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Toronto (July 19, 2024) – B'nai Brith Canada (BBC) and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) are renewing their call for the Canadian government to list Ansar Allah, better known as the Houthi movement, as a terrorist entity under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act.

BBC and FSWC call on the Federal Government to respond to the Ansar Allah’s incessant deadly assaults on international shipping and indiscriminate attacks against Israel including a heinous deadly attack involving a UAV drone that struck a civilian apartment in central Tel Aviv on July 19.

Under the Criminal Code, the Federal Government can add an entity to the terrorist list if there are "reasonable grounds to believe that the entity has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity."

The repeated targeting of Israeli civilians and unprecedented attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden underscore that Ansar Allah’s objective is to use the threat of violence to further their agenda and that of the Iranian Regime for which they operate as a proxy. Listing Ansar Allah as a terrorist entity will impede their fundraising and organizing abilities and will further enable Canadian authorities to confront the evolving threat the group poses to global peace and security.

Designating Ansar Allah as a terrorist entity would bring Canada in line with actions already undertaken by its allies and the global community. The United States recently re-designated Ansar Allah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group, additionally Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia have also listed the extremist group as a terrorist entity.

Three Houthi leaders Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Abdul Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi, and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim are already listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Ansar Allah has been widely accused of committing crimes against humanity, due to their horrific treatment of the Yemeni people. Their deep connections to the IRGC and Hezbollah, both of which are already listed entities in Canada, as part of the Iran led ‘Axis of Resistance’ are pervasive and well-documented.

The time is now for the Canadian government to act. Canada must formally recognize Ansar Allah for what they really are: a terrorist organization and a threat to international security