O Canada?

Jews in Canada are increasingly under threat. Anti-Israel mobs have morphed into antisemitic mobs, making the Hitler salute and calling for the destruction of Israel, the expulsion or killing of all of its Jews, and its replacement by a 23rd Arab state. Some have even called out “the Final Solution is now.” In mid-November, 85,000 people, mostly students from Concordia and McGill universities, and Dawson College, took over much of Montreal to call for an end of the Jewish state, and declared Israel guilty of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide.” Trudeau’s government has just announced that it will enforce the ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. More on how Canada changed after Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a true friend of Israel, was replaced by Justin Trudeau, who most definitely is not, can be found here: “The Canada we loved is disappearing with the normalization of Nazi and jihadist activity – opinion,” by Zina Rakhamilova and Jonah Hart, Jerusalem Post, November 28, 2024:

Being Canadian used to be a profound source of pride for us in the Jewish community. Growing up in Toronto meant living in one of the most ethnically and racially integrated cities in the world, a true mosaic of diversity and coexistence, built on the backbone of countless immigrants.

Like many nations, Canada’s history is not without its dark periods. Our community has long been aware of its antisemitic past, particularly during the Holocaust when Canada shamefully accepted only a negligible number of Jewish refugees despite what was happening to Jews under the Nazis. The infamous phrase, “None is too many,” epitomized the government’s stance at the time, a chilling indictment of its moral failure.

Yet, despite this grim chapter, Canada emerged as a beacon of moral clarity on the global stage under prime minister Stephen Harper. His administration stood as one of Israel’s staunchest allies, unwavering in support of its right to self-defense, starting in 2006 in the Second Lebanon War all the way up until Operation Protective Edge in the 2014 Gaza War. Canada was the first country to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas’s election and consistently opposed biased, one-sided UN resolutions against Israel. These actions showcased Canada as a principled leader, unafraid to stand firm in its convictions despite global criticism.

But the Canada we once knew and loved now feels unrecognizably distant. Since well before October 7, 2023, Canadian Jews – and, indeed, many average Canadians – have been abandoned. Hateful antisemitic and anti-Canadian protests have erupted nationwide, where agitators openly glorify Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists while desecrating the Canadian flag. Calls to “globalize the intifada” and praise for the groups responsible for atrocities have become alarmingly common.

One particularly harrowing incident occurred outside the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT), one of the city’s largest synagogues. Pro-Hamas activists viciously protested and harassed members of the congregation during an event. In the last week of May 2024, a Jewish school for girls in Toronto was the subject of gunfire, a yeshiva (Jewish seminary) was similarly shot at in the middle of the night in Montreal, and a synagogue in Vancouver was set alight by protesters after a hate-filled rally.

On those same streets of Vancouver, Samidoun’s Charlotte Kates chillingly chanted “Long Live October 7” and lauded various terror groups as “resistance fighters” and “heroes.” Although the Canadian Parliament eventually sanctioned Samidoun as a sham charity linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization, this action came after years of harm inflicted on Canadian soil. Only after the group, so emboldened by government inaction, began to shout “Death to Canada” and burn both Israeli and Canadian flags during memorials marking the anniversary of October 7, did the Canadian government finally shut it down.

Why did the Canadian government wait until Samidoun shouted “Death to Canada” before deciding to shut it down? Wasn’t “Death to Israel” sufficient? Or do those who threaten Israel and its people with death deserve a pass because, you see, Israel is in the minds of too many people — who have been subject to years of anti-Israel animus in the major media — no longer seen as a tiny and embattled state repeatedly forced, in 1948, 1967, 1973, and today, to fight for its very survival? Instead, Arab propaganda has succeeded in convincing many people in the West that Israel is a nasty and aggressive little Sparta, a colonial-settler state created on land stolen from the “Palestinian people.”

In Canada, the tone has been set at the very top. Justin Trudeau has condemned the antisemitism of these latest demonstrators in Montreal, but he ought to have been issuing such statements long before; he’s been in office since 2015, and had plenty of time to forcefully condemn, on many occasions when he instead remained silent, the antisemitism of those anti-Israel groups that have been running wild on city streets, and on campuses, from Vancouver in the west to Montreal in the east. Trudeau is disliked; 75% of Canadians want him to leave office.

Trudeau’s likely successor is Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party. Poilievre is unswervingly pro-Israel, and philosemitic to boot. He has described Israel as “the most scientifically, democratically and politically advanced country in the world.” He has specifically advocated for Israel’s right to defend itself, including “proactively striking Iranian nuclear sites and oil installations to defund the terrorist regime.” He has said that an attack by Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be “a gift by the Jewish state to humanity.” And he has repeatedly attacked members of the Trudeau government, especially Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, for their lukewarm support of Israel, and insufficient attention to the rise in antisemitism. The election next year may put Poilievre in power, and then “O Canada?” would have a chance to again become “O Canada!” For many of us, who were brought up to believe that everything was “slightly higher in Canada,” his likely ascension can’t come soon enough.