Press Release
November 19, 2021
Cars brandishing Palestinian flags travelled streets looking for Jews and Jewish homes in May after Gaza attacked Israel, individuals were threatened at street corners, some families were set to remove Jewish symbols from their homes. Holocaust survivors were once again intimated, terrified by the possibility of physical attacks.
“This is NOT my Canada,” said Anita Bromberg, President of the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation,Co-Chair of End Jew Hatred Canada, and former Director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
Jews who comprise less than 1% of the Canadian population have experienced over 17% of reported hate crimes. This has steadily increased since data was first collected. Today, Jews are the most victimized religious group. Due to this unprecedented surge of antisemitism since pre-WWII, many Jews, particularly students, feel they must hide their Jewish identity. This translates into taking off jewelry with Jewish symbols, hiding kippot (skullcaps) under other hats, removing the mezuzah from one’s dorm room doorjamb or not putting one up.
This fear is fed by hatred that masquerades as anti-Israel criticism, but is antisemitism. The messaging comes from media, academia, NGOs that claim to be pro-Palestinian but are primarily anti-Israel, faith groups that support unbalanced views of the rights of Jews in their homeland, distorted and biased social media, extremism from the left, right and Islamists. This all results in the breach of civil rights for Jews. These attacks, whether physical, verbal, via traditional or social media, in classrooms, and elsewhere have been ignored or understated by our elected politicians, and major media that report local and national news. There is a culture of denial, posturing, and normalization of antisemitism.
End Jew Hatred Canada, founded in December 2020 as a Jewish civil rights grassroots movement is calling for action, not just words of condolence and sympathy. With a new session in Parliament, sitting members of the government are being greeted with a gift from EJH Canada, a mezuzah case with a message to stand up for the civil rights of Jews, against antisemitism and Take Action! EJH is calling for an all-party plan to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism and enforce Hate Laws.
**************************************************30****************************************************
For more information, contact:
Anita Bromberg, Co-Chair anita@caef.ca | Andria Spindel, Co-chair andria@caef.ca
Powered by the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation
Comments