This report outlines the threat of Israeli foreign influence, interference, and transnational repression in Canada. It reviews documented reports of Israel covertly intervening in Canadians public affairs in various forms, and recommends measures that Canada can take to counter this malicious activity.

Click here to download the report as a PDF, or read the Executive Summary and Summary of Recommendations below.

Executive Summary

In 2023, the Toronto Star reported that Canadian security agencies had flagged Israel as one of six countries “potentially engaging in influence activities” alongside China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran within Canada.^[1] During the subsequent period, a series of investigations have exposed a pattern of the Israeli state engaging in illegitimate foreign influence that targets the Canadian public, increasingly relying on deception, covert ops, and other underhanded tactics. These practices in Canada are also observed globally.

In multiple instances, Israel has used Canadian individuals or businesses as proxies to conceal its role in influence activities. These activities have been directed by various levels of the Israeli state, from its Consulate in Toronto to the Israeli ministries of Foreign Affairs, Diaspora Affairs, and Justice. With the Israeli government’s state budget for 2026 reserving $730 million USD for campaigns to boost the image of the country overseas (so-called hasbara or public diplomacy), it is likely that many initiatives remain undisclosed to the public.^[2]

The report looks at documented examples of foreign interference by the Israeli state in Canada. Interference involves foreign states attempting to covertly influence decisions or outcomes, using deception to hide their role. Examples of Israeli interference in Canada discussed in the below report include:

• Covert funding of opinion polls to manipulate Canadian public opinion on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
• Covert interference in government regulations to prevent the labelling of goods from illegal Israeli settlements.
• Covert funding of propaganda junkets for Canadian politicians and journalists to Israel.
• Official propaganda junkets for Canadian leaders to Israel, which lack transparency.
• Covert propagation of racist anti-Muslim disinformation, using fabricated front organizations and AI-based social media accounts.

The report also looks at Israel’s activities of transnational repression, which refers to the targeting of critics outside of its borders, often from specific ethnic or cultural communities, through monitoring, coercion, harassment, intimidation or violence. Examples of Israeli transnational repression in Canada discussed in the below report include:

• Advocating for restrictions on Canadians’ democratic rights.
• Surveillance, profiling, and doxxing of Canadians in the Palestine solidarity movement.
• The risk of Israeli spyware used to target activists in Canada, as deployed by various regimes and even Canadian police services.

The pattern of deception and disinformation outlined in this report demonstrates the malicious role of the Israeli state in interfering in Canadian public affairs, undermining the rights and safety of Canadians. This rogue state behaviour has taken place within Canadian borders with a total lack of accountability, and requires immediate intervention by authorities.

The report urges the Government of Canada to acknowledge that Israel is a noteworthy threat actor in relation to foreign interference and transnational repression, both in Canada and around the world, and take immediate action to address this threat.

It recommends that Canada hold malicious actors accountable by applying the “many legal and diplomatic tools available to fight foreign interference” as described by Public Safety Canada,^[3] including by expelling the Israeli Ambassador and other diplomats found to be responsible for practices of interference and repression.

The report also outlines a series of recommendations to improve transparency and education around Israeli foreign intervention in Canada, and to address the growing threat of Israeli spyware and mass surveillance technologies. 

Summary of Recommendations

To ensure that there is accountability for actors engaged in foreign interference and repression, the Canadian government should:

1. Acknowledge that Israel is a noteworthy threat actor in relation to foreign interference and transnational repression, and ensure that Canada’s “unified federal response to foreign interference” includes countering Israel’s activities in Canada, especially transnational repression of human rights defenders.
2. Expel the Israeli Ambassador and other diplomats found to be responsible for practices of interference and repression.
3. Place sanctions on people and organizations responsible for spreading disinformation and propaganda in support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
4. Ensure that the Foreign Influence Transparency Registry applies equally and as forcefully to those cooperating with the Israeli government as to any other foreign state.

To increase transparency and education on the problem of foreign Israeli influence, the Canadian government should:

1. Publicly acknowledge the harmful pattern of foreign Israeli influence, intervention, and transnational repression in Canada and around the world.
2. Remove any redactions of references to Israel in the NSICOP report.
3. Raise public awareness about, with an aim to discourage, the participation of Canadians in Israeli influence schemes. This should target Canadian entities operating as proxies or front groups, as well as influential figures who accept all-expenses-paid trips to Israel sponsored by the Israeli government.
4. Provide assistance and protection to communities in Canada who are targeted by Israeli interventions and its transnational repression.

On cybersecurity, the Canadian government should:

1. Acknowledge that Israeli technology and spyware are of particular concern for enabling digital transnational repression by a host of threat actors around the world.
2. Implement all remaining recommendations of the ETHI committee’s report (2022) on “Device Investigative Tools used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Related Issues.” This includes creating a list of banned spyware vendors and establishing clear rules on export controls over surveillance technologies.
3. Prohibit the procurement and operation of Israeli cybersecurity “spyware” by any federal department or Crown agency in Canada, including provincial police forces.
4. Advance measures to prohibit Canadians from investing in Israeli spyware companies linked to human rights abuses and repression, and sanction those companies whose spyware has been used to target civil society and human rights defenders.

^[1] T MacCharles, S Levitz, & A Ballingall, “Ottawa must sharpen its monitoring of foreign interference in elections,” report says, Toronto Star, July 19 2023, https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/ottawa-must-sharpen-its-monitoring-of-foreign-interference-in-elections-report-says/article_91413eb3-0f60-5b66-bfb6-78eb86d6f930.html

^[2] A Elia-Shalev, “Israel just quadrupled its PR budget to $730M, experts claim it won’t work,” Jerusalem Post, April 29, 2026, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-894645

^[3] Public Safety Canada, “How Canada responds to foreign interference,” last modified December 29, 2025, https://www.securitepublique.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/frgn-ntrfrnc/cnd-rspds-frgn-ntrfrnc-en.aspx