By Marvin Ross
David’s blog last week on the Trump/US Regime and its potential impact on Canada was depressing but what is even more depressing is what is happening in Canada and where we might end up if political leaders continue to do nothing. David said that Canada may be like Poland of 1937 but it is also becoming like Germany of the 1930’s. Germany was a very liberal educated country at that time but fell into committing one of the most brutal genocides – the Holocaust.
Canada already had a history of institutional antisemitism but over time, that dissipated. Now, thanks to the political classes ignoring the growing antisemitism happening here today, Canada will become unsafe for Jews. In fact, a number of Jewish doctors are already starting to leave the country or thinking about it thanks to growing antisemitism . Gad Saad, for example, is a Lebanese Jew whose family fled that country for Canada. Saad is a professor of marketing and evolutionary behavioral sciences at Concordia University in Montreal with a million followers on X. Concordia he considers to be one of the most antisemitic universities in the world and he has left Canada to become a “visiting professor and global ambassador at Northwood University in Michigan. He says “he can’t face returning to Concordia and maybe even Canada, given the antisemitism that’s run rampant there”.
The Jewish presence in this country goes back centuries. Jewish immigrants first arrived in Canada with Governor Edward Cornwallis who established Halifax in 1749. In 1760, Jews began arriving in New France with the British capture of Montreal. Jews were part of that military force including 5 officers. The first synagogue was founded in Montreal in 1768. The oldest still functioning synagogue is the Temple Emanu-el in Victoria dating back to 1863. When the synagogues foundation corner stone was laid, the parade to the building was led by the St Andrew’s Society with the Germania Sing Verein Choir, the French Benevolent Society and other ethnic groups.
The Victoria Colonist wrote at that time that “the Israelites in Victoria are a large and highly respectable body….”
I mention this house of worship because last week, someone scratched on a pillar:
“Jews are Evil! Because genocide is Evil! ….Jews are murdering thousands of gentile children”
Jews have been valued citizens of Canada and have contributed a great deal to this country despite the institutional discrimination. During the second world war, 17,000 Jews fought in the Canadian military (members of my family included).
As I said, there was discrimination from certain segments of society but from my history and perspective most ordinary Canadians are kind and curious people. Growing up in Toronto which had few immigrants of any kind then and was run by the Loyal Orange Order ( Protestant Irish from Ulster), I’ve watched as we’ve become more accepting and more multi-cultural. Admission quotas against Jews and others at some university faculties are gone, I don’t know of any companies that will not hire us (as I did back then) and minorities can buy houses anywhere. We have laws protecting civil liberties to prevent discrimination in hiring and rental.
Liberal politicians like Henri Bourassa and William Lyon Mackenzie King were staunch antisemites as was Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis and Alberta premier William Aberhart. King feared that Jewish immigration would pollute Canadian blood. Prime Minister Louis St Laurent refused to appoint Louis Rasminsky as governor of the Bank of Canada. Diefenbaker did so in 1961. This from an appeal by Jack Mintz of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy asking Carney to take action.
Today, we are seeing a huge rise in antisemitism with much of it coming from so called progressives mostly arising from Israel’s defence against Hamas and the other terrorists groups in the region. Oppose Israel’s policies as much as you want even if it comes from a lack of understanding of the complex history of the middle east. Picket the embassy and consulates which is fair game. But the protestors do not do that. Jewish institutions like synagogues, schools, businesses, old folks homes, children, arson, gun shots and general harassment are all targets. Many of the protesters are masked denouncing Canada, Jews, Israel and on occasion burning Canadian and Israeli flags. The police stand by and rarely arrest anyone. One video featured Toronto cops bringing coffee and donuts to the mob who weekly blocked access to a mostly Jewish area of Toronto on Saturdays.
The Holocaust memorial in Ottawa was defaced and someone urinated on a synagogue in Toronto. A recent study found that young Jewish school kids are being demonized by teachers with one six year old being told he was only half human because one parent was Jewish. According to the Toronto Sun “Equally alarming, it (the report) concludes schools and school boards are reluctant to address reports of antisemitism and are simply ignoring many of the complaints – or blaming the victims.” One of the businesses that was vandalized was Chapters Book store because its owner supports an Israeli charity. Those arrested included teachers and academics but most, if not all of them, had the charges dropped.
At one mammoth demonstration in Toronto, the demonstrators attacked the Mt Sinai Hospital which exists because Jewish doctors, when it was formed, were not allowed to practice in Toronto Hospitals. The Ontario branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (or its president) fully supports the terrorist attack on Israel and the taking of hostages. The latest is that the United Church of Canada is now supporting the Hamas attack against Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages according to Michael Higgins writing in the National Post. They consider what Hamas (a terrorist organization committed to the total destruction of Israel and wiping out all Jews as stated in their charter) an act of resistance.
What have our political leaders done to stem this rising tide of antisemitism? Nothing! They could denounce what is happening and they could order the police to enforce the law, have them make arrests and prosecute. Disrupting neighbourhoods, blocking traffic, invading malls and Jewish areas with many of them wearing masks (a criminal offence) is unlawful. They are not doing that.
We did have an antisemitism special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism but she stepped down citing exhaustion from “waking up every day to a fight.”
She told The Canadian Jewish News that the “job was one that tore at you physically and emotionally. I mean, I faced a lot of hate out there myself… a lot of nasty words and in some cases actions.”
The latest incident is of a seemingly orthodox Jewish man badly beaten in front of this child for no apparent reason in Montreal. Somewhat reminiscent of what went on in Nazi Germany. Carney and the Montreal mayor expressed shock but unless direct action is taken to counter this antisemitism, their protestations are on par with “our prayers and thoughts” of US politicians responses to mass shootings in the US.
From the river to the sea is a call to wipe out Israel which is where Jews originated and have lived in since Biblical times. And Israel was granted statehood by the UN in 1948 as was Palestine. But the Palestinians refused to accept an independent state and instead all Arab countries attacked and tried to destroy the country. They were defeated but Jews (about 800,000 of them) who had been living in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and other countries for generations had their possessions and property confiscated and were expelled. Most went to Israel.
In addition to the independence offered in 1947 which the Arabs rejected, there have been numerous offers of statehood and the Arabas have rejected all but one of them:
Camp David 1978 – rejected by the Palestinians
Oslo Accords 1993-1995 postponed
Camp David Summit 2000 – rejected by the Palestinians
Taba Talks 2001 – no decision due to the violence of the Second Intifada
Arab Peace initiative 2002 rejected by Israel
Annapolis Conference 2007 – framework established but no final agreement
Trump Peace Plan 2020 rejected by the Arabs
For a concise history of the region and an analysis of recognizing a Palestinian state see https://quillette.com/2025/08/08/why-recognise-palestine-now/?ref=quillette-daily-newsletter#ghost-comments
And Israel does not occupy or control Gaza. Israel took over Gaza after one of the wars with Arab states and decided to withdraw in 2005. Their leaving in 2005 was done with the hope of realizing peace but it was not to be. Since Hamas was elected after Israel’s withdrawal (and no elections since), they have been launching rockets at Israel and its citizens as well as having raided and captured people who were then held hostage. Since 2005, 37,000 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel according to ChatGTP.
As for aid going into Gaza (which also borders Egypt), before the war, 500-600 truck daily. From October 23 to mid 24, over 25,000 trucks entered Gaza (ChatGPT) who estimates that 10-30% is stolen, diverted by Hamas and others. The latest figures from the UN from May 19 to August 8 show that 2309 trucks were intercepted either by the hungry or armed actors out of 2545 total trucks. That’s 90.7%.
The most concise and objective summary of the war was done by Andrew Coyne in the Globe and Mail. Coyne provides an objective view that contains criticisims of Netanyahu and the Israeli right suggesting that the war has gone on for too long with diminishing results. This is some of what he had to say:
“The amount of attention devoted to Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas – a war that, unambiguously, Hamas started, with the terrible attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 – is, as usual, out of all proportion to its actual significance, compared to other, bloodier wars that have attracted a fraction of the outrage.”
Because it is Jews? I have to wonder.
“60,000 people have have been killed in Gaza to date, though how many were civilians and how many combatants is unknown. At least three times as many have been killed in the civil war in Sudan over roughly the same time period. The ongoing Yemeni civil war has claimed nearly 400,000; the Syrian civil war, 600,000.”
And the Gaza casualty figures are disputed and considered to be exaggerations.
“Any attempt to root out such a deeply entrenched and fanatically motivated enemy as Hamas – an enemy that is not only willing to use civilians as human shields, but positively delights in civilian casualties for the propaganda opportunities they present – was bound to result in a horrific number of deaths.”
International politics is complicated but nothing is to be achieved by turning on Jews in Canada or the other places in the world this is happening. Oppose Israeali actions based on knowledge and don’t scape goat innocent Jews who have no say in the politics in the region.
Michael Geist commented that the rise in antisemitism “has become too pronounced to ignore, there have been some important efforts to chronicle it and call for action. But what has been missing is an examination of its day-to-day effects, which has placed the safety and well-being of an entire community, from grade school to seniors’ homes, at risk. Those effects will become less visible if all that is left is the sound of silence.” Geist is the Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.
Will Carney do anything?
