Israel considers ‘significant change’ in Canada’s handling of anti-Semitism – National
Israel is pursuing a massive diplomatic and public relations campaign to convince Canada to change its approach to antitrust.
From Israel’s presidential office down to its embassy in Ottawa, the message is the same: Canada must do more to stop threats against Jews.
But while the country’s ambassador suggested that Ottawa should limit certain “liberties” to deal with his government’s perceived threats to Iran, he did not say what freedoms should be restricted.
“We have a very clear goal this year, which is to create a major change in the way anti-Semitism is handled here in Canada,” Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed told the forum last week.
“It is difficult for a free person to think that we have to limit the freedom of other people, so that our freedom is protected. But this is where we are now.”
Carleton University political scientist Mira Sucharov, who studies Israeli-Palestinian relations and Jewish politics, said “there are two things going on” – Israel is trying both to improve the protection of Jews around the world and to support the war it launched with the US against Iran.
Moed spoke after Israel issued a series of high-profile statements following the shootings at three Toronto synagogues.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog summoned Jewish community leaders to the Toronto area on March 9 – an unusual move for a country whose head of government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, refused to speak with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“We must learn the lessons of previous antisemitic attacks, including the horrific Bondi Beach attack,” Herzog wrote on social media, citing last December’s mass shooting at a Hanukkah event in Australia.
“All eyes are on Canada: it’s time to stop the unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism that has erupted since October 7,” said Herzog, referring to the 2023 attack by Hamas and its allies against Israel that started the war in Gaza.
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On March 8, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke to Foreign Minister Anita Anand about the attack on the synagogue and called for special measures to protect Jewish communities and “Israeli embassies working in Canada.”
Sa’ar called Canada two days later, linking the shooting at the US embassy in Toronto to the synagogue attack.
He wrote: “When anti-Jewish hatred goes unchecked, violence increases.
Israeli junior minister Sharen Haskel, who was born in Toronto, made similar comments about Canada.
“When antisemitic terrorism is allowed to grow and the networks of the Iranian regime are dismissed as a remote problem, the consequences will not last overseas,” he wrote on March 8.
Sucharov said Israel’s decision to single out Canada may reflect the fact that antisemitic attacks continue to occur here, even though the number of people physically injured in these attacks has been small.
“We rarely see one, one country publicly identified by the Israeli government, unless there is a major attack there,” he said.
“What’s really scary and disturbing is … when Canadians who are angry at Israel, for Israel’s actions, blame individual Jews or groups here for what Israel is doing. And obviously that’s the biggest problem we’re dealing with.”
During a hearing with the B’nai Brith Jewish advocacy group last Thursday, Moed suggested that Canada should hold back on certain freedoms to curb the influence of extremist actors.
“Some people are there to abuse our democracy and our values so that they can rule,” said Moed.
“I am sending a clear message to the government that Jews feel left out and Canadian Jews feel they are not protected enough and people understand this in government.”
The ambassador said that things related to Iran are active in Canada and “some of them will try to push any harassment of the Jewish community, to make the point that the Jews are not safe if Israel is at war.”
He said some linked to the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to “silence supporters of Israel,” adding that it was “difficult to pinpoint specific actions” by the organization.
Moed commented on the al-Quds Day protests, which supporters say are fighting for Palestinian rights and sovereignty over Jerusalem. Jewish groups say they are hate incidents and point out that they were initiated by the Iranian regime.
Moed described the al-Quds Day protests as a “hateful” march.
“It is nothing other than an attempt to express clearly and with great authority the state of Israel,” he said.
His comments came a day before Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a last-minute court order seeking to shut down those protests without success.
Moed said that the increase in antisemitism in Canada is why his country is “bringing delegations of police representatives to Israel to share with them our knowledge in fighting hate, in dealing with terrorism.”
Data from Canadian police and Jewish organizations show reports of anti-Jewish hatred, including acts of violence such as bombings, have risen sharply in recent years.
B’nai Brith has called on Ottawa to introduce an anti-religious commission.
In December, Carney said during a Hanukkah event that Canada “needs to act” on two years of growing hate.
He linked that to Bill C-9, an act that creates new offenses for intimidating or obstructing someone outside of a religious or cultural institution, while removing religious exemptions from other hate speech laws. The bill is expected to be read a third time in the House of Commons early next week.
