Canada to see sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2023: report

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OTTAWA — Anti-Semitism in Canada has exploded as the war between Israel and Gaza last year was used to “justify” the targeting of Jews in Canada, B'nai B'rith said Monday in its latest report on anti-Semitism.

It comes as the world observes Yom HaShoach, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and rising anti-Semitism was the focus of speeches by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poillevre at a ceremony at the National Holocaust Memorial in Ottawa.

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“Since October 7, there has been an alarming rise in anti-Semitism to a scale we haven't witnessed in generations,” Trudeau said.

Based on incidents reported to B'nai Brith, including police cooperation, there were 5,791 acts of violence, harassment, and vandalism targeting Jews in 2023, more than double the 2,769 incidents documented in 2022.

“In 2023, we have entered a period of crisis,” said Richard Robertson, director of research at B'nai Brith Canada.

According to him, there is no place to blame this incident on “leftists, extreme rightists and those acting on the orders of foreign actors”.

“It is clear that the situation is dire and requires immediate intervention,” Robertson said.

Last year, 77 violent incidents were reported, which is three times the number for 2022.

Winnipeg police are investigating a shooting at a Jewish home in October as a hate crime. Montreal police launched an investigation in November after shots were fired at two Jewish schools overnight and another after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue.

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In Toronto, police arrested three people after threats were made against students at a Jewish high school in October.

“This means that, on average, a Jewish Canadian will be threatened or assaulted every fourth day in 2023,” Robertson said. “These figures are alarming and require immediate action from all public stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental.”

In 2023, there were 462 acts of vandalism.

The vast majority of recorded incidents – 4,847 – were in the form of online harassment. The messages included threats that “you and your family will die,” rejoiced at the death of Hamas on October 7, and declared their intention to destroy Israel or the Jews.

More than half of the incidents occurred in the three months after October 7, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel responded with force, launching relentless airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, displacing more than a million people, killing an estimated 35,000 and creating a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, medicine and water.

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In the week since October 7, the RCMP has called for “heightened vigilance” after an apparent increase in anti-Semitic threats online.

The total number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada last year was the largest recorded in a single year since B'nai B'rith began publishing annual reports in 1982. The numbers parallel reports from several municipal police forces, including Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, of an exponential increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past year.

According to Robertson, the “aggressive rise of anti-Semitism” left Canadian Jews feeling dehumanized, “discarded and abandoned.”

“The systemic nature of anti-Semitism has forced Canadian Jews to question the continued viability of the country's Jewish communities,” he said. “Perhaps for the first time, there was genuine concern that the Canadian Jewish narrative was in danger of disappearing.”

Given how much time has passed since the Holocaust, Polievre said on Monday, some memories have faded and some of the “totalitarian ideologies” that persecuted the Nazis in Germany “have returned with the same hateful rhetoric, and in some cases, the same precursor actions are playing themselves out today.”

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Polievre cited anti-Semitic rhetoric on university campuses and the targeting of Jewish buildings and homes, and said the result is that Jewish Canadians are “making the heartbreaking decision” not to wear the Star of David or the kippah, or to remove the kippah. mezuzah on the door frame.

“In Canada, you can't face that dilemma,” he said.

Polievre said Jewish Canadians should be allowed to live “without fear and with pride” and that “every Canadian, Jewish or otherwise, has an obligation to stand up for your right to do so.”

In his speech, Trudeau said the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was the largest mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust and took aim at those who use “Zionism” to express hatred.

“In a country like Canada, it should be safe to declare yourself Zionist, Jewish or not,” he said.

“Zionism is not a dirty word or something that needs to be targeted in order to agree with someone. It is a simple belief that the Jewish people, like all peoples, have the right to determine their own future.'

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