Three Toronto men were charged with hate-motivated crimes targeting women and the Jewish community.

One of the suspects was also charged with terrorism offenses and has connections to the Islamic State (IS). Moustafa Ayad, ISD executive director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia, spoke to Global News about trends in IS propaganda, as the group attempts to incite more attacks during the holiday season. 

“And so it makes sense to me from the charges that this suspect was attached to the larger Islamic State ecosystem, meant to inspire attacks, meant to solidify ideology,” Moustafa said. 

Moustafa explains that recent IS propaganda has focused on attacking Jewish communities, “but there is also a focus on just conducting attacks when you can to strike fear into the hearts of the disbelievers, as they would put it.” 

The full article is available on Global News.