A report published by the Israeli government paints a damning picture of Canada’s inability to address a skyrocketing rise of antisemitism in the country.
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs released the report Monday, which details the rise of antisemitism in Canada, several key figures who play a role in its proliferation, and documents 17 attacks on the Jewish community since May this year.
“Since October 7, 2023, Canada has experienced a significant surge in antisemitism, marked by a 670% increase in incidents compared to the previous year,” the report said. “This rise has included violent attacks, such as shootings targeting Jewish institutions and arson attacks targeting schools, Synagogues, and other community institutions.”
The report used news articles from both Canadian and international news outlets as well as social media posts from individuals deemed to be promoting antisemitism in Canada.
“Despite Jewish people comprising only 1.4% of Canada’s population, they account for 70% of religious hate crimes,” the report said. “In Toronto alone, 19% of all hate crimes in 2023 were directed at Jews, a figure that spiked dramatically in the final quarter of the year, aligning with escalating tensions in the Middle East.”
The report said that pro-Palestine protests have contributed “significantly” to the rise of antisemitism in Canada, saying the issue is particularly prominent among campus activist groups and leftist organizations. It said many of these groups connect anti-Israel sentiments to “broader pro-Indigenous revolutionary ideas.”
Jewish rights groups in Canada, such as B’nai Brith and many in the Jewish diaspora in Canada, have asserted that Jewish people are indigenous to Israel, despite anti-Israel activist’s claims.
The report said the marrying of those leftist and anti-colonialist causes with the anti-Israel movement has led to “increased expressions of support for groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah,” and increased violence at protests in major Canadian cities and prominent universities.
It called out Ontario MPP Sarah Jama, the recently listed terrorist entity Samidoun, former CBC radio host, Samira Mohyeddin, realtor and social media personality Brandon Taylor Moore, and former Department of Canadian Heritage consultant, Laith Marouf as key actors in the proliferation of anti-Jewish hate in Canada.
The report also listed 17 antisemitic attacks since May of 2024 in the report. In May, an arson attack set fire to the entrance of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue in Vancouver, B.C.
In June three synagogues were pelted with stones, resulting in shattered windows, a Holocaust Museum billboard was vandalized, and activists desecrated an Israeli flag with Nazi swastikas and stomped on it during the annual “Walk with Israel” rally.
July was an active month for antisemites in Canada. The report noted various arson and vandalism incidents at several Jewish sites, including community centres, buses and kosher grocery stores, and a fire which damaged a Jewish day school after the arson of a Jewish school bus.
Jewish graves were desecrated with the reorganizing of memorial stones into the shape of Nazi swastikas, and Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, a Jewish person, was told to “get out of Canada” and called a neo-Nazi due to his pro-Israel stance. Another synagogue in Toronto was vandalized with three of its signs set on fire, and Quebec electronic road signs were hacked to display phrases like “globalize the Intifada” and “escalate now.”
The report detailed instances of anti-semitic threats on a subway in Toronto, a swastika was burned into the turf of Whitby Park, antisemitic graffiti at a school in London and vehicles displaying pro-Hamas symbols such as inverted red triangles and quotes from Hamas leadership driving around Mississauga, Ont. in August.
It documented a firearm being discharged at Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, a Jewish girls’ school in Toronto, on Yom Kippur this month. However, it did not mention that this was the second time a firearm was discharged at the school since May.
“While many Canadian Jews express concern for their safety, we also hear of Israelis, who usually travel globally, now hesitant to visit places where they might be attacked because of their identity. Tragically, Canada is one of those places,” Richard Marceau, the Vice President of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told True North. “This is a sobering reflection on the failures of leadership in this country over the past year, during which multiple terror plots targeting Jews were thwarted.”
He said that the government’s tolerance for antisemitic and extremist “pro-Hamas” mobs has led to the rise in antisemitism and that it should be “no surprise” when the allowed antisemitic rhetoric turns to action.