Prime Minister Mark Carney's suggestion last week that Canada should consider reopening an embassy in the Islamic Republic of Iran for the sake of "engagement" could lead to dangerous results, warns Beryl Wajsman in a National Post op-ed. Reopening embassies are not one-way streets; if Iran agreed, it would demand that its embassy in Ottawa be reopened. If that happened, the world's largest state sponsor of terror and antisemitism would have an operations centre in the heart of Canadian soil.
Threat to Jewish Canadians
Another justification the prime minister put forward for considering a restoration of diplomatic relations with Iran is that it will help Canadians abroad. But Wajsman asks: How many Jewish Canadians will it hurt here at home? He questions whether Jewish Canadians are entitled to the same protections that should be equally afforded to all citizens.
Over the past two years, Canadians have witnessed the worst explosion of antisemitism in the country's modern history. Synagogues have been firebombed, Jewish schools have been shot at, community centres have required armed security, Jewish students have been intimidated on university campuses, and demonstrations have featured calls for the destruction of Israel and rhetoric directed against Canadian Jews themselves.
Iran's role in global antisemitism
These events did not arise spontaneously. Behind much of the global campaign against Israel stands the Islamic Republic of Iran. It finances Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations whose stated objective is not peace but Israel's destruction. Iran spends billions exporting revolutionary Islamist ideology and anti-Jewish propaganda around the world. It funded and organized through fellow travellers in the West the explosion of antisemitic and anti-Israeli demonstrations that began one day after October 7 and nearly two weeks before Israel entered Gaza. Iran has transformed antisemitism from ancient prejudice into an instrument of state policy.
Diplomatic missions as platforms
Canadians should not imagine that these influence operations stop at the border. Iran has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to use diplomatic missions abroad as platforms for intelligence gathering, intimidation, influence operations, and support networks. Democratic governments across Europe and North America have exposed Iranian diplomatic personnel involved in surveillance, espionage, and plots against dissidents. The regime has pursued critics well beyond its own borders. Iranian Canadians who fled persecution understand this reality better than anyone.
Worldwide infrastructure
The threat extends beyond the Iranian diaspora. Iran has invested enormous financial resources into building a worldwide infrastructure of anti-Israel activism through proxies, front organizations, and terrorist movements. Hamas and Hezbollah do not simply wage war in the Middle East; their narratives, propaganda, and ideological influence are deliberately projected into Western democracies, where they fuel polarization and increasingly normalize antisemitism.
