This article originally appeared in the National Post.
By Joe Adam George, December 23, 2025
Last Friday, three men were arrested in Toronto and charged with hate-motivated extremism targeting women and members of the Jewish community. One of them, 26-year-old Waleed Khan, also faces terrorism charges linked to ISIS, an exceptionally violent Sunni jihadist group also known as the Islamic State. According to the RCMP, Khan allegedly conspired with “persons known and unknown” in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario to commit murder — a chilling indication that other extremist elements could be involved. It is the third ISIS-related arrest in Canada this year, following earlier cases in Montreal and Newmarket, bringing the total number of arrested suspects linked to the group since 2023 to 23.
The timing is unsettling. Days earlier, an ISIS attack in Palmyra, Syria killed three American soldiers. In Australia, an ISIS-inspired — or possibly directed — attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach left 15 people dead. These events do not signal a sudden ISIS resurgence. They reflect a harsh reality: ISIS was never defeated. It has adapted, endured and remains a tenacious counterterrorism threat with global reach.
According to the Washington Institute’s map of Islamic State activity, ISIS-linked attacks over the past year total 1,142 worldwide, causing 5,393 casualties. At least 383 ISIS-related arrests have already been recorded globally this year. Far from fading into irrelevance, the group continues to operate at scale, exploiting political instability, social fractures and digital ecosystems across continents.
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