Phil Gurski on the October 7th attacks and the threat by Jihadi terrorists globally. join us at the Albany Club on October 22nd rsvp opibooks.com Events urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2… @borealissaves @exigentimpact @AJCGlobal @bnaibrithcanada

An important address by the author of 9/11 The Unfinished Battle We are at the Canadian War Museum attending 25 Years After 9/11 Terrorism Security and the Changing Canadian Landscape Phil Gurski author of 9/11, The Unfinished Battle providing some opening comments along with The US Ambassador’s representative (Jack Bethke) also addressed the audience. Lest We Forget @opibooks @mindingottawa @stevenchase @scoopercooper @MIGSinstitute @kylecmatthews @itsrobroberts @exigentimpact @brianlilley @GarryClement2 @CPAC will cover the 11:15 panel Has Canada’s Security & Intelligence architecture changed enough to meet the threat?

Having just returned from Israel, where I investigated multiple dimensions of this conflict firsthand, I came away with a far deeper and more sobering understanding of what is actually unfolding. Claims of genocide dominate Western discourse, yet they are often amplified by advocacy narratives and Hamas-aligned propaganda that many foreign journalists absorb uncritically and largely because they lack open, unmediated access to ordinary Palestinians in Gaza. Those voices exist. They are people who want stability, dignity, and the ability to live their lives in peace and economic security alongside Israel. They are rarely heard, not because they are few, but because Hamas and its sponsors do not permit pluralism, dissent, or transparency. What reaches Western audiences instead is a curated reality, shaped by intimidation, coercion, and information warfare. What became unmistakably clear is how sophisticated and deeply embedded proxy operations by Hezbollah and Hamas have become; operations strengthened not only by Iranian funding and training, but by Western failure. For years, we transferred billions of dollars into Gaza and affiliated structures with virtually no chain of custody, no meaningful transparency, and no enforceable accountability. We assumed intent without verification and substituted moral signaling for operational rigor. The result was predictable. Resources meant for humanitarian relief were diverted into tunnels, weapons, command structures, and propaganda ecosystems. Aid did not produce a pathway to peace or governance reform; it entrenched armed actors whose strategic objective is perpetual conflict. This was not merely naïveté, it was systemic incompetence, repeated despite mounting evidence. If there is a lesson here, it is that good intentions without controls do not produce peace. They produce capture. And until Western governments are willing to confront how their own policies enabled these proxy networks to thrive, we will continue to misunderstand the conflict, misdiagnose its causes, and finance outcomes directly opposed to the lives and aspirations of the very civilians we claim to defend. Understanding how these operations are effectively funded is also a key to disrupting their ability to kill at will for no good reason other than a cult with a fanatical ideology steeped in hatred. Good journalism requires an investment in both time and direct experience in the field. I along with others gained those insights. Never Forget, our pledge to, Never Again and yet our reaction post October 7th we have.