Serious Public Dangers

"Who knows how to hurt these people the most? You or me?"
"These people [Canadians], they only understand the language of two things. Death and money ... That's it. You hurt them ... you hit them where it really hurts. You take their lives, you take their wealth ... You do these two, they will go crazy."
"[Killing] 50 people on a train [not even] a thousand people ... is it really a big deal to them? No. They [Islamist jihadis] killed how many in 9/ll?"
"They [Canadians] don't give, they don't give a damn, they don't, they didn't even blink. They have no problem, sheep."
"That wasn't a rumour, that actually happened [that Jews in the Twin Towers took the day off on 9/11]."
"[To make their effort count they would have to kill] the expensive Jew, the rich Jew, the Jew that is ... Zionist. Those guys are here. [The ] richest Jews ... in the whole planet [live in Toronto]. And when you take out, when you take 50 of them out, what happens? You will drive them crazy ... you think it's harder to shoot someone in the head? Or to derail a train?"
Raed Jaser, convicted terrorist

Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, two men accused of plotting to derail a Via passenger train travelling between Canada and the U.S., have been found guilty on eight of nine terror-related charges. CBC News

Nothing but hate-infused contempt for Canadians, but for Jews in very particular. Raed Jaser felt compelled to involve himself in a terrorist scheme, as long as he would come out of it intact. He wasn't one of those martyrdom-obsessed jihadis, who felt a driving obligation to Islam and to their place in Paradise to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause, but he was prepared to make an effort. And his motivating drive was not merely to advance the cause of Islam but to line his pockets also.

He and Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian who arrived in Canada on a student visa to work on his bioengineering doctorate in Montreal both felt they owed no humanitarian regard to Canada or the people who live there. Of Palestinian descent by way of the United Arab Emirates, Raed Jaser came to Canada with his family in 1993. A petty crook, his criminal background kept him from achieving Canadian citizenship. On the other hand, he couldn't be deported and is a permanent resident.

Raed Jaser felt his friend's scheme represented too much effort for too little payback, and preferred to pursue other schemes, using a sharpshooter to pick off wealthy Jews in as many numbers as possible. Chiheb Esseghaier, having pledged his allegiance to the 'Brothers' back in Iran, went for the original plot he had hatched, to drill a hole in a railway bridge overpass to derail a passenger train en route from New York to Toronto.

After they were questioned briefly by police, who had detained them to ask what they were doing walking about on the bridge (to scope it out for their potential attack), while in the presence of an undercover FBI officer, Raed Jaser wanted no further part of the scheme, while Chiheb Esseghaier continued to be committed to it. They were arrested in April 2013. And almost two full years later, a three-week trial and a ten-day jury deliberation found both guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

Canada will not be endeared to their opinion any more graciously nor deeply when they are sentenced on April 10th, to a prison stay. But they will find comfort in their new opportunities to spread their venomous Islamist ideology of violent jihad in a system that appears to be infused with Islamist jihadist sympathizers prepared to join their crusade for Islamist justice and a conquering caliphate.