Omar Khadr, a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist with $10.5M wealth, flew first class from Toronto to Halifax despite no-fly restrictions and a pledge never to enter U.S. airspace, sparking outrage when security blocked the host for asking questions about his refusal to renounce terrorism or pay widow Tabitha Spear. Andrew Lawton of True North confirmed Khadr’s preferential treatment across Canada’s establishment—government, courts, media, and police—while public opinion overwhelmingly opposes him, exposing a double standard where accountability is absent for war criminals yet enforced against critics. Tonight’s Dalhousie University speech risks further normalizing his narrative unless he finally addresses his crimes beyond vague apologies. [Automatically generated summary]
I was flying to Halifax to report on Omar Cotter's speech.
Little did I know that Cotter was sitting just a few rows ahead of me in the airplane.
I'll let you know how that goes.
Before I do, let me invite you to become a premium subscriber to Rebel News.
Just go to premium.rebelnews.com.
Here's today's show.
Tonight, I flew to Halifax to listen to a speech by Omar Khadr.
Little did I know he was sitting a few rows in front of me on the plane.
It's February 10th, and this is the Ezra Levance Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say is government.
But why should I?
It's because it's my bloody right to do so.
I'm in a hotel room in Halifax right now.
As you can see from the window behind me, it is awful out there.
Wind, rain, sleet, snow, the works.
So forgive me for taping this inside my hotel room.
My story was meant to start tonight when I go to hear Omar Cotter speak at Dalhousie University.
Now, the timing of it was such that I was going to record my interaction today and play it on the show tomorrow.
It's just time zones and I don't know what I would get and we'd need time to edit it.
But I flew in early to Halifax to make sure I wasn't late for the event and to get checked in and all ready.
And I want to tell you, when I went on to the plane, I passed through business class to where I was sitting in the economy seats.
And not that it mattered, but I noticed someone turn away and hide their face and look at something else.
Now, I didn't feel like they were hiding from me.
I just saw someone turn away and he was sitting next to a woman in a hijab, but that's not particularly remarkable.
So I thought nothing of it.
Two and a half hours passed.
As we were landing and getting off the plane, I was about three seats behind this fella.
I saw as he stood up and turned his face slightly, the man who had hidden himself from me on that flight was Omar Cotter.
And it wasn't just a coincidence that someone turned away as I walked on the plane.
He obviously knew who I was and was hiding his face deliberately.
Well, I was enough rows back that I couldn't catch up with him then.
And he got off the plane.
I assume he had bolted.
So I asked both the flight attendant and the co-pilot who was standing in the aisle if they knew that an al-Qaeda terrorist who presumably is on a no-fly list was on their plane.
Neither of them said they knew anything about it.
And they encouraged me to contact Air Canada.
Anyways, I left the plane assuming that Omar Cotter had long gone.
I mean, the fact that he hid his face from me suggests he knew I was there to report on him.
I'm one of the handful of skeptical journalists in this country when it comes to Omar Cotter.
As you may know, a few years back, I published a book about Omar Cotter called The Enemy Within.
Terror Lies in the Whitewashing of Omar Cotter.
So I took my time to get off the plane, but as I walked down by the baggage area, I saw Omar Cotter, his wife, and a gaggle of fans.
I think all of them were women.
It's like the women who write, become pen pals with serial killers in prison.
There's a strange phenomenon of liberal women loving terrorists and murderers.
And he was surrounded by a gaggle of them.
And I thought, I'm going to go up to him very calm, very gently, and just ask some very basic questions, starting with why were you on the plane?
I have to admit, I didn't have all my best questions ready.
I didn't think I would be engaging with Cotter till much later that night.
I had seen an email from the university suggesting that there would be no direct interaction with Omar Carter.
All the questions would be filtered by a moderator.
So, really, my plan was not to engage with Cotter himself.
He would be protected by a bodyguard of compliant journalists.
So, I put the questions to him that I could.
For example, I asked him why he was on an airplane.
I asked why he was hiding his money from Tabitha Spear, the widow of Christopher Speer, the U.S. Army medic murdered by Omar Cotter.
I asked why he did not renounce his father's jihad.
I tried to put my questions.
Let me show you how that went.
Proud Defender of a Terrorist00:03:47
Can I have a word?
Oh, that's a good question.
Can I talk to you for a minute?
You're going to take a selfie together?
If you want, yeah?
Can I ask you a couple questions?
How did you get on the plane?
I thought you were on the no-fly list.
See, this is exactly what we figured would happen.
Why don't we go ahead and move away from the other things that are hurtful?
But aren't you on the no-fly list?
Is there security for me or for him?
For filming a person when that's really not an okay thing to do.
Can I ask you why you won't let the widow have access to some of the money you got?
Senior officer needs to harass us.
I'm not harassing anybody.
That's a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist right there who just flew on an airplane.
Okay, so well, he's entitled to go.
He's entitled to do what?
He's entitled to leave the airport.
Yeah, that's good.
Thanks.
Excuse me, sir.
That's assault.
Keep your hands off me.
Yeah, where did she go?
Where did you go?
Why have you never renounced your father's terrorism?
I don't understand.
Why have you never renounced your father's terrorism?
Just walk.
We need to go.
Because we're not under Sharia law.
Let's just walk to the park.
Where have you stashed the rest of the money?
Why don't you feel an obligation to pay money to the widow whose husband you murdered and the two children?
This is an airport.
This is a public place.
Exactly, that's why I'm filming.
We're just trying to move.
Sir, she's touching me.
That's battery.
That's a homicide.
Yes, it is, actually.
That's a terrorist.
That's an al-Qaeda terrorist right there.
Al-Qaeda terrorist.
It's an al-Qaeda terrorist right there.
Al-Qaeda terrorist right there.
Okay.
Go ahead.
Just go on.
Sir.
Yes.
Yeah.
Sir?
Yes.
Yes?
Why are you touching me?
You're impeding someone from leaving the building.
You're impeding me from leaving the building.
What's your name and badge?
Give me my card, sir.
Give it to me.
I will give it to you, sir.
You're very close to being arrested.
You understand?
And you're very close to getting a civil lawsuit for assault and battery.
Don't trade walk, sir.
Boss walks back there, okay?
Am I clear?
Don't say a walk.
What are you stepping on me for?
Stopping.
You're doing your job.
And what job is that?
Keeping the public safe.
Whose safety was in breach there?
Everyone's safety, sir.
You're a goddamn liar, and you know it.
You're a disgrace to that badge.
And you're a disgrace.
I'm proud of what I do, sir.
You're proud of defending a terrorist?
I'm proud of keeping people safe, sir.
Safe from whom?
I was furious.
I mean, my heart was pumping to begin with, coming face to face with the murderer.
I don't know if I've actually met a murderer before.
I can't say I was scared of him per se.
I don't think he would have done anything there, but my heart was pumping.
I was trying to think on my feet.
But for the police to come in and intervene and say that I was the threat, that the police would arrest me while letting a terrorist on a flight, I was shocked and furious.
Police Encounter Disputes00:10:41
What do you think about that?
Well, I am upset about the fact that Omar Cotter has been normalized, and with it, al-Qaeda, and with it, Muslim extremism, and with it, a kind of supine journalism.
I should tell you that in the past, Omar Cotter has had fake media events all the time, actually.
And here's a moment where he was first released from prison, and his lawyer said to the assembled journalists, if you ask any questions we don't like, we will cancel the press conference.
And instead of defying this lawyer or pushing back, they meekly submitted.
It was quite incredible, but it shows you that Canada's journalists are not journalists when it comes to Omar Cotter.
They're his press agents.
Take a look at this.
Let me tell you, I've had a long day, and I don't mind going back into that house.
So let's just be respectful here, okay?
You hear me?
Thank you.
Mike?
See me?
Omar is going to say a few words.
You can also ask him certain questions.
If the questions become too intrusive, then I'll shut it down and we'll go back in the house.
You know, a few years later, Kian Bechste accosted one of Cotter's lawyers with Cotter in front of a courthouse in Edmonton and referred to Cotter as a terrorist.
And I think it was literally the first time any journalist had ever described Omar Cotter as a terrorist.
Look at the reaction on the face of Omar Cotter's lawyer to that.
Take a look.
Even if he gets a passport, which airline in Canada will take him to Saudi Arabia?
You'd have to ask some Canadian airlines.
I doubt that they'd want to take a terrorist across the sea to Saudi Arabia.
Well, this is all by way of preamble.
I am here in Halifax to see the Omar Cotter event tonight.
It was originally slated to be hosted by a Muslim CBC journalist, Nala Ayed.
But of course, the CBC has been the greatest champion of Omar Cotter in Canada.
Need I remind you that just a few months ago, Omar Cotter was welcomed on CBC's French-language TV station on a program called Tulamondo Palaro.
And he was welcomed literally with music, disco balls, and glasses of champagne to an ovation.
Take a look at this.
They were cheering the terrorist, murderer, war criminal.
They were cheering him.
That was Canada's state broadcaster.
So of course Nala Ayad was going to moderate tonight.
I got an email from Dalhousie saying that she would no longer moderate just the other day and that she would be a reporter.
Yes, sure.
I think she was going to be such a loving reporter.
She knew that would become news in itself.
I should say that there is no questions allowed tonight.
I don't know if I'll be allowed in tonight at all, given my interaction with Cotter and his police.
Apparently, the police work for al-Qaeda terrorists and not law-abiding citizens anymore.
I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.
We won't have the footage in time for today's show.
But I want to say one more thing about the no-fly list.
As I say again, Omar Cotter, convicted al-Qaeda terrorist many years in Guantanamo Bay, pled guilty.
His lawyers pled guilty to a detailed confession of terrorism, obviously on the no-fly list, but he flies.
And unless they were lying to me, and they truly seem stunned, the co-pilot and flight attendant on flight 806 or 608 rather from Toronto to Halifax had no idea.
So even they were surprised.
That's terrifying.
And I do recall from Omar Cotter's guilty plea and plea bargain with the Obama administration that one of his undertakings was to never set foot in the United States again.
But I presume that means over their airspace too.
And I fly enough in Canada to know that many flights from Toronto to the West, to Vancouver, to Calgary, because of the curvature of the earth and how far south Toronto is in terms of latitude, a lot of those flights actually fly over the United States.
And obviously that's no problem.
We love them.
They love us.
We both do that.
But Omar Cotter is a convicted, confessed war criminal and al-Qaeda terrorist who signed a promise never to go into the United States again.
I wonder if the U.S. government knows that, in fact, Omar Cotter does fly over the U.S. and maybe even into the U.S. How did that happen?
Did Justin Trudeau give him a special permission to fly?
And is he flying perhaps under an assumed name, a secret name?
How many times has he flied?
Where is he flying?
Is anyone even following him?
I didn't detect any police following Omar Cotter on the plane.
And the only polices you saw at the airport were local airport cops who didn't really know what was going on.
Compare that to the United Kingdom, where you have full-time police details following along behind released terrorists.
It's a pointless gesture because they just commit terrorism before they can be stopped.
Just the other week in London, that happened.
Someone who had committed terrorism was convicted of terrorism, served a short sentence for terrorism, was back out on the street, committed terrorism again.
Now, he was quickly taken out by the team of police that followed him everywhere.
Omar Cotter has no such team of police.
He clearly knows about me since he hit his face.
And he clearly knows that he's winning.
He's the one flying first class with his $10.5 million.
He's the one that the media loves, that the police protect.
And as so often happens with our tell the other side kind of journalism, it's us that the police are investigating.
Coming up next, I talk to my friend Andrew Lawton, who I've just shown the tape to.
Well, I am still revved up from my airport encounter with Omar Khadr, and even more so with the police.
But I knew my friend Andrew Lawton from True North would be here, so I thought I'd commiserate a bit with him.
Andrew, it's great to see you.
What do you think?
What do you think of that encounter?
I was so mad.
Maybe I was too angry at the cops, but I thought, I'm not the terrorist.
He is.
Well, I think it underscores the real injustice of the whole Omar Cotter case.
I mean, here's a guy who gets a red carpet treatment wherever he goes, courts, the media, now Dalhousie University, Air Canada, apparently.
I thought he was supposed to be on a no-fly list.
No, I don't know about that.
Convicted Al Qaeda terrorists.
But I remember there was a story I read not too long ago where his lawyer was saying that it was a distinct possibility.
They didn't know at the time.
And I think that was in McLean's when he had gotten his passport back.
But again, you know, the whole idea that I've put forward about Omar Cotter in the past, and I know you have as well, is that he has never met a request that he wasn't given when it comes to how the Canadian government and Canadian courts and the media have responded to it.
Entire establishment is on his side, except the people, despise him.
I've never seen such unanimity in every single public poll against him and the payoff of him and the cuddling of him.
No, and it's not even just people that say, you know, it's a tragic situation and it's complex.
You get cheerleaders, actual cheerleaders for him.
And I wouldn't be surprised if the Rockettes are introducing him today.
And I guess the big question mark that I would have about this case is where the justification for this really comes from.
And I know that the framing of this event at Dalhousie is the child soldiers narrative, which is one that has never actually been distinctly proven.
And in fact, even if he is acknowledged as a child soldier under some UN convention, it doesn't mean he is under Canadian law and under American law.
I think Howard England, when he was with the PMO, had done a tremendous amount of research on this.
But here you've got a guy who is really held up as a victim when he's never denounced.
If he is a victim, a victim of his family, a victim of circumstance, why has he not denounced those circumstances?
He's never renounced his father.
He's never renounced the jihad in general.
He's never expressed regret for murdering Christopher Spear.
He did express a mealy-mouth regret that the widow happened to be widowed because the only person he meant to kill was Sergeant Spear.
That is not regret, remorse, apology.
The grossest thing was when the CBC had that champagne party forum.
Oh, yeah, Toulaman.
Oh, my God.
Now, the CBC was supposed to be moderating this event.
They backed out at the last moment.
I think that was someone in CBC saying, what are you doing branding us as the pro-terrorist network?
Everyone already knows they're the pro-terrorist network.
But I thought this, maybe they, like, that was interesting to me.
Even they thought this was a bad idea.
Well, and remember, you can't be a part of the story if you're covering the story.
And this is CBC's own journalistic ethics.
So now they're saying, well, they may cover the event, but they won't be a part of it hosting it.
Because again, one of the things that we know is that Omar Cotter does not want to answer any questions that aren't scripted.
Right.
He just doesn't.
I mean, this is going back to the first day that he left jail and was on his lawyer's driveway.
Every time he's appeared anywhere, there's been no opportunity for any real questions.
And the lawyers say you ask one tough question.
We're shutting up.
Yeah, we're pulling him inside.
And the media says, okay, I've never seen that before, that any lawyer says, if you ask my client a question I don't like, you're gone.
And the media says, yeah, I'm a good boy.
I'm a good puppy.
Give me a donkey treat.
I've never seen it.
It's the judiciary.
It's the, today I saw it was the police.
Let me ask for your thoughts.
I just showed you the video of what happened at the airport.
I was a little angry.
I was a little mouthy, but I didn't touch him.
I didn't block him.
I didn't swear at him.
I actually started very quiet and meek.
And the cops, I don't know, maybe they didn't know who he was.
They just saw a guy with the camera and said, back off.
But I find it extremely creepy when an al-Qaeda terrorist is a VIP first-class traveler on Air Canada, and I'm told to get away or I'll be arrested.
Well, the interesting thing about the video was people saying you're stopping them from leaving while they stand there, not moving, saying that you're stopping them from leaving.
I mean, he was free to go and he did.
And if he didn't want to answer any questions, that's his prerogative.
It's certainly your prerogative to ask them, though.
Judgment and Hope00:02:23
And I will say on a formatting note, I mean, the organizers of this event have made it so there is no opportunity for the media to engage with Omar Cotter.
The Q ⁇ A is going to be moderated Q ⁇ A questions that are submitted in advance.
So even so, any questions he takes will be approved questions.
So even after this, this public appearance, there will not be any opportunities for people to put the real questions to him.
It was a serendipitous encounter that you could, even if you didn't get any answers.
Yeah, I was not expecting that.
My questions weren't that great.
I was sort of daydreaming when you're on a plane for two and a half hours by yourself.
Your mind wanders.
I was not ready for that encounter, but I was shocked by it.
Well, listen, Andrew, I'm so glad to see you.
I bump into you at all the most interesting events around the world.
Tell our viewers we know you're with TrueNorth.
That's tnc.news.
Yes.
And you've got a podcast there.
Yep.
And is there anything else you want to tell us, any other links or projects you're working on?
Because we're big fans of yours.
You know that.
Tell our viewers that there's anything else you got going on.
So if anyone goes to andrewlawtonshow.com, they'll have all the subscribed links to my show on whatever podcast platform you have, or you can watch on YouTube as well.
And also my Twitter will be loaded up with all of the details of the Cotter event tonight, and that's at Andrew Lawton.
All right, great.
Well, listen, my friend, you're one of the good guys.
Thank you.
I believe that you and me are possibly the only two journalists who will ask a question today that's in any way journalistic, any way skeptical or critical.
And it's quite sad that that's the case.
I mean, I'm happy to help fill the gap, and I know you are, but it's a sad statement on the media culture.
Last word to you, my friend.
You know, look, this is not a free speech issue.
No one's saying he doesn't have the right to speak.
This is about judgment, and it's about the medias of the left's red carpet treatment.
And that's what we're here to shine a light on.
All right, thanks.
Good luck tonight.
I hope they don't raise either of us.
Likewise.
All right.
So stay with us.
My final thoughts ahead.
Well, that's our show for today.
It's sort of a pregnant show because tonight, I'll go to the event.
Will they let me in?
What will Omar Carter say, if anything?
What will the moderators say?
What will the journalists say?
Will there be protesters, pro and con?
I won't have that information for you until tomorrow.
Until then, on behalf of all of us here at Rubble World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.