Illustrative: People take part in “Shut it down for Palestine!” protest outside of Tyson’s Corner as shoppers participate in Black Friday in Vienna, Virginia, US, Nov. 24, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis

Jewish community leaders across Canada are pushing back against a campaign by anti-Zionist activists that seeks to pressure accrediting bodies to reconsider recognition of several Jewish children’s summer camps.

The controversy centers around at least 17 overnight camps in provinces including Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia, according to a statement circulated by the activist group.  A coalition of leftist and pro-Palestinian groups has identified the camps and is urging provincial associations to review and potentially revoke their accreditation.

Members of the anti-Israel coalition — which includes the Palestinian Canadian Congress, Just Peace Advocates, the Ontario Palestinian Rights Association, PAJU Montreal, and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign — claim that some of the camps promote or normalize support for Israel.

Organizers say institutions connected to Israel, which they falsely accuse of committing genocide against Palestinians, should face scrutiny.

“We have identified at least 17 overnight summer camps throughout Canada that support the State of Israel in some way,” the campaign says. “These camps are not problematic because they encourage connection to Jewish identity. Rather, they pose a problem because they encourage support for a genocidal, settler-colonial state.”

Among the claims cited are that camps celebrate Israeli national holidays, incorporate Israel-focused educational content, or employ staff members who have previously served in the Israel Defense Forces, including in non-combat capacities.

The messaging reflects themes commonly associated with the BDS movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. The campaign against Jewish camps has been endorsed by the official Canadian BDS Coalition.

The campaign appears to represent a new front in a broader pattern of activism that has targeted universities, cultural organizations, and other institutions over perceived ties to Israel.

Camp leaders and Jewish organizations say the effort singles out Jewish institutions and risks politicizing spaces designed for children, while presenting a threat to effectively dismantle Jewish life. 

The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto described the campaign as harassment and intimidation directed at Jewish families. Community leaders have emphasized that summer camps are focused on youth development, cultural enrichment, and recreation, not political advocacy

“This direct targeting of Jewish campers and staff is a deliberate act of intimidation,” UJA wrote in a statement.

The Ontario Camps Association, which accredits camps in that province, also condemned the initiative. The association said accreditation decisions are based on health, safety, and program standards, not political views, and characterized the coalition’s allegations as discriminatory.

The dispute has unfolded amid a surge in antisemitic incidents over the past two years, following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

According to the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada, which tracks antisemitism across the country, antisemitic incidents in 2024 rose 7.4 percent from 2023, with 6,219 adding up to the highest total recorded since it began tracking such data in 1982. Seventeen incidents occurred on average every day, while online antisemitism exploded a harrowing 161 percent since 2022. As standalone provinces, Quebec and Alberta saw the largest percentage increases, by 215 percent and 160 percent, respectively.

Men carry Hezbollah flags while riding on two wheelers, at the entrance of Beirut’s southern suburbs, in Lebanon, Nov. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Terrorist group Hezbollah rejected on Tuesday the Lebanese government’s decision to grant the army at least four months to advance the second phase of a nationwide disarmament plan, saying it would not accept what it sees as a move serving Israel.

Lebanon’s cabinet tasked the army in August 2025 with drawing up and beginning to implement a plan to bring all armed groups’ weapons under state control, a bid aimed primarily at disarming Hezbollah after its devastating war with Israel in 2024.

In September 2025 the cabinet formally welcomed the army’s plan to disarm the Iran-backed Shi’ite militia, although it did not set a clear timeframe and cautioned that the military’s limited capabilities and ongoing Israeli strikes could hinder progress.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a speech on Monday that “what the Lebanese government is doing by focusing on disarmament is a major mistake because this issue serves the goals of Israeli aggression.”

Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos said during a press conference late on Monday after a cabinet meeting that the government had taken note of the army’s monthly report on its arms control plan that includes restricting weapons in areas north of the Litani River up to the Awali River in Sidon, and granted it four months.

“The required time frame is four months, renewable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks and field obstacles,” he said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said, “we cannot be lenient,” signaling the group’s rejection of the timeline and the broader approach to the issue of its weapons.

Hezbollah has rejected the disarmament effort as a misstep while Israel continues to target Lebanon, and Shi’ite ministers walked out of the cabinet session in protest.

Israel has said Hezbollah‘s disarmament is a security priority, arguing that the group’s weapons outside Lebanese state control pose a direct threat to its security.

Israeli officials say any disarmament plan must be fully and effectively implemented, especially in areas close to the border, and that continued Hezbollah military activity constitutes a violation of relevant international resolutions.

Israel has also said it will continue what it describes as action to prevent the entrenchment or arming of hostile actors in Lebanon until cross-border threats are eliminated.

Illustrative: Anti-Israel protesters march through the streets of the township of Lenasia in Johannesburg, South Africa, Oct. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ihsaan Haffejee

Three Israelis were brutally attacked at a bar in Thailand on Monday after they were overheard speaking Hebrew, continuing a growing trend of Hebrew speakers being assaulted around the world amid a surge in antisemitism.

The Israeli citizens, all in their 20s, were attacked on the island of Koh Samui in southern Thailand by French tourists of North African origin, according to multiple reports.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement shared photographs of the victims, reporting that the assailants confronted them and said, “You are Israelis,” before chasing them into a restroom, forcing the door open, and demanding they empty their pockets.

Two of the Israelis, a father and son who remain unidentified, reportedly sought to flee and take shelter in a restroom. While two of the victims went to the hospital after the attack, the third escaped. A member of the victims’ family described the injuries as severe to Israel’s Channel 12, noting broken ribs, damaged teeth, and back trauma.

While the bar’s employees stepped in, the victims said that some members of security joined the attackers and used batons against them.

The assaults in Thailand follow an ongoing pattern of antisemitic acts targeting Israeli tourists who are overheard speaking in Hebrew.

In December, for example, an Israeli tourist was brutally attacked in Cyprus while speaking Hebrew on the phone, requiring hospitalization and resulting in the loss of vision in one of his eyes.

The victim’s father expressed his frustration on Facebook at the response, writing that “what is no less shocking is what happened afterward. We contacted the relevant authorities, including the Israeli consulate, and the response we received was: ‘Sunday- we’re on vacation.’ When an Israeli citizen is injured abroad after a violent attack, the system is simply unavailable. There is no taking responsibility, no response. No sense of backing. There is documentation, there are medical records, and there are witnesses.”

Almog Armoza, 25, described a similar incident that occurred earlier that month in Nepal’s Kathmandu when men hit him in the back of the head with an iron rod as he was recording a voice message in Hebrew.

“If I hadn’t managed to run, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be alive today,” he said. “If the first blow had knocked me out, it could have ended differently.”

Armoza was left with an open wound on his head which required overnight hospitalization and caused him to miss his flight back to Israel.

“My phone was in my hand, and they didn’t go for it,” he said, noting that the attack was not a robbery as his assailants did not steal his valuables. “I have traveled the world for three years. This isn’t how robberies are done. The level of violence was meant to kill.”

In August, an Uber driver in Vienna assaulted a Jewish man and forced him and his family to leave the vehicle after learning some of the passengers were Israeli. Uber subsequently suspended the driver.

Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, described the incident in a statement on Facebook. “When a taxi driver learns that his passengers are Jewish and some are from Israel, he calls the five people antisemitic and forces them to get off,” Deutsch wrote. “The crying of the children is not enough for him. He pushes the father and threatens him with more blows.”

On July 24 in Athens, a pro-Palestinian activist yelled “Free Palestine” and assaulted Ran Ben Shimon, the coach of Israel’s national soccer team, after hearing him speaking Hebrew with assistant coach Gal Cohen.

Ben Shimon said he doubted the attacker knew of their positions and that “in my opinion, the reason for this is that we are Israelis who spoke Hebrew. I am proud to represent my country everywhere; this certainly will not deter us in the future.”

Last February, also in Athens, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator chose violence when hearing Israeli tourists speaking Hebrew, stabbing the couple as they returned to their hotel from a restaurant. Law enforcement arrested him and determined he was originally from Gaza.

American Jewish tourists have also come under attack.

In November at Milan’s Central Station, a 25-year-old Pakistani man allegedly assaulted an Orthodox Jewish tourist from the US and threatened, “You kill children in Palestine, and I’ll kill you.”