Number of antisemitic incidents in Canada broke records last year: report

B’nai B’rith Canada counted 6,219 antisemitic incidents last year, “the most ever recorded in the history of our Audit,” it said.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   April 08, 2025   |   News   |   1 Comment

 

B’nai B’rith Canada, a Jewish advocacy group, claimed media outlets were “active participants in the spread of disinformation” against Canadian Jews.

An audit into Canada’s growing antisemitism problem criticized Canadian media, including the CBC, as “megaphones for terrorist propaganda.”

“From newsrooms to taxpayer-funded broadcasters, from online media platforms to the entertainment industry, Canadian media institutions became megaphones for terrorist propaganda, sanitizers of anti-Semitic rhetoric and manufacturers of sympathy for extremists,” said the Annual Audit Of Anti-Semitic Incidents.

B’nai B’rith counted 6,219 antisemitic incidents last year, “the most ever recorded in the history of our Audit,” it said. 

Jewish institutions in Canada were targeted by gunfire, bomb threats, and other serious incidents throughout the year, including synagogues, community centres and B’nai B’rith offices, reported Blacklock’s.

The organization also reported that anti-Israel protesters rallied outside a Montreal synagogue, chanting antisemitic slogans and defying a court order. They also cited a firebombing at Congregation Beth Tikvah in December, the second such attack since October 7, 2023.

Jews were the most targeted group in 2023, despite accounting for less than 1% of the population, revealed a Statistics Canada report.

According to the audit, 1,782 of the incidents occurred in Ontario, followed by Quebec with 1,651 incidents—a 25.8% decrease and 215.7% increase from 2023, respectively. 

B’nai B’rith suggests Canada reached a “new low” following the October 7, 2023 killings and kidnapping of Jews in Israel including eight Canadians, it said.

“Damage done to Canada’s Jewish community has been undeniable,” said the Annual Audit. 

“Jewish Canadians have been directly harmed by media coverage of the post-October 7 conflict,” it claimed. Biased coverage and undue criticism of Israel have left Canadian Jews feeling “ostracized” and “marginalized”.

The report criticized the CBC in particular for spreading “terrorist propaganda” by portraying Hamas terrorists as militants and Israel’s defensive actions as genocidal.

The state broadcaster received 4,785 complaints in 2023, a 45% increase, mostly due to coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict.

CBC News received the most complaints about its journalism due to its coverage of the Hamas attacks in Israel and Israel’s response in Gaza, according to then-Ombudsman Jack Nagler.

Nagler criticized the state broadcaster for calling Hamas members “militants” instead of “terrorists,” noting there is “room for improvement” in their coverage. Canada designated Hamas a terrorist organization in 2002.

Other complaints involved the use of “antiseptic language” in 2023 that described the conflict as a “normal clash between two rival military forces.”

CBC News was also slow to correct a false report that Israeli rockets destroyed a Gaza hospital, killing hundreds. The Al-Ahli Hospital was actually destroyed by a misfired Palestinian rocket.

“Right now there is a war taking place in Gaza,” Conservative MP Rachael Harder told the committee. “CBC has determined to cover it from one angle.”

Antisemitic incidents increased by 124.6% between 2022 and 2024, according to the Audit. B’nai Brith called the development a “stark warning for Canadian society.”

The organization attributes the increase largely to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the escalation of the Gaza war in 2024 and 2025.

“The atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, opened deep fissures in Canadian society,” B’nai B’rith director of research and advocacy Richard Robertson said in an April 7 news release. “The subsequent rise in antisemitism has exposed a disturbing undercurrent of Jew-hatred driven by a virulent, radicalized minority.”

Twenty eight MPs signed a pledge last week to recognize the State of Palestine, increase aid to Gaza, and protect those speaking out against Israel. New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh was among the left-leaning cohort who accused Israel of genocide on April 2.

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Alex Dhaliwal

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Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2025-04-08 22:24:25 -0400
    Two-tier law strikes again. Had these been mosques, all hell would break loose. I believe this is a spiritual-based war. Satan hates Jews and Christians. And other religions get a pass from him because they’re based on lies from demons. That’s not my opinion. Holy Scripture states that.