Toronto men, including one linked to ISIS, charged with targeting Jewish women for assault

JTA – Three Toronto men were arrested by Canadian police on Friday for allegedly attempting kidnappings targeting Jews and women. 

Waleed Khan, 26, Osman Azizov, 18, and Fahad Sadaat, 19, of Toronto each face more than a dozen charges, including two counts of sexual assault with a weapon and two counts of attempted kidnapping with a firearm, according to the Toronto Police Service. 

Khan was also separately charged with multiple terrorism offences, including providing property to fund ISIS and conspiring to commit murder on behalf of a terrorist group, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 

The arrests stemmed from an investigation into two failed kidnappings allegedly perpetrated by the men several months ago. The attempted kidnappings stemmed in part from “hate-motivated extremism,” according to Toronto police, who said they found evidence in the suspects’ homes that they were “particularly targeting women and members of the Jewish community”. 

The arrests were welcomed by Noah Shack, the chief executive of Canada’s Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, who warned that the recent terror attack in Sydney showed that “we are one intelligence failure away from a devastating loss of life”. 

“It is alarming that multiple Islamic State-related terrorist plots have been uncovered over the past two years in Canada,” Shack said in a statement posted on X. “This goes far beyond the safety of any one group. It is a matter of national security and public safety. There is a ticking time bomb in our country that our leaders must confront before it’s too late.” 

In September 2024, a Pakistani man was arrested in Quebec for plotting to kill “as many Jewish people as possible” in an attack in support of ISIS in New York City. Months earlier in July, a father and son were also arrested in Toronto for allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired attack on the local Jewish community.