Canada’s normally peaceful and placid facade has been violently ripped away by a wave of arson, vandalism, shootings and firebombings directed at Jews and the Jewish community from coast to coast.

Since Hamas’ attack in Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip three weeks later, antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed to record levels as synagogues, Jewish day schools, Jewish institutions and Jewish-owned businesses have been periodically attacked.

The current war in Iran, plus Israel’s renewed war with Hezbollah — Iran’s most important regional proxy — has triggered a fresh spate of antisemitic attacks in Canada, as well as in the United States and Europe.

The statistics are alarming.

According to a B’nai Brith Canada report published last April, there were 6,219 antisemitic incidents in Canada in 2024. This translates into an average of about 17 incidents of harassment, vandalism and violence per day.

Statistics Canada reports that antisemitic hate crimes nearly tripled from 2020 to 2024.

Although Jewish Canadians represent roughly one percent of Canada’s population, they account for a disproportionate percentage of hate-crime victims.

The situation has not gone unnoticed in Israel.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said recently that “all eyes are on Canada.” Israel’s Canadian-born deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, has expressed fear that an antisemitic incident may yet “end in blood.” Israeli ambassador Iddo Moed has described Canada as one of the “centers of antisemitism.”

It is fair to ask whether Moed is exaggerating, but the fact of the matter is that antisemitic attacks have spiked in the past two-and-a-half weeks.

Two synagogues in Toronto and a shul in a northern suburb were struck by gunfire earlier this month following the joint military operation launched by the United States and Israel in Iran on February 28.

Temple Emanu-El, in North York, was targeted on March 2 shortly after Purim celebrations. Bullet holes pierced the front door of Shaarei Shomayim, in central Toronto, 30 minutes later. And on March 6, eight bullets were fired at Beth Avraham Yoseph in Thornhill.

No one was injured in any of these assaults.

“Three synagogue shootings over the span of one week is a pretty good indication that things have gone awry,” columnist Robyn Urback wrote in The Globe and Mail newspaper on March 10. She added that the outbursts of antisemitism are becoming “an existential crisis for Jews contemplating their future in Canada.”

The problem is not confined to Canada, which has the world’s fourth largest Jewish community. Antisemitism in the United States has been on the rise for the past eight years, ever........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)