Israel accuses Canada of failing to protect Jews amid record antisemitism

Israel’s Foreign Ministry accuses Canadian government of failing to protect local Jews after report shows antisemitism at all-time high.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused Canada’s government of failing to protect its Jewish community after a new report found antisemitic incidents in the country reached a record high last year.

“How come Jews make up less than 1% of Canada’s population, yet suffer 70% of its religious hate crimes?” the ministry wrote Monday on X. “In 2025 alone, Canada recorded 6,800 antisemitic incidents. That’s 20 a day! And while the incidents keep adding up, the incitement continues.”

“Canada’s government has failed to protect its Jewish community. The time to ban incitement is now,” the ministry said.

The statement followed the release of B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit, which recorded 6,800 antisemitic incidents in 2025, the highest number since the organization began publishing the report in 1982. The figure was up 9.3% from the previous record of 6,219 incidents in 2024.

The report said most incidents were online but also documented 10 violent incidents, 299 acts of vandalism and 243 cases of real-world harassment. B’nai Brith said antisemitism had become a “national crisis” and warned that it had become “normalized in our society.”

“Our review of the past year’s antisemitic incidents must be understood as a wake-up call,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Simon Wolle said. “Hate and extremism are a threat to Canadian democracy and civil society, not only to the Jewish community.”

The Israeli criticism came after a series of attacks targeting Jewish institutions and visibly Jewish residents in the Toronto area.

Toronto police said Friday that an 18-year-old Vaughan man was arrested after two suspected hate-motivated assaults involving imitation firearms.

Police said three visibly Jewish victims were shot at with an Orbeez-type gun on April 30 near Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West, and three people standing outside Congregation Chasidei Bobov were targeted again on May 7. One victim was struck and suffered minor injuries.

“We recognize that Jewish residents have been living with a heightened sense of fear due to repeated incidents targeting their community, and this only adds to that, which is unacceptable,” acting Deputy Chief Joe Matthews said.

“While the weapons used were imitation firearms, the impacts are very real. These are criminal acts that we allege were meant to intimidate and cause fear.”

Days earlier, York Regional Police said another 18-year-old had been charged in connection with March shootings at synagogues in Vaughan and Toronto. Police said gunfire damaged synagogue entrances in both incidents, though no injuries were reported.

Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned those shootings in March as “criminal antisemitic assaults,” saying attacks on synagogues were “an assault on the rights of Jewish Canadians to live and pray in safety” and “fundamental violations of the Canadian way of life.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the incidents underscored the need for stronger action against anti-Jewish incitement, arguing that Canada’s current response has not kept pace with the scale of the threat.