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Grants to counter antisemitism and online hate announced for 6 organizations on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Six organizations will receive a total of $3.4 million to combat Holocaust denial and antisemitism, the Canadian government announced Jan. 27, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
The funds are part of $5-million allocation for a new Holocaust remembrance program outlined in the 2024 budget, that committed $90 million to combatting antisemitism.
The announcements were part of observances for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, other world leaders and survivors travel to Auschwitz to observe the sombre event.
As we mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we remember the horrors of the Holocaust and honour those that were taken away from us.
With antisemitism on the rise once again, we must stand united against hate to ensure “Never Again” truly means never again. pic.twitter.com/MRGhrd5rXs
— Rachel Bendayan (@RachelBendayan) January 27, 2025
In Canada, a memorial ceremony with politicians, foreign diplomats and survivors was held at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. MP Rachel Bendayan, associate minister for public safety, announced that a national summit on antisemitism would be held March 6. “All levels of government will commit to concrete solutions to address the alarming rise of antisemitic violence across our country,” she said.
These six institutions will benefit from the funding:
- Toronto Holocaust Museum: $379,000 to launch a social media campaign combatting online misinformation and hate.
- Canadian Society for Yad Vashem: $160,000 to enhance Holocaust education for teachers, school boards, professors and law enforcement personnel.
- Montreal Holocaust Museum: $495,800 to develop educational resources about antisemitism in Quebec.
- Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre: $467,300 to support three bilingual online learning programs on Holocaust remembrance and education.
- Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies: $435,000 to recruit 60 elementary and secondary school educators across the country to teach about the Holocaust.
- Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island: $124,000 for training for community leaders on antisemitism and the experiences of local Jewish Canadians.
In addition, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s program on Holocaust and Genocide Education received $1.3 million, which followed a $2 million initial contribution.
York Centre MP Ya’ara Saks, the associate minister of health, announced the grants for Toronto institutions after she and several other members of Parliament toured the Toronto Holocaust Museum. In her remarks, she reflected on the rising antisemitism and violence that been seen across the country and in her riding since the Oct.7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war.
🧵Through education, the Holocaust teaches us the power of humanity when we choose kindness and dignity over indifference and hate.
We’re funding two initiatives in #YorkCentre to increase Holocaust education in Canada & combat antisemitism.@thethmuseum @CdnSocYadVashem pic.twitter.com/fEwMjljoXl
— Ya’ara Saks יערה זקס (@YaaraSaks) January 28, 2025
“Oct. 7, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, has continued to have rippling effects in Jewish communities here in Canada and around the world. And it has led to a distressing rise in antisemitism, which shows us that the lessons of the Holocaust have never been starker. For many in our community, it has been a time of anxiety, a sense of not knowing where one is safe to take a bus, to go on a subway, to go to a hospital, to enter a cultural space.”
Holocaust education is one strategy in combatting antisemitism, she said in an interview with The CJN afterward.
“In the world we are in today, which is very much for young people an online world, we need to be able to give them the tools of discernment and understanding of what they’re seeing and hearing and reading, and also the power of survivor testimony, the power of the messages and the lessons learned of how the Holocaust happened are really important for young people to know today, how hate takes root.”
Students also need to learn how societies become polarized and how to be allies, she said.
“In this case, when we see Jewish students in the TDSB (Toronto District School Board) feeling that they are being isolated and marginalized because of the war between Israel and Hamas, more education is needed to make sure that Jewish students… any Jewish members of the community going to hospitals or any other public space, should be able to feel safe where they are and not be marginalized or isolated or ostracized,” she said. “And that requires education, that requires a deep dive in unpacking the misinformation and the disinformation that we’re seeing in hate online.”
Legislation to regulate the online world has been in discussion for years. The most recent proposal, the Online Harms Bill, was introduced in February, 2024, but has yet to be passed. Saks blamed the Opposition Conservatives saying they “chose to play partisan politics in the House,” delaying its passage.
Combatting online misinformation and hate is the goal of the Toronto Holocaust Museum’s project called ‘It’s critical to think critically,’ said executive director Dara Solomon.
The national social media campaign links to resources that explain how to fact-check sources, and understand how the emotional intensity of messages is designed to spread them further.
Don’t blindly trust Aunt Sheila, verify for yourself.
Misinformation is everywhere – hidden in plain sight on social media. On IHRD, we’re reminded to prevent history from repeating itself.
Check out our guide to spot misinformation: https://t.co/L4ezXvmv1s pic.twitter.com/kJzB6ZF03h
— Toronto Holocaust Museum (@thethmuseum) January 27, 2025
“A disturbing number of people rely solely on social media for their news, and it increases as you get younger people who are getting almost 100 percent of their news online. And those people do not verify what they learn and we know there’s so much misinformation online, especially on platforms like Telegram and X but even on mainstream ones, like Facebook- we know that Meta is no longer going to do factchecking,” Solomon said. “That’s a huge problem and we know that it also contributes to the rise of antisemitism.”
The online campaign will enable the museum to broaden its reach beyond the students who visit the exhibits, Solomon said. “It’s really about countering this barrage of misinformation online and to give people tools to change their behaviours online.”
The post Grants to counter antisemitism and online hate announced for 6 organizations on International Holocaust Remembrance Day appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.