues, intersecting with personal grievances" as well as a rise in extremism "fueled by conspiracy theories and anti-authority ideologies."

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said in a statement that the country's safety environment is now "more volatile and unpredictable" and that the chance of violent extremists taking advantage of that uncertainty has increased.

"This trend increased during COVID, gained further momentum after the terrorist attacks in Israel, and accelerated during Israel's military response," Burgess said.

The government said social media has been a key driver for the current safety volatility, acting "as a way and platform" for the radicalization of individuals by extremist groups. It said the platform has allowed violent ideologies to amplify their messages.

"More Australians are being radicalized and being radicalized more quickly," Burgess said. "More Australians are willing to use violence to advance their cause. Politically motivated violence now joins espionage and foreign interference as our principal security concerns."

Many times I have written that Muslims are very easily provoked to hysteria. Some relatively small incident could trigger astonishing violence. 

Far-right violence is also liable to explode because ordinary people are beginning to see that their governments are favouring Muslim people even though they contribute little or nothing good to their communities.

Burgess stressed, though, that the threat level increase did not mean that he had any information about possible attack plans or expectations of a coming attack.

Authorities said those risks could include something low-tech like knives or improvised weapons, likely involving young people who had been radicalized.

==================================================