Jewish leaders and public officials across the Greater Toronto Area are warning that a series of shootings targeting synagogues has pushed antisemitism into a far more dangerous phase, prompting urgent calls for action from police, governments and civil society. Community organizations said the attacks were not isolated acts of vandalism but part of a broader climate of escalating hatred that has left many Jewish families feeling exposed, shaken and abandoned.
Groups including CIJA and UJA Federation said symbolic condemnations are no longer enough, arguing that officials must respond with stronger enforcement, more visible protection and a clearer strategy for confronting extremist incitement before more serious violence occurs. Their message was that when shots are fired at houses of worship, the issue is no longer only about one community’s fears, but about whether public institutions are willing to defend basic safety and democratic order.
Prime Minister Mark Carney described the attacks as “criminal antisemitic assaults” and said federal agencies would support investigators in identifying and prosecuting those responsible. Other civic leaders publicly denounced the shootings as an attack on the right of Jewish Canadians to gather in safety. Together, the reactions reflected a growing consensus that these recent events are not just alarming, but a national test of whether repeated anti-Jewish violence will finally trigger a more serious response.
Adam Louis-Klein was deep in the Amazon on Oct. 7, 2023 – three months into fieldwork with an Indigenous community, living without any internet or phone contact. Two days later, in a local town, he reconnected with the outside world and saw the news. Then he saw something else: how people in his professional orbit were responding to the atrocities perpetrated against Israelis.
“I spoke up and said I stood in solidarity with Israelis, and spoke up against the bigotry I was already seeing, and I was quickly, basically purged,” he told the Independent.
Adam Louis-Klein (photo by Adam Louis-Klein)
Louis-Klein, a McGill University PhD candidate who now lives in New York state, describes a swift loss of “all my social and professional contacts.” But that didn’t stop him from expressing his views. He felt an obligation, he said, to offer a Jewish voice that speaks the same language as the academy and the left, especially in response to antizionism.
“As I wrote more about it, I think my understanding of antizionism got sharper and sharper,” he said. “I got more focused on antizionism itself as an ideology, not just antisemitism.”
That shift – treating antizionism as something that should be named and confronted directly, rather than in the context of its relationship with antisemitism – has become central to his work. In his view, focusing on antisemitism as the lens can become a rhetorical trap, positioning antizionism as a respectable political position.
His ideas went viral.
“I was posting on Facebook and people kind of liked the little mini-essays I wrote,” he said. He launched a blog at the Times of Israel, then began writing for other outlets. “One thing led to another.”
The visibility has accelerated in recent months, he said. Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ), the organization he founded and leads, has also caught on rapidly.
People found his Times of Israel blog and were on the lookout for voices explicitly naming and confronting antizionism, he said. The people he works with have helped refine his language. Looking back at his writing over a short span, he said, “I already see a kind of progression whereby I get sharper at naming antizionism and making that the focus.”
The backlash was instantaneous.
“People tried to shut me down,” he said. “There were fake complaints against me … they would call my advisor, they would call the anthropology department to try and get me expelled.” He said he was removed from WhatsApp groups, a book club he organized collapsed, a presentation he organized on the Soviet roots of antizionist rhetoric was canceled without explanation.
He described a hardened ideological environment.
“I was told that no one would discuss with me whether it’s a genocide,” he said. “The genocide libel was not something that could be discussed.”
While the university environment may be a hotbed of antizionism generally, anthropology is particularly hostile, he said.
Early anthropology was connected to colonial infrastructures and later efforts to reckon with that legacy have put “settler-colonialism” at the centre of the discipline, Louis-Klein said. In his telling, the field has “swallowed wholesale” a narrative in which “Israelis are these evil white settlers.” He no longer sees a future in the discipline. “It’s not a field that Jews who do not profess loyalty to the antizionist movement … can exist in at this point,” he said.
Louis-Klein, who grew up mostly in Seattle and who spent time in Whistler growing up, holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Yale University, a master’s in philosophy from the New School, a master’s in anthropology from the University of Chicago, and is nearing completion of his PhD at McGill.
With academic doors closing in front of him, he sees a new possibility: the creation of a serious intellectual space for the study of antizionism itself.
“There is now a movement to try and create an academic space for critical studies of antizionism,” he said, adding that he wants to “provide an intellectual framework for treating antizionism as an objective study, as something that we can critically understand, break down, trace its genealogy, understand how it functions in the present as its own phenomenon.”
In his view, the public conversation must change for practical reasons, not just academic ones.
“We cannot fight anti-Jewish violence today without naming and opposing antizionism,” he said. “The vast majority of anti-Jewish violence is directly motivated by antizionism.”
Even attacks rooted in “more classical” right-wing antisemitism now unfold within “the overall hysteria that has been created by antizionism since Oct. 7 and the genocide libel,” he said. Besides, he argued, as a strategy, equating antizionism and antisemitism is failing.
“Calling antizionism antisemitism is also not working,” he said. “We’re assuming that if we just say it’s antisemitic, a number of institutional levers will set into place Holocaust memory, and it’ll shut it down.”
But that’s not happening, he said, “because antizionism doesn’t look like classical antisemitism.”
Instead, he thinks people need to be taught what antizionism is.
“You can’t just say it’s antisemitic,” he said. “You have to explain to people what antizionism is as an ideology, and you have to stop treating it as political critique.”
He draws a distinction between debating Zionism and describing antizionism as a social phenomenon.
“Talking about antizionism also doesn’t mean … explaining how Zionism is actually good. It goes far beyond that. It means explaining how antizionism is a hate movement,” he said.
“It’s a mob movement,” he added. “There are lynch mobs … people who hunt down Zionists and try and shame and humiliate them.… They vandalize buildings, they smash windows.”
MAAZ delivers training in different sectors, including education, business, arts and journalism, designed to help people understand antizionism and “to fight back and to give people a language.”
“We really think naming and labeling is the way to defeat it,” he said.
Louis-Klein described teaching people to “maintain boundaries,” and to label recurring accusations – “colonizer libel, apartheid libel, genocide libel” – as antizionist so that Jews and allies stop feeling obligated to defend their legitimacy and instead “hold antizionism to account.”
The organization also includes legal thinking, with scholar Rona Kaufman developing a legal concept of antizionist discrimination.
Beyond training, MAAZ emphasizes public education. Louis-Klein encourages people to explore the organization’s website (movementagainstantizionism.org), which he describes as “kind of like a museum … a curation where you enter inside of the whole history of antizionism and its different forms and the different libels.”
He emphasized a point he sees as essential for long-term success: expanding beyond the Jewish community.
“Having non-Jewish people who can get behind that … will just be the key,” he said. “That will be the thing that catapults it to the next stage.”
At rallies held across Canada after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and during the Israel-Hamas war, there were protesters holding antisemitic signs and hollering antisemitic slogans. Bill C-9 would amend the Criminal Code to strengthen existing hate-related offences. (photo from Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism)
Parliament resumed last month after its winter break and one of the bills on the agenda for the new session could have significant repercussions for Jewish Canadians.
While Jewish organizations welcome most components of the proposed legislation, the most important message that its passage would send is that political leaders take hate crimes seriously, according to Jewish organizational spokespeople who were interviewed by the Independent.
Bill C-9 would amend the Criminal Code to strengthen existing hate-related offences. But legal experts and advocacy agencies admit there is no quick fix for the explosion of antisemitic rhetoric and violence in Canada and around the world.
The proposed legislation, which is now in committee stage, would create new offences for intimidation and for intentional obstruction of access to religious or cultural institutions, schools, daycares, seniors residences and cemeteries. It would also create a new hate-crime offence tied to crimes motivated by “hatred,” add a definition of “hatred” and create an offence related to publicly displaying certain hate or terrorist symbols in ways that promote hatred. If passed, the law would remove the requirement of provincial attorneys general to approve police-laid charges and instead place that decision on Crown prosecutors.
In a rare joint statement in December, five national organizations – the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, B’nai Brith Canada, the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism, and Canadian Women Against Antisemitism – welcomed the bill. They also called for additional steps, including increased funding for community security and closing gaps in the country’s anti-terror laws. The statement further called for existing laws to be more vigorously and consistently enforced.
Despite the advocacy of community voices, and existing and proposed legislation, many Canadian Jews feel that antisemitic rhetoric and acts are getting worse, not better, and that few of the actions taken to stanch them are having the desired outcomes.
In British Columbia, for example, Vancouver police recommended charges against Charlotte Kates, a Vancouver resident who publicly called the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks “brave and heroic” and who led a rally in chants of “Long live October 7.” The recommendation has been on the desk of BC’s attorney general for more than 18 months. In an interview with the Independent late last year, Premier David Eby committed to providing an update on the case. Despite repeated follow-ups, the premier’s office has not yet responded with an explanation as to why no action has been forthcoming.
The Independent interviewed leaders in Jewish advocacy organizations, and a clear consensus emerged that expressions of political will may be as important as any particular piece of existing or new legislation.
While many people may feel things are on a downward trajectory, Dylan Hanley, senior vice-president, public affairs, for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, noted some areas of progress. For example, though the situation on Canadian university campuses is not perfect, he said, there have been improvements in terms of how administrations respond to problems.
Hanley also said credit should be given where due, and intelligence agencies and law enforcement have, crucially, prevented several potential disasters from happening in Canada. More must be done, however, including additional immigration screening around connections to terrorist groups, and maintaining vigilance around foreign interference in politics and civil society, he said.
Further investigation is required around possible foreign support for domestic agitators, said Hanley. Although there is no solid evidence, there has been much speculation about external funding of anti-Israel activities, especially given the apparent preparedness of domestic groups immediately after the 10/7 attacks, he said.
“Has anybody shown us the smoking gun?” Hanley asked. “No. Do we suspect at least that there are foreign funds going into some of these campaigns? Sure.”
Ensuring government support for community security is an ongoing issue, as funding is cyclical. But Hanley noted that, while this support is necessary, it is also a response to the problem, which requires leadership and action that gets at the root of the issue – radicalization combined with a major increase in antisemitism.
The proposed changes contained in Bill C-9 are largely a step in the right direction in his view, but Hanley says no single approach can eliminate the underlying problem of antisemitism and hatred.
“None of these things are silver bullets on their own,” he said. “And we don’t want to raise community expectations that there is a silver bullet here.”
The Jewish community is feeling very alone, he said, and is looking for someone to fix the problem. The consensus among all those interviewed for this story is that political leadership must set the tone.
“I think the biggest piece – and we deliver this message at every level of government in every interaction – is we need to see clear leadership on this,” Hanley said. “We need our leaders to come out and say, clearly, this isn’t OK. You can’t target communities in Canada because of anger or frustrations from conflicts going on overseas, and what starts with our community isn’t going to end with our community.”
Even before Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitism was an increasing problem in Canada – this photo comes from a Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ post about Ontario’s 2022 election. A lack of political will at all levels of government is one reason the problem continues to worsen. (photo from cija.ca)
Jewish Canadians are frustrated with what appears like constant buck-passing, he said.
“The university says, ‘Well, actually, this is the police’s job.’ The police say, ‘Well, you know, we haven’t gotten any political cover from the city.’ The city says it’s the province. The province says it’s the feds,” Hanley explained. “And then you go around in the circle again and the feds say, ‘We don’t get involved in law enforcement in individual cases.’”
Aron Csaplaros, BC regional manager for B’nai Brith Canada, echoed several of Hanley’s comments and lauded the Bill C-9 provision that would create a law that most Canadians probably think already exists.
“In Canada, we do not right now have a freestanding hate crime offence,” he said. Instead, the Criminal Code prohibits wilful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred. At present, acts motivated by hate are usually prosecuted under general offences like mischief or assault, while bias or hate can be treated only as an aggravating factor at sentencing.
With Bill C-9, prosecutors would be able to lay a specific hate-crime charge that makes bias or hatred part of the offence itself. This means that prosecutions can centre explicitly on antisemitic or hateful motivation, and sentencing may be more severe because the hate element would be built into the crime rather than treated as secondary.
Bill C-9 would also create a prohibition against harassing people outside religious institutions.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and protest,” said Csaplaros. “But, at the same time, those rights cannot come at the expense of the freedom of others.”
His views about the way things are handled – or not – are similar to Hanley’s.
“I think there’s a lot of passing the buck and finger-pointing going on between various levels of law enforcement and government,” said Csaplaros.
Like the other spokespeople the Independent interviewed, Csaplaros said he is not criticizing law enforcement.
“Law enforcement really needs to be empowered. They need to ensure that officers are using all of the resources available to them,” he said. “That means that all levels of government –federal, municipal, provincial – need to support law enforcement by ensuring clear directives and ensuring that they have the mandate.”
Officers on the frontline may need more awareness of the laws and the extent or limitations of those laws, he said. Crown prosecutors and the
judiciary might benefit from refreshers as well, he added.
Education is key, he said, not just for people at the frontline of law enforcement but for all Canadians. B’nai Brith is calling for a national digital literacy campaign so that all people, but especially young people, have the tools to be able to differentiate fact from fiction, disinformation from legitimate disagreement.
Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director of policy and advocacy for Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said education is a core mandate of her organization. In this context, she has seen how the realities facing Jewish Canadians are questioned or discounted.
The centre educates a broad range of audiences, including law enforcement, government officials and civil society leaders. Almost invariably, she said, when trainers show statistics of antisemitic hate crimes, hands shoot up in the audience to contest the numbers, to question the methodologies or otherwise call into doubt the prevalence of attacks on Jews. Part of this, she believes, is due to the pervasiveness of the myth of the “powerful Jew.”
“This sort of racist understanding of the Jew has compromised the ability of the society to really understand that, in fact, we are the targets,” she said.
Even when people are not challenging the evidence, said Kirzner-Roberts, there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between approaches to antisemitism and reactions to other forms of racism.
“The response that we so often hear is, ‘Well, it’s a free country,’” she said. “This is not the kind of expression that you would get if the target were, in my opinion, anyone other than Jews.” This societal double standard is a challenge, she said.
Like the others interviewed, Kirzner-Roberts believes that leadership and political will are crucial to turning the tide. That includes legislation like Bill C-9 and also enforcement of existing laws. “There is a lot of legislation already that is being far underutilized,” she said.
Systemic issues, though, are addressed by leadership at the political level.
“We’re seeing a lack of political will across the board, and I’m talking here [about] cities, provinces and on the federal level,” said Kirzner-Roberts.
In addition to addressing the rise in hate-motivated crime and closing loopholes in existing laws, she said, Bill C-9 is important because it drives home the message of political will onto police and prosecutors.
Randy Wolfe, left, with Aharon Botzer, co-founder of Livnot U’Lehibanot. (photo from Livnot U’Lehibanot)
Reuven (Randy) Wolfe of Winnipeg recently returned to Tzfat, Israel, to reconnect with the founders of Livnot U’Lehibanot and with the place where his Jewish journey began.
Wolfe first arrived in Tzfat in 1981, as a young participant in Livnot’s third-ever program. Now, 44 years later, he and his wife, Beverly Werbuk, walked once again through the same stone alleyways, into the same historic buildings and back into the same spirit that once transformed Wolfe’s life.
“I remember everything,” he shared. “The formula still works: no show, no pretending, just truth, action, open hearts and good people.”
Since that formative experience, Wolfe has built a full life in Canada – family, community and career – yet the spark that was lit in Tzfat has never faded.
“Coming back to Livnot,” he said, “felt like coming home.”
For more than four decades, Livnot U’Lehibanot, founded by Aharon and Miriam Botzer, has guided thousands of young Jews from around the world to connect with their roots through hands-on volunteering, learning and community, including the rebuilding of homes along Israel’s borders.
“The walls may have changed,” Reuven smiled, “but the spirit – that same spirit – is still alive. It continues to build the Jewish people, in Israel and throughout the diaspora.”
Avi Benlolo of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative was in Vancouver Nov. 5 to screen the AGPI’s new film, Heart of Courage, about Jewish resilience in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. (photo by Pat Johnson)
Against a “tsunami” of anti-Israel and antisemitic content online and in the broader society, Jews and pro-Israel voices need to do a better job getting their message out, according to Avi Benlolo.
Benlolo is founding chair and chief executive officer of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI), whose mandate is to study and research international human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy, global peace and civil society in Canada, Israel and around the world. He was previously founding president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre and writes weekly in the
National Post. He was in Vancouver screening AGPI’s new 40-minute film, Heart of Courage and spoke with Rabbi Jonathan Infeld at Congregation Beth Israel Nov. 5. He was introduced by Diane Friedman, the congregation’s adult program director.
The film features a soldier playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” on a piano in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.
“His music becomes his voice, a testament to the resilience of his spirit and the strength of his people,” the narrator intones. “His teary eyes remain wide open, reflecting the weight of his generation’s struggle. He plays for a world he longs to see, a world of peace. In that moment, his dreams reach beyond the darkness, yet his resolve remains unshaken. This soldier is part of a chain, a line of defenders stretching back through history, each bound by an unyielding commitment to Israel’s survival.”
Produced prior to the ceasefire, the film includes Benlolo interviewing people at the weekly rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people in Tel Aviv, many of them family members of hostages. Some have risen to prominence as voices for those held in Gaza and their relatives.
Benlolo visits an art installation that serves as a memorial monument adjacent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ building in Jerusalem. The work, titled “Memory Pomegranate 7.10.2023,” is a sculpture of a pomegranate with multi-coloured glass and ceramics, visual shards and fragments that metaphorically reference broken lives, trauma and loss, but together form a hopeful whole, emphasizing life, resilience and collective memory. The artwork integrates electronic tags that allow a smartphone or other device to access digital content to learn more about the events of 10/7 and the people and communities affected.
Sharing stories of non-Jews who saved lives on 10/7, the film declares, “In Israel, heroism knows no bounds of religion, ethnicity or background. On Oct. 7, amid the chaos, countless stories emerged of Muslims, Druze, Christians and Bedouins risking everything to protect their fellow citizens.”
After the screening, Benlolo and Infeld spoke of the hurdles to getting the message out.
Benlolo, who has worked extensively in multicultural and interfaith sectors, plans to screen Heart of Courage for diverse audiences, as his organization has done with previous films.
The biggest challenge, Benlolo said, may be reaching younger audiences, for whom anti-Israel activism has become “cool.”
“We have to go to them and get to them through the technology that exists today,” he said. “Social media in particular.”
This presents its own challenges, he noted, as there is a “tsunami” of anti-Israel and antisemitic content.
The silver lining of this era, according to Benlolo, is a new generation of engaged Jewish young people.
“What we all saw as a result of Oct. 7 was Jewish youth for the first time ever walking proudly with Magen Davids around their necks, fighting back, distancing themselves from people who have rejected them and reject the state of Israel,” he said.
While the film paints a picture of a unified Israeli society, Benlolo acknowledged divisions, rifts that will likely be exacerbated in next year’s national elections.
One of the most visible points of discord is the debate over Haredi conscription. Benlolo is unequivocal on this topic. Asked by Infeld what he would say to the Haredi community, Benlolo said, “What’s wrong with you? I mean, honestly.… To not participate in defending the country and to insist that others do it for you, I think, is wrong.”
Benlolo also pulled no punches on issues closer to home. He said Canada’s government is “pretty much siding with Hamas” and other leaders, such as Toronto’s mayor, are “emboldening the other side.” This inspires violent people to act out, he said, citing a vicious attack on Jewish students near Toronto Metropolitan University earlier that day.
“What gives them permission to do that?” Benlolo asked. “It’s the environment that feeds it. It’s the political leadership that allows it. That is the central problem.”
Responding to a question from Infeld on the future of Jewish life in Canada, Benlolo noted that Jewish schools and other institutions in parts of Europe are protected by armed guards and he warned that North American Jews may find themselves “in a much more defensive posture.”
“I can’t promise you that there’s going to be a good future here in Canada,” he said. “But, in Israel, at least, we have an ability to wear the uniform and protect ourselves, and that’s an important distinction. It doesn’t mean Israel is 100% safe, as we all know, it doesn’t mean that’s an easy life, but at least it’s a place where we can stand up for ourselves.”
He has plenty of hopefulness for Israel.
“I think that the next chapter for Israel is an optimistic one,” he said, suggesting that more countries will normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. He suggests also that Israel’s economy will skyrocket, in part because of all the technology developed as a result of the war. He also predicts continued increasing levels of aliyah.
Before the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, organizers installed an elevator in the Acropolis. (photo from greecehighdefinition.com)
What does sports have to do with human rights? This was the question posed by Vancouver Jewish community leader Zena Simces as she and her spouse Simon Rabkin launched the seventh annual Simces and Rabkin Family Dialogue on Human Rights Oct. 23 in a national online event.
There is evidence of discrimination and exclusion, racism, sexism, ableism, athlete exploitation and maltreatment, labour rights violations, sex eligibility and gender identity issues and safety concerns in sport, Simces said. There are also funding issues, such as the high cost of participation in sport, including at the community level.
Sport is about more than just an active and healthy lifestyle, Simces noted, though it is about that, too.
“It can help to address social isolation and loneliness, which have been identified as major health concerns, not only for older adults, but also for children and youth,” she said. “Sports can be democratic, as it invites everyone to belong and contribute to strengthening and building community, but there is a dark side.”
The dialogue was moderated by Wendy MacGregor, a consultant, educator and lawyer who is the founder and executive director of Athlete Zone, a nonprofit that provides Canadians with support, guidance and education in the pursuit of healthy sports environments.
“Unfortunately, with all those wonderful attributes that sports brings, it is not accessible to everyone worldwide and not even to all Canadians,” said MacGregor. She cited statistics indicating that youth participation numbers “are dropping off a cliff and especially girls are dropping out of sport.”
Some of the reasons for this include increased costs, travel time, difficulty of access to facilities, discrimination, maltreatment or abuse in sport and the increased commercialization of sport.
Panelist Bryan Heal, the social impact research lead at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, spoke about a program his organization is involved with, called Change the Game, which advances youth access, equity and outcomes through sport.
Change the Game has engaged more than 25,000 young people around Ontario, he said, addressing factors of race, gender, ability, household income, geography and other factors around access and barriers.
More than 80% of young people who have participated in the program, he said, have experienced themselves or are aware of a problem in these areas but do not feel like they have anyone that they can talk to about it.
“There’s a culture and strategy of silence that is employed by default,” said Heal. “In a team environment, it can be incredibly isolating and deflating when you’re harbouring something like that. It draws people away to other sports, sometimes to leaving sports entirely.”
Jeff Adams, a lawyer specializing in labour, employment and human rights issues, is a decorated Paralympian, having won three gold medals in wheelchair races.
Accommodating different needs is fundamental and, too often, he said, excuses are made, such as the argument that sports facilities are often in buildings that are too old to be made fully accessible.
Before the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, organizers installed an elevator in the Acropolis. “You want to talk about the most historically relevant building in the world,” he said. “It’s the cradle of civilization, and they put an elevator in it.”
An attitude exists that basic Canadian laws, embodied in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, do not apply to the playing field, he argued.
“We are not applying the fundamental supreme law of Canada to athletes who are bleeding for their country in competition,” Adams said. “We have laws that work. We have anti-violence and harassment legislation baked into labour and employment laws.”
Amreen Kadwa, founder and executive director of Hijabi Ballers, a Toronto nonprofit creating positive experiences in sport for Muslim girls and women, said her group’s programs provide more than just access to sport.
“They create safe, culturally affirming spaces where women can play without judgment,” she said. “They can learn new skills, they can grow in their confidence and, beyond sport, we nurture leadership. It really is human rights in action.”
Female athletes face far more violence and discrimination in sport than their male counterparts, Kadwa said.
“But this number is even higher for racialized women,” she said. “Muslim women, a lot of them who are hijab-wearing Muslim women, are often seen as outsiders, whether through their outfits, their clothing, the stereotype, a lack of cultural understanding.”
The annual dialogue event is a partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Equitas, an international centre for human rights education.
The Team Vancouver delegation at the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games in Pittsburgh, Pa. (photo fromJCCGV)
When the Jewish community of Greater Toronto hosts the JCC Maccabi Games this summer, it will mark the first time that the Jewish teen athletics event has taken place north of the border since Vancouver hosted in 2006. And Team Vancouver, based out of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, will bring a delegation of at least 20 athletes to be a part of it.
The JCCs of Toronto will welcome approximately 1,600 Jewish teens from around the world Aug. 2-7, 2026, for this annual Olympic-style sporting event. The games will take over venues around Greater Toronto, offering a variety of team and individual sports.
“With the political climate being what it is these days, it’s really fantastic timing to finally have a set of games in Canada again,” said Kyle Berger, delegation head for Team Vancouver. “I can feel the excitement already building and we expect to be taking our largest delegation since before COVID.”
The JCC Maccabi Games, which engages 3,000-4,000 Jewish teens each summer, is focused on athletic competitions, but, Berger said, the true meaning of the games lies in the unique Jewish peoplehood experience it offers.
“From the powerful opening ceremonies, with the parade of athletes, and through the week of competition and special events, there is nothing that brings Jewish teens together like the JCC Maccabi experience,” he said. “This will be my 23rd set of games, but, when Team Israel enters the opening ceremony, with 10,000 people all waving their Israeli flags, cheering and singing together in a safe environment, it gives me goosebumps every time.”
Berger was involved with the games when Vancouver hosted in 2006 and said he appreciates how much hosting this event can bring a community together.
“Much like the way hosting the Olympics in 2010 brought the cities of Vancouver and Whistler together, hosting the JCC Maccabi Games really is a full-community experience,” he said. “And anytime it is in Canada, it’s special to be part of it and show off our amazing country. We will enter the opening ceremony with extra pride this year.”
The games in Toronto, which will take place at the same time as another set of games in Kansas City, will be one of the larger sets of games in recent years. Athletes aged 13-17 as of the date of the games will be able to compete in their choice of team or individual sports that include ice hockey – with a girls division for the first time – baseball, basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, swimming, dance, track and golf.
Aside from the opening ceremony, the games will feature social events for the athletes and coaches, as well as Jewish and Israeli cultural programming, social action projects and an emphasis on the six middot (Jewish values) of tikkun olam (repairing the world), respect, joy, pride, big-heartedness, and Jewish peoplehood.
JCC Maccabi, a signature program of the Jewish Community Centre Association of North America, is part of the overall umbrella of the Maccabi World Union, which also includes the Maccabiah Games in Israel.
An Ontario court has handed down a 12-month prison sentence to a man who incited hate against Jews in public during a vigil last year at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto.
“We commend the Court for making clear that there is a difference between free speech and hate speech, and for demonstrating that those who target our community, or any Canadian community, will be held accountable under our country’s laws,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy.
Razaali Bahadur, 45, was convicted this past June of inciting hatred at the April 7, 2024, event. His outbursts included blood libel, such as that Jews enjoy killing children and are, as a collective, responsible for killing Jesus.
During Bahadur’s sentencing, B’nai Brith Canada delivered an impact statement reflecting the fear and anguish many Jewish Canadians have felt as antisemitism has increased in this country.
As part of its advocacy at the federal level, B’nai Brith Canada penned a formal submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, which is preparing an official report to inform the federal government’s fall budget.
In addition, B’nai Brith Canada is calling on the federal government to use the Budget Implementation Act to eliminate a loophole that temporarily allowed Samidoun, which was listed as a terrorist entity in this country in 2024, to continue operating as a nonprofit corporation.
“It is astonishing that, in Canada, an organization does not automatically lose its corporate status when it is declared a terrorist entity,” said Robertson.
In its fall budget submission, B’nai Brith recommended that the government:
• Make new investments to strengthen Canada’s resilience against violent extremism;
• Ensure that recipients of federal grants are in compliance with Canada’s anti-racism strategy: Changing Systems, Transforming Lives, 2024-2028;
• Develop a five-year plan to enhance Canadian youths’ understanding of contemporary antisemitism, as outlined in the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which Canada adopted in 2019; and
• Make mandatory the existing antisemitism training approved for federal public servants.
The seventh annual Simces & Rabkin Family Dialogue on Human Rights, organized by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Vancouverites Zena Simces and Dr. Simon Rabkin, and Equitas-International Centre for Human Rights Education, takes place Oct. 23, at noon, via Zoom. It tackles the topic of The Match-up Between Human Rights and Sports: How Both Can Win Well in Today’s Landscape.
According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “sport is anchored in human rights values. It promotes fairness, non-discrimination, respect and equal opportunities for all. As it reaches billions, including young people, it is a conduit for societal change through empowerment and inclusion.” Despite being anchored in human rights values, sport also faces human rights-related challenges through various forms of discrimination be it sexism, racism, ableism, classism or others. The Oct. 23 dialogue will explore the benefits of sport as a force for good in upholding human rights, the challenges currently faced by the Canadian sport system, and pathways to strengthen the balance between sports and human rights so that both win by promoting well-being for all.
The expert panelists featured will be Bryan Heal, Jeff Adams and Armeen Kadwa. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share comments.
Heal is social impact research lead with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), heading such initiatives as the MLSE Foundation’s Change the Game research program for youth in Ontario.
Adams, a labour, employment and human rights lawyer, is a Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame inductee. He won three gold medals in the Paralympics: twice in the 800-metre (1996 and 2000) and once in the 1,500-metre (2000) wheelchair racing events.
Kadwa is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Hijabi Ballers, which is dedicated to creating positive sport experiences for Muslim girls and women.
The panel will be moderated by Wendy MacGregor, a consultant, educator and lawyer, and founder and executive director of Athlete Zone. She has a master’s in law on abuse and maltreatment of athletes. Her published work focuses on the root causes of sport violence, maltreatment prevention, power imbalance and wellness in sport.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement on Canada’s recognition of Palestine as a state.
“Recognizing the state of Palestine, led by the Palestinian Authority, empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas,” said Carney. “This in no way legitimizes terrorism, nor is it any reward for it. Furthermore, it in no way compromises Canada’s steadfast support for the state of Israel, its people and their security – security that can only ultimately be guaranteed through the achievement of a comprehensive two-state solution.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Sunday that Canada would recognize Palestine as a state. (photo from Office of the Prime Minister)
Carney noted: “Since 1947, it has been the policy of every Canadian government to support a two-state solution for lasting peace in the Middle East.” He said there was an “expectation that this outcome would be eventually achieved as part of a negotiated settlement,” but “this possibility has been steadily and gravely eroded” by several factors.
In addition to other criticisms of both Hamas and Israel, Carney lists the “pervasive threat of Hamas terrorism to Israel and its people, culminating in the heinous terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023,” and Hamas’s rejection of Israel’s right to exist; “accelerated settlement building across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while settler violence against Palestinians has soared”; “the E1 Settlement Plan and this year’s vote by the Knesset calling for the annexation of the West Bank”; and the “Israeli government’s contribution to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, including by impeding access to food and other essential humanitarian supplies.”
Carney said the Palestinian Authority “has provided direct commitments to Canada and the international community on much-needed reforms, including to fundamentally reform its governance, to hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state.”
In reaction to the prime minister’s Sept. 21 statement, Noah Shack, chief executive officer of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said, “Hamas is not an isolated phenomenon. It is a violent manifestation of the rejection of the right of the Jewish people to a state in our ancestral home – a rejection that runs deep within Palestinian society.
“As Prime Minister Carney himself has noted, a Palestinian state must be a Zionist state. Today’s announcement undermines that objective and gives Hamas and other Palestinian rejectionists a sense of victory. This will only make it harder to secure the release of hostages and build a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Shack acknowledged that, while the “announcement does not come as a surprise, the details are important. The government has stated that, while it is extending recognition, normalization of relations with a ‘state of Palestine’ is an ongoing, long-term process…. We will argue that this must not proceed so long as hostages are in tunnels, Hamas remains in power and the Palestinian leadership rejects Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.
“And we will continue,” said Shack, “to make it clear that, with anti-Jewish hate escalating, our government must recognize the unintended effect foreign policy has on the climate in our own country.”
B’nai Brith Canada also issued a response to Carney’s statement.
“The PA has shown, time and again, that it cannot be trusted,” said Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada. “It is unable to govern the Palestinian Territories and has repeatedly demonstrated it is unwilling to deliver on the very commitments upon which Canada’s recognition is supposed to be predicated.
“The commitments include democratic reform, free and fair elections in 2026 without Hamas, and the full demilitarization of the Palestinian Territories.
“None of these conditions have been met. Hamas continues to arm itself, hold hostages and carry out terror attacks. Recognition under these circumstances does not bring us any closer to lasting peace, it only further compromises the prospect of a two-state solution.”
Robertson said the “government has chosen appeasement over principle.”
On Sunday, the United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal made similar announcements to that of Canada. Reaction from Israel was critical.
“After the atrocities of Oct. 7, while Hamas continues its campaign of terror, and while it continues to cruelly hold 48 hostages in the tunnels and dungeons of Gaza, the recognition of a Palestinian state by some nations today is, not surprisingly, cheered by Hamas,” wrote Israel’s President Isaac Herzog in an X post.
“It will not help one Palestinian, it won’t help free one hostage, and it will not help us reach any settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. It will only embolden the forces of darkness.
“This is a sad day for those who seek true peace,” he concluded.
Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he will release a formal response after he returns from the United States. However, in a widely reported Hebrew-language video statement, he said, “I have a clear message to those leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre on Oct. 7 – you are handing a huge reward to terror.
“It will not happen,” he added. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan.”
According to various news reports, Hamas did indeed applaud the recognition announcements, as did the Palestinian Authority.
