JTA — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will step down from his post and from his party leadership amid plummeting poll numbers and dissent from his own deputies, he announced Monday, a decision that comes as his country’s Jewish leaders have harshly criticized him for perceived failures to support Israel and stand against antisemitism.

Trudeau said he will stay on as a caretaker prime minister until his party selects a new leader. Canadian Parliament will be put on a temporary hold until March to give Trudeau’s Liberal Party time to do so via a grassroots vote shortly before then.

Canada’s next elections must be held sometime before October, and a resurgent Conservative Party has made a play for Canadian Jewish support through outspoken support for Israel and opposition to antisemitism.

“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” Trudeau said during his press conference outside his residence in Ottawa. “This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I am having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”

Trudeau took office in late 2015 and has sought to implement a broad liberal agenda, winning reelection twice. But his approval ratings have cratered in recent months amid concerns about inflation and immigration, with the vast majority of Canadians favoring his resignation.

The recent resignation of his deputy prime minister amid a lack of confidence in his leadership triggered a cascade of unrest within his Liberal party.

That includes indications of declining support among Canada’s approximately 335,000 Jews, who like Jews in other Western diaspora communities have faced a documented rise in antisemitism in the year-plus since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, which killed over 1,200, resulting in the kidnapping of 251 hostages and sparked the war in Gaza.

Multiple synagogues and Jewish day schools in the Toronto and Montreal areas have been targeted by gunfire, rock-throwing and fire-bombing since the........

© The Times of Israel