EDITORIAL: Failure to confront Jew hatred a disgrace
· Toronto Sun
Nothing better illustrates the normalization of hatred against Jews in Canada ever since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2003, than its explosion online.
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In its annual survey on antisemitism in Canada released Monday, B’nai Brith reported that out of 6,800 recorded incidents last year, 6,248 — 92% — occurred on social media.
The average of 18.6 incidents per day also included 299 cases of vandalism, 243 of face-to-face harassment and 10 of violence.
It is the highest number ever recorded since the annual audit began in 1982, up 9.4% from 2024 and a staggering 145.6% from the 2,769 in 2022, the year prior to Oct. 7, 2023.
That leads to one inescapable conclusion: that 335,000 Jews living in Canada, according to the last census, are being targeted for the actions of the Israeli government and military, which led to the deaths of more than 70,000 Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Making that link is classic antisemitism — as evil as it would be to attack the 1.78 million Muslims living in Canada for Islamist terrorism, not just in Israel, but globally.
Politicians at every level of government know this, and yet, with only rare exceptions, denounce it, while far too many feed the flames of antisemitism by their silence in pursuit of votes.
Ditto cowardly university presidents whose campuses are polluted with Jew hatred and yet do nothing, and media organizations that pretend Jews are not under attack in Canada simply for being Jews.
By their silence, they feed the myth, as the Jew haters put it, that, “you can’t criticize Israel without being accused of antisemitism” which is nonsense.
The harshest criticism of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes from within Israel from both former military and intelligence officials and from across civil society.
The difference is that none of them call — explicitly or through their silence implicitly — for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state.
Tragically, there is no easy solution for what has happened in Canada since Oct. 7, 2023.
We already have plenty of laws against promoting hatred, assault, vandalism and public mischief.
What we lack are leaders, across civil society, with the courage to call out Jew hatred for what it is.