Strategy For Institutional Antisemitism in Canada
It’s been a rough week for Jews in Canada: three synagogues shot at, the US Embassy in Toronto shot at, and our intelligence services and police are still claiming they cannot find a definitive link or the perpetrators, but this is now an international story and getting more media and political attention.
I am having a severe moment of cognitive dissonance and existential outrage. On one hand, our illustrious authorities admit they can see the need for increased security at US and Israeli Embassies and Jewish synagogues and community centers, but on the other hand they cannot see a definite link to terrorism or a connection between these incidents, beyond the current mideast crisis.
Let’s try to help them. In the interests of community safety and Truth, Justice, and The Great Canadian Way. (I hope you are laughing – if we didn’t laugh some of us might cry.) Righteous indignation is one of my better emotions.
Just as a recap, here is a link to a recent report by our Canadian Security Intelligence Service about threats to Canadians. A lot of concern was raised in the Jewish community that exponentially rising rates of antisemitic hate crimes and harassment (often not prosecuted effectively) have been named in bureaucracy-speak as ideologically motivated or religiously motivated extremism. At least they mention threats from Iran.
Following an unprecedented upsurge in antisemitic hate crimes and harassment in Canada, B’nai Brith has been advocating actively for a Royal Commission on Antisemitism similar to that recently established in Australia following the Bondi Beach Massacre and handwringing apologies after the fact by Australia’s Prime Minister. No one in our Canadian government seems to be listening. B’nai Brith has launched a recent petition campaign to this end. If you know Canadians who might be interested, please share the link with them.
Just for reference, here is the most recent edition of B'nai Brith Canada's Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. The next edition should be released later this spring. Their reports are relied upon by intelligence and law enforcement agencies internationally, and linked to databases of the ADL.
B’NAI BRITH CANADA REPORT: Antisemitism Reaches Record Levels
The recent attack on the US Embassy in Toronto has been labelled in media as a 'national security' incident, not to mention a diplomatic embarrassment and potential impediment in our ongoing diplomatic and trade negotiations with the US government.
I have suggested that the unsolved hate crimes and tacitly permitted harassment against Jewish sites and individuals in Canada are also a national security concern, even if our intelligence and law enforcement bureaucracies haven't yet confirmed this. Too many of the offenders attacking Jewish sites and individuals are promoting terrorist entities and related ideologies dangerous to Jews and Canada, and even displaying terrorist symbols and insignia.
Here again is that list of terrorist entities known to be in Canada. We have had recent reports in the National Post that Muslim groups have been especially vocal in criticizing the proposed federal hate crimes legislation, Bill C-9, now in Parliamentary Committee, presumably to limit their 'free speech and right to protest' and to intimidate law abiding citizens from their lawful purposes (especially Jews) and to issue fatwa death threats against law abiding Jewish and Zionist Canadian citizens with impunity, on religious grounds.
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx
Again, note the preponderance of listed terrorist entities hostile to Jews and Israel and linked to terrorist networks and Iran-funded proxy terrorist networks in the Mideast. Many are known to be present in Canada and active in Canada. There have been recent news reports of calls to action to Islamist sleeper cells in Canada that may be related to these recent attacks. All Jewish sites are now at risk, and on high alert, and so are US embassies.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603010955
For the benefit of naive Canadians who still believe in the concept of mild multiculturalism and peaceful cultural exchange (such as our Immigration and Cultural Affairs Minister Marc Miller), here is the list of the terms of second-class citizenship to non-Muslims and the religious justification for their assault from mainstream Islamic sources.
My criminology colleagues used to say that the most powerful index of crime rates is the number of young men in any population. (Sorry fellas.) We can add to that the factors that Muslim young men in cities with large Muslim populations such as Montreal and Toronto have demonstrably participated in acts threatening to Jews and to civil order with impunity.
These have sometimes included the construction of illegal encampments on university campuses, vandalism, disruption of Jewish groups and businesses, assault, and active intimidation of local Jewish residents from their lawful purposes. These have rarely been prosecuted effectively owing to biases within the Canadian justice system. Notice any trends? That's not Islamophobia. That's the truth.
Here is a recent report by Chris Selley of the National Post:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/selley-charges-being-dropped-against-canadian-anti-israel-thuggery
Here is a related op-ed today from the National Post by a concerned Jewish community member attesting to the frustration and fury of our Canadian Jewish community about these continued threats. Thankfully our anger has remained lawful in its expression for the most part, with occasional protest arrests.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/larry-maher-canadian-jews-are-angry-its-a-start
Today the Government of Canada's Minister of Public Safety announced new funding of $10 million dollars to strengthen security at Jewish institutions. This is a standard tactic of Liberal governments. They try to bribe us piecemeal with our own money. I would suggest our Jewish community organizations take the money as a down payment on any future reparations our governments may have to pay to Jewish Canadians for their demonstrable institutional bias and lack of effectiveness. This is an admission of failure, not a solution to the problem of anti-semitic hate crimes and violent urban terrorism and gunfire.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/liberals-promise-10-million-to-fortify-jewish-spaces-after-three-synagogues-shot-at
Earlier this week, our Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was criticized for appearing late to a Parliamentary debate on the Iran crisis. Apparently he was celebrating Iftar at a local mosque. That should be a clear indication of the politics of the Liberal Party and its main electorate. Call me when any Canadian Prime Minister is ever late for a debate because he was at a Passover Seder or Shabbat Dinner. Gosh I am so tired of the photo-op 'colourful ethnic' holiday wishes of various Parliamentarians. Aren't you?
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/opposition-leaders-blast-carneys-absence-from-iran-war-debate
The Prime Minister eventually made a statement in Parliament that Canada would not be involved in the US and Israeli action in Iran, after days of varying phraseology and positions.
Finally for now, a moment of thanks for our non-Jewish friends and allies especially the editorial staff of the National Post who wrote this heartening editorial today. Aristotle said no one would choose to live without friends, and we are most grateful for friends like these. I thanked them and received many heartening messages of support.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/np-view-a-roadmap-to-ending-this-orgy-of-antisemitic-violence
That's all for now. I bought another Israel Bond the other day and also donated to ASI-Canada, to support Israeli soldiers and their families in their need for urgent supplies that are non-violent and lawful, such as hygiene kits, wipes, bedding for soldiers in the field, and grocery vouchers for soldiers' families. It's not tax-deductible, but it's the right thing to do. Please join me! The need has never been greater. (Come and arrest me, Canada! I have lawyers on standby.)
Am Yisrael Chai and love from Canada.