By Gazette Staff
June 2nd, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
New national unity council to study what’s driving increase in antisemitism.
The new national unity council will assess what is driving antisemitism in Canada and improve research and data collection on hate incidents, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaking at a synagogue in Toronto.
Speaking at a synagogue in Toronto, Carney said “antisemitism has surged to levels not seen in the postwar period,” noting incidents including the firebombings of synagogues and bullets fired at Jewish schools.
He said more than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes in 2025 were directed at Jewish Canadians, who make up only one per cent of the population.
Combatting the problem starts with an admission that currently Canada is “failing Jewish Canadians,” he said.
“The crisis of antisemitism in Canada today is specific, it’s severe and it demands a targeted response, and that is what our government is fully committed to,” Carney said.
Senior Rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple Yael Splansky said antisemitism is “not a Jewish problem.”
“Just as people of colour cannot fix racism, just as women cannot correct misogyny, Jewish citizens cannot rid the country of antisemitism,” she said. “Only government can govern.”
“Canadian stability is being tested now. Canadian values are on trial now. At this watershed moment in its history, Canada must make good on its promise of peace, order and good government.”
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Senior Rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple Yael Splansky said antisemitism is “not a Jewish problem.”
“Just as people of colour cannot fix racism, just as women cannot correct misogyny, Jewish citizens cannot rid the country of antisemitism,” she said. “Only government can govern.”
By making those statements, the rabbi is completely ignoring what in my opinion are the prime reasons for the increase in anti-Semitism. Those reasons are:-
* the horror that is the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza by the Israeli IDF directed by the Israeli government,
* The invasion and ethnic cleansing of southern Lebanon by the IDF acting upon the direction of the Israeli government.
* The murder of West Bank Palestinians and stealing of their properties to allow Israeli settlements to be built contrary to UN resolutions.
* The complete lack of not just condemnation but sanctions against the Israeli state by world powers (e.g. USA, Canada, UK, EU, Australia).
* The complete lack of condemnation by the worlwide Jewish population of the actions of the Israeli government. None of B’nai Brith, World Jewish Congress, Jewish Federations of Canada or Rabbi Yael Splansky have taken a stand and spoken out against the actions of the Israeli government. As such, they are all complicit in the horrors committed in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank.
Elie Wiesel said:-
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference… And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
The Jewish community in Canada and across the world continues to show indifference. Shame on them all!
Speak up and speak out against the actions of the Israeli government and anti-Semitism will begin to fade.
Wow,
“Speak up and speak out against the actions of the Israeli government and anti-Semitism will begin to fade”
What planet are you living on Gordon?
Canada has been a net importer of radical ideologies, trash for some time either thorough indifference or incompetence including rabid supporters of Hamas, IGRC operatives, Khalistani, Indian government, PRC individuals running so called “police stations”.
Meanwhile to a great extent all levels of government continue to allow daily demonstrations of open hate on our streets, breaking our laws and instilling fear in law abiding citizens and communities.
You are not offering a solution. You are in fact part of the problem.
Ted, I will respectfully reply to your comment but will not enter into a to and fro debate. Your hateful broad brush thoughts as to immigrants is irrelevant to this discussion. What is relevant is what is right and what is wrong. It cannot be disputed that what the Israeli government through the IDF has done in Gaza & Southern Lebanon is a modern day ethnic cleansing Holocaust.
Canadians and others peacefully demonstrating (chanting, waving Palastinian flags) is freedom of speech. The demonstrations target Jewish areas because as I said before, the Jewish community has remained totally silent and indifferent to the atrocities committed by the Israeli government. The same ethnic cleansing atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews in Europe in the ’40s
Please explain how peacefully demonstrating is breaking our laws.
If those communities would speak up against the actions of the Israeli government and side with the right of Palestinians to have their own sovereign state that would live in peace with and recognize the right of the Jewish state to exist then demonstrators would not target those communities.
Indifference!
Hateful, broad brush? Hardly.
Millions, the vast majority of hard-working newcomers abhor the actions of a small element of their radical citizenry that “peacefully” burn flags and effigies, shoot at schools and synagogues, vocalize hate, shout death to Canada, the USA and Israel, raise and export funds for their causes from sympathizers.
The first priority of any government is to protect the citizenry, and Canada has and continues to fail miserably at properly screening entrants. The USA is aware of our failures. That is an issue. Dissidents of the IGRC are missing, a prominent Sikh shot, Chinese immigrants and Members of Parliament threatened, elections influenced.
It is the role of our federal government who still have incoherent, fluid and inconsistent foreign policies to do the advocating you suggest. It is not role the average Canadian citizen or their community organizations regardless of their ethnicity. That in my option is victim blaming, and over a long time the Jewish race and have and continue to be victims of hate and terrorism.
I said I was not going to enter into a to and fro with you but some of your nonsense tempted me.
The people you rightly rail against in your third paragraph have little to do with the increase in anti-Semitism in the general population.
You are totally wrong when saying “It is not role the average Canadian citizen or their community organizations regardless of their ethnicity”. A prime raisin d’être of B’nai Brith World, Jewish Congress, and Jewish Federations of Canada is to advocate on behalf of Jewish communities. Rabbi Yael Splansky has obviously taken up an advocacy role. So there’s absolutely no excuse for any of them not speaking up to condemn the actions of the Israeli government. And it is definitely the role of every citizen to stand up against social injustice. The lack of that brought about the rise to power of the Nazis.
INDIFFERENCE !
I note in none of your comments do you address the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, Southern Lebanon or on the West Bank and whether you are supportive of those actions or just indifferent. The Israeli State is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews in Europe. And the world stands by and innocent but silent Jewish communities pay the price me
If you do not address those atrocities by the Israeli State further conversation with you is pointless.