According to the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, this country saw a record number of anti-Semitic episodes last year. The organization’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, released last week, counts 1,627 acts of vandalism, violence and harassment aimed at Canadian Jews in 2014. That’s an almost 30 per cent increase over 2013.
As B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn tells reporter Paul Lungen in this week’s CJN, the uptick in anti-Semitic incidents is at least partially attributable to last summer’s Gaza war, during which, Mostyn says, “a landscape emerged which has helped legitimize anti-Semitism, via anti-Zionism, as a legitimate form of political protest” (see page 24 for more).
“Criticism of Israeli policies soon became a condemnation of the Jewish People as a whole,” Mostyn added.
From Victoria, B.C., to Sackville, N.B., there were 1,370 incidents of harassment, 230 acts of vandalism and 19 cases of violence against Jews in 2014. As you might expect, Toronto, with 109 cases, and Montreal, with 88, were home to the highest number of anti-Semitic events. But the hatred was truly spread across the country. Calgary had 33 incidents, many of which occurred around a July pro-Palestinian rally that turned violent. Winnipeg saw 25 cases, including one in April 2014 at a local school, where students “taunt[ed], and harass[ed] a fellow student for being Jewish,” said “Heil Hitler!” and made the Nazi salute. Ottawa, meanwhile, had 39 incidents.
Many of the cases cited in the audit appear somewhat trivial – the classic anti-Semitic graffiti emblazoned on rural road signs, a Nazi-themed Lego set for sale on eBay, a man who “walked into a store and started yelling complaints about the ‘Jewish products’ being sold there” and “called the store owner a ‘Jew lover.’” These sorts of events are so minor that often law enforcement never even gets involved. Even so, there are enough examples of Jewish Canadians being threatened, endangered and even seriously injured to make the audit essential reading for every community member, whether you have personally experienced an act of anti-Semitism, or not.
B’nai Brith has been auditing anti-Semitic incidents in Canada since 1982. In all those years, the number of cases has never been as high as in 2014. But at least the Jewish community can feel some degree of satisfaction after last week’s announcement that the annual Al-Quds Day rally in Toronto would not be welcomed at Queen’s Park this year (for more, see page 12). The local version of the Iranian-backed event has a sordid history of harbouring and inciting anti-Zionists and anti-Semitism. At last year’s Toronto rally, speakers described Jews and Zionists as “inhuman,” “sadistic” and “criminal.”
The Al-Quds Day rally will most likely still go on, but at least this year it won’t be on the grounds of the provincial legislature. A number of Jewish community organizations – including B’nai Brith – were involved in the effort to have this hateful event removed from government grounds, and the result is a step in the right direction toward effectively combating anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Canada. That’s encouraging news, because, as the Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents suggests, the effort required is significant – perhaps more now than ever before. — YONI