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The historian who uncovered the ADL’s secret plot against the far-right John Birch Society
(JTA) — A historian leafing through files in an archive discovered how a Jewish organization helped bring down an influential far-right extremist movement in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s by going undercover and acting as self-appointed spies.
The discovery of the Anti-Defamation League’s covert operation targeting the John Birch Society is the basis of a chapter in a new book by political historian Matthew Dallek of George Washington University. Published in March, “Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right” is Dallek’s fourth book. It examines the roots of today’s emboldened conservative movement in the United States.
“Birchers” is a history of a group that at its height numbered as many as 100,000 members and “mobilized a loyal army of activists” in a campaign against what it saw as a vast communist conspiracy. He also examines how the Birchers’ mission to defend Christianity and capitalism morphed into a radical anti-civil rights agenda that groups like the ADL saw as an existential threat.
Dallek, who grew up in a Reform Jewish household in Los Angeles, recently sat with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to discuss the rise of the Birchers, how the ADL infiltrated their ranks and whether such tactics are justified in the name of fighting extremism.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
JTA: Before we get into the Jewish aspect of the book, meaning the chapter on the Anti-Defamation League’s relationship with the John Birch Society, let’s take a step back. Who are so-called Birchers? Why do they matter?
Mathew Dallek: The John Birch Society was a household name in the 1960s, becoming the emblem of far-right extremism. It didn’t have huge numbers, but it did penetrate the culture and the national consciousness. Its leader, Robert Welch, had argued at one point that President Dwight Eisenhower was a dedicated agent of a communist conspiracy taking over the United States. Welch formed the John Birch Society to educate the American people about the nature of the communist threat.
In its heyday, the group had about 60,000 to 100,000 members, organized into small chapters. They sent out literature trying to give members roadmaps or ideas for what they could do. They believed a mass education of the public was needed because traditional two-party politics was not going to be very effective at exposing the communist threat. They would form front groups such as Impeach Earl Warren [the Supreme Court’s chief justice] or Support Your Local Police. They tried to ban certain books that they viewed as socialistic from being used in schools. Some Birchers ran for school board seats and protested at libraries.
Critics feared that the Birchers were a growing fascist or authoritarian group and that if they were not sidelined politically and culturally then the country could be overrun. The Nation magazine wrote that Birchers essentially had given their followers an invitation to engage in civil war, guerrilla-style. Those fears sparked a big debate about democracy. How does one sustain democracy and, at the height of the Cold War and in the shadow of World War II, Nazi fascist Germany, and the Holocaust?
As you were researching, you came across a trove of historical internal documents from the ADL in the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society in New York. Why did you devote a chapter to what you found in those documents? What did those files reveal to you about the John Birch Society?
These papers are a goldmine. They’re this incredible and often detailed window into the far-right and, in particular, the John Birch Society. They show the ADL had an extensive, multi-dimensional counterintelligence operation that they were running against the Birch Society.
People knew at the time that the ADL was attending events where Birchers were speaking. But the ADL also had undercover agents with code names, who were able to infiltrate the society’s headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts, and various chapter officers. They dug up financial and employment information about individual Birchers. And they not only used the material for their own newsletters and press releases, but they also fed information to the media.
Another layer is about a debate that’s been going on: Were the Birchers racist and antisemitic? The Birch Society always insisted that they did not tolerate white supremacy and didn’t want any KKK members. They said they accepted people of all faiths and races. And it’s true that they did have a handful of Jewish and Black members.
But what the ADL found was that a lot of hate was bubbling up from the grassroots and also leaking out from the top. The ADL was able to document this in a systematic way.
Some critics of the ADL today say the organization has strayed from its mission by focusing not just on antisemitism but on a wider array of causes. But from reading your work, it sounds like the ADL even then took an expansive view of its role, examining not just direct attacks on Jews but also how the political environment can jeopardize Jews. Am I getting that right, and why did the ADL devote so many resources to a group like the John Birch Society?
So, a few things: It’s the late ’50s and ’60s, and a civil rights coalition is emerging. Benjamin Epstein, the national director of the ADL, was friendly with Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court justice, and Martin Luther King. John F. Kennedy went to an ADL event and praised the ADL for speaking out very strongly in defense of democracy and pushing for the equal treatment of all Americans.
Isadore Zack, who helped lead the spy operation, at one point wrote to his colleagues that it was only in a democracy that the Jewish community has been allowed to flourish and so, if you want to defend Jewish Americans, you also have to defend democracy.
There certainly were other threats at the time, but the Birch Society was seen by liberal critics, including the ADL, as a very secretive group that promoted conspiracy theories about communists who often became conflated with Jews.
Would you consider the ADL successful in its campaign against the Birchers?
They were successful. They used surreptitious and in some cases underhanded means to expose the antisemitism and the racism and also interest in violence or the violent rhetoric of the Birch Society in the 1960s.
The ADL was at the tip of the spear of a liberal coalition that included the White House, sometimes the Department of Justice, depending on the issue, the NAACP, Americans for Democratic Action, labor unions, the union-backed Group Research Inc., which was tracking the far-right as well. The ADL was one of the most, if not the most effective at constraining and discrediting the society.
Clearly, however, the Birchers’ ideas never died. They lived on and made a comeback.
It’s somewhat ironic that you reveal the existence of this spying apparatus devoted to targeting an extremist and antisemitic group in the 1960s given the infamy the ADL would earn in a later era, the 1990s, for allegations that they colluded with police agencies in San Francisco to spy on and harass political activists. They eventually settled with the Arab American, Black and American Indian groups that brought a federal civil suit. I know you didn’t study these revelations, which are outside the scope of your book, but could you perhaps reflect on why undercover tactics were seen as necessary or justified?
It’s important to remember that in the mid-20th century, law enforcement in the United States was often led by antisemites or people who were much more concerned with alleged internal communist threats — the threat from the left.
From the ADL’s vantage point, one could not rely on the government entities that were by law and by design supposed to protect Jewish Americans. There was a sense that this work had to be done, at least in part, outside of the parameters of the government.
When I first discovered the ADL’s spying, I didn’t quite know what to make of it. But I realized they weren’t just spying to spy, they exposed a lot of scary things, with echoes in our own times — like easy access to firearms, a hatred of the government, a denigration and defamation of minority groups. And this was all happening in the shadow of the Holocaust and World War II. I became much more sympathetic; they were very effective, and they had a vision of equality of treatment for all Americans.
It’s obviously controversial. I try not to shy away from it. But they had a lot of good reasons to fight back right and to fight back in this nonviolent way.
That last thought brings to mind another, right-wing Jewish group that existed in this era of taking things into our own hands, that did use violence, explosives even.
You mean the Jewish Defense League, led by Meir Kahane.
Yes, exactly.
He was a Bircher. Toward the end of my book, I mention that he was a member for a while, under his alias Michael King.
Antisemitism is on the rise, and lots of initiatives are being organized to address it, both by existing groups like the ADL and new ones. The ADL’s budget has almost doubled over the past seven years. I am seeing Jews talk of fighting back and taking things into their own hands. And we are in this politically precarious movement in American history, all of which suggests parallels to the era you examined. What kind of wisdom can we glean from examining the ADL’s secret and public fight against the John Birch Society as people who care about the issues affecting Jews today?
A lot of liberals in the 1960s and a lot of the leadership at the ADL grasped the axiom that things can always get worse.
In 2015-2016, you’ll recall, there was Trump’s demonization of Mexican immigrants, and the so-called “alt-right” around him and his campaign and expressions of vitriol by people like Steve Bannon.
There was an assumption among a lot of Americans and among a lot of Jewish Americans that the fringe right — the antisemites, the explicit racists, the white supremacists — that there’s not a majority for them and they can never achieve power.
If you go back and you look at Trump’s closing 2016 campaign ad, it’s textbook antisemitism. He flashes on screen these wealthy Jewish international bankers, and he argues that basically, there’s a conspiracy of these global elites who are stealing the wealth of honest Americans. There’s also 2017, the white supremacists in Charlottesville, who said “Jews will not replace us” and Trump saying there are fine people on both sides.
The sense that democracy is incredibly fragile is not just a theory or a concept: It’s an actuality, the sense as well, that the United States has only been a multiracial democracy for not very long and a haven for Jews for not that long either.
The work that the ADL and the NAACP and other groups did to try to constrain and discredit as fringe and extremist still goes on today. It’s harder to do for all sorts of reasons today including social media and the loss of faith in institutions. But it still goes on. You see the importance of institutional guardrails including the Department of Justice that is prosecuting 1,000 Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
The last thing I’ll say is that one of the admirable things in the 1960s about the ADL and the liberal coalition it belonged to is that it built support for landmark legislation like the Immigration Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of ’65. And a coalition eventually fell apart, but it was powerful, reminding us why Jewish American groups should care about or focus on issues that don’t directly affect Jewish people.
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Taiwan Donates Humanitarian Aid to Israel, Sends ‘Message of Hope and Solidarity’ Amid Iran Strikes
A Taiwan flag can be seen on an overpass ahead of National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ann Wang
Taiwan has donated NT$5.14 million (more than $160,000) for emergency operations and life-saving equipment to Israel amid Iranian ballistic missiles strikes on the Jewish state, expressing “solidarity” with a fellow democracy under constant threat as China continues to support Iran.
Taiwan’s representative to Israel, Abby Lee, said on Tuesday that the donation reflected continued cooperation and mutual concern for civilian safety amid shared security challenges, Taiwan News reported.
“Our contribution is more than financial assistance. It is a message of hope and solidarity to those affected by the war,” Lee said on Tuesday at a conference for ZAKA, Israel’s volunteer civilian emergency service and rescue organization. “Taiwan and Israel may be geographically distant, but we are neighbors in our values, small democracies under constant external threat that continue to thrive and stand by one another.”
The announcement came after the US and Israel last weekend launched a military campaign against Iran, targeting the Iranian military and security apparatus. Tehran has responded with drone and ballistic missile strikes at Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, aimed specifically at civilian sites.
One Iranian missile strike hit the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding dozens, in what authorities described as a direct impact on a public bomb shelter.
Lee said that ZAKA volunteers used portable lighting towers purchased with Taiwan’s donation and that the equipment enabled emergency work under complex conditions and at night.
“We are particularly proud to contribute to initiatives led by ZAKA and are pleased to see our contribution transformed into equipment of real value on the ground,” she said.
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, “Taiwan was among the first to strongly condemn the terrorist attacks and provided humanitarian aid and financial assistance to support kibbutzim, communities, and local authorities that were affected by the attacks and the threats that followed them,” Lee added.
The donation came less than three months after China condemned a senior Taiwanese official’s reported secret trip to Israel. The Reuters news agency reported in December that Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicized visit to Israel.
China considers Taiwan, a nearby island run by a democratic government, as a renegade Chinese province that must be reunited with the mainland — by force, if necessary. Due to pressure from Beijing, few countries have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Israel only recognizes Beijing but not Taipei, which has been increasingly looking to Israel for defense cooperation.
In October, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said that Israel is a model for Taiwan to learn from in strengthening its defenses, citing the Biblical story of David versus Goliath on the need to stand up to authoritarianism.
“The Taiwanese people often look to the example of the Jewish people when facing challenges to our international standing and threats to our sovereignty from China. The people of Taiwan have never become discouraged,” he said. “Israel’s determination and capacity to defend its territory provides a valuable model for Taiwan. I have always believed that Taiwan needs to channel the spirit of David against Goliath in standing up to authoritarian coercion.”
He made the remarks during a dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Taiwan.
Lai in October also announced a new multi-layered air defense system called “T-Dome” to defend itself against a possible future attack by China. It is partly modeled on Israel’s air defense system.
Lai told the AIPAC dinner that T-Dome had been inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, as well as US President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield plan.
“I believe that trilateral Taiwan-US-Israel cooperation can help achieve regional peace, stability, and prosperity,” he said.
Meanwhile, China, a key diplomatic and economic backer of Iran, has moved to deepen ties with the Islamist regime in recent years, signing a 25-year cooperation agreement, holding joint naval drills, and continuing to purchase Iranian oil despite US sanctions.
China is the largest importer of Iranian oil, with nearly 90 percent of Iran’s crude and condensate exports going to Beijing.
With regional tensions rising and great-power competition shaping the Middle East, diplomatic and security relations between Beijing and Jerusalem have become increasingly strained.
Last year, China slammed the Jewish state for joining a United Nations declaration condemning Beijing’s human rights record.
Israel had endorsed a US-backed declaration, signed by 15 other countries — including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan — that expressed “deep and ongoing concerns” over human rights violations in China.
In a rare move, Jerusalem broke with its traditionally cautious approach to China — aimed at preserving diplomatic and economic ties — by signing on to the statement. The signatory countries denounced China’s repression of ethnic and religious minority groups, citing arbitrary detentions, forced labor, mass surveillance, and restrictions on cultural and religious expression.
These diplomatic moves came amid an already tense relationship with China, strained since the start of the war in Gaza. In September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Beijing, along with Qatar, of funding a “media blockade” against the Jewish state.
According to a report released by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), an Israeli think tank, China has increasingly used state media and covert campaigns to spread anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives in the United States.
The report examined how China’s state media portrays Israel and the United States as solely responsible for the war in Gaza, depicting them as destabilizing actors while spreading anti-Israel and antisemitic messages.
“It is evident that China and its proxies play a significant role in the current wave of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the United States,” Ofir Dayan, a research associate in the Israel-China Policy Center at INSS, wrote in the report.
Last month, the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) published a new report showing how China has embraced overt antisemitic messaging in its domestic propaganda in recent years. The study tied the move to both geopolitical rivalry with the United States and efforts to curry favor with Arab and Muslim countries hostile to Israel.
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Israeli Government Report Reveals a ‘Significant Penetration of Muslim Brotherhood Ideology’ Across Europe
General view of the hemicycle during the debate on the European resolution proposal of the DR group aiming to include the Muslim Brotherhood movement on the European list of terrorist organizations at the National Assembly in Paris France on Jan. 22, 2026. Photo: Sami Karaali / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has published a new report detailing dozens of activists and organizations affiliated with the European wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which researchers characterized as acting “autonomous” from its Middle East allies rather than under their direction.
“The Muslim Brotherhood operates in Europe through deceptive methods that project an outward appearance of moderation and pragmatism,” said Avi Cohen-Scali, director general of the ministry. “This front is used to advance dangerous ideological goals. Despite its external ‘moderation,’ the movement consistently rejects liberal democratic principles and Western values, which conflict with its radical aspirations — including efforts to Islamize Europe.”
Amichai Chikli, minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, warned that “those who close their eyes today will pay tomorrow — with the security of their citizens and with Jewish lives.”
Founded in Egypt in 1928 by schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in response to the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate on March 3, 1924, the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to implement Islamic law across the entire planet by any means necessary. Operating as a secret society informed by 1930s fascist and communist revolutionary organizing methods, over the last 90 years the Brotherhood has embraced both violent terrorism and lawful political activity, the latter largely through the creation of front groups dubbed by German security as “legalist Islamists” (Legalisten).
The most influential Muslim Brotherhood-created terrorist group today is Hamas, perpetrator of the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, the deadliest massacre of Jews since the end of World War II.
The Israeli ministry names the primary threats posed by the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe as escalating incitement through aggressive organizing, radicalizing the Muslim community with extremist Koranic interpretations, supporting terrorist groups, platforming radical figures at events, and systemically delegitimizing Israel.
The report quotes a 2004 statement by Muhammad Akef, who served as the General Guide (Murshid) of the Brotherhood in Egypt from 2004 through 2010, explaining that the Brotherhood operates more by shared beliefs rather than a top-down command structure.
“We do not have an international organization; we have an organization through our perception of things (ideology). We are present in every country – wherever there are people who believe in the message of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Akef said. “In France, the Union of Islamic Organizations of France (MF/UOIF) does not belong to the Brotherhood organization. They operate according to their own laws and rules.”
Another figured cited to explain this strategy is Muhammad Habib, the former first deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
“There are entities that exist in many countries across the world. These entities share the same ideology, principles, and objectives, but they operate under different circumstances and contexts,” he said in 2008. “Therefore, it is logical that there be decentralization in action, such that each entity operates in accordance with its own circumstances and the challenges it faces, and within its own framework.”
The report lays out a spider’s web of interlocking organizations described in a ministry release as showing a “significant penetration of Muslim Brotherhood ideology into European countries” which, alongside financial connections to terrorists, “poses a direct threat to Jewish communities.”
On Feb. 26, 2026, the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism published a new report detailing the significant penetration of extremist ideology into terrorist organizations seeking to target Jewish communities across Europe. Map available here: https://embed.kumu.io/a3c1883e3bbd4ff775f3959eb3da5cf1#untitled-map
According to the ministry’s researchers, five organizations “form the core of the Muslim Brotherhood’s pan-European structure,” with each serving a different function and often sharing overlapping leadership.
The primary umbrella group is the Council of European Muslims (CEM), which was previously known as the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) until a 2020 rebrand led by Abdallah Ben Mansour, who had served as chairman of the group from 2014-2018 and again from 2022-2024. European intelligence officials quoted in the report stated that “in every European country, the organization that is a member of FIOE is the central body of the Muslim Brotherhood’s militia in that country.”
The second key Brotherhood body is the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), which is responsible for issuing Islamic legal rulings to guide Muslims residing in Europe for how to align Islamic law with their country’s civil law. The late Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi served as president of the council for more than 20 years. He was known for his support of Hamas and defense of suicide bombings, as well as for serving as the “spiritual leader” of the Brotherhood. France and the United Kingdom banned him from entry due to his advocacy of violent jihad.
The third pillar of the European Muslim Brotherhood is the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO), which French intelligence said in 2025 served as the CEM’s youth branch and provided a “training structure for potential senior figures within the Muslim Brotherhood.” Qatar provided more than one million Euros of funding since 2016.
Mahmoud Aldiba is an ex-member of the Brotherhood in Sweden who helped found the local youth network. The report quotes an open letter he wrote upon leaving the movement in which he reveals the deceitful tactics used to deceive naive Westerners.
“The problem is the dual message, which is the most damaging. They conduct official dialogue with Christian and Jewish groups, yet internally spread fear of them. They speak about democracy, but in practice do the opposite,” Aldiba wrote. “In official forums they speak about democracy to achieve objectives, but within the organization there is a deep aversion to democracy, equality, and freedom of expression.”
An example of this tactic named in the report was the hosting by the League of Muslims of Belgium of Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood leader Tareq Al-Suwaidan, author of an antisemitic book titled The Jews.
The fourth central organization operates as the continent’s seminary, the European Institute of Human Sciences (IESH). Qaradawi previously led the organization until his death on Sept. 26, 2022. The school has since replaced him with Mohamed Karmous, also a Brotherhood figure. Qatar has supplied millions in funding.
The report emphasizes the role of Qatari funding in fueling the Brotherhood’s network.
“Qatar’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood has been shaped through strategic ambiguity in its foreign policy: Qatar has cultivated close ties with Islamist networks associated with the movement while denying publicly giving them direct support,” the report states. “Despite these denials, Qatar provides political refuge and a political base for senior Hamas figures, including members of its political bureau. Additionally, Qatar uses the state-funded media network Al Jazeera to disseminate the movement’s ideology worldwide.”
The last “pillar” of the Islamist establishment in Europe is arguably its most vital. The Europe Trust provides the financial backing for the other organizations, operating a network of real estate investments to fund the activities of the other four.
The report details charitable groups too, such as the Union of Good (a network led by Qaradawi), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), and the Al Aqsa Foundation. Israel banned IRW in June 2014 after intelligence reports linked the group to funding Hamas. The United Arab Emirates followed suit in December 2014, labeling the “charity” a terrorist organization while citing its relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as justification.
Another group emphasized in the report is Interpal, a British organization which both the United States and the United Kingdom designated as a terrorist entity. Ibrahim Hewitt, a convert to Islam, leads the group as chairman of the board of trustees. He has engaged in Holocaust denial and promoted Islamic extremism. Meanwhile, the organization’s director-general is Issam Youssef Mustafa, who a US Treasury report documented working on Hamas’s executive committee and with Qaradawi.
In 2021, an Austrian government report found that “although the Brotherhood is not involved in terrorism, its activity is legal but not legitimate – its objectives contradict democratic norms.” Other European countries’ intelligence services have come to similar conclusions.
“The Muslim Brotherhood is not a civil society movement; it is a conduit for extremism and terror in the heart of Europe,” Chikli said. “Behind a façade of ‘moderation’ lies a network tied to Hamas and foreign funding that destabilizes democracies from within. Europe must wake up.”
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Antisemitic Attacks Across Canada Spark Alarm as Jewish Community Faces Surge of Violence, Harassment
People attend Canada’s Rally for the Jewish People at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, in December 2023. Photo: Shawn Goldberg via Reuters Connect
A wave of antisemitic incidents across Canada is raising alarm within the country’s Jewish community, as tensions linked to conflict in the Middle East continue to drive a surge in vandalism, harassment, and violence targeting Jews and Israelis.
In one of the latest antisemitic incidents, a kosher restaurant and a neighboring business in Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec, were vandalized on Wednesday, with antisemitic graffiti and swastikas spray-painted across their walls.
The incidents followed separate attacks in Toronto, a city in the province of Ontario, where shots were fired at a Jewish-owned restaurant and at a local synagogue.
A kosher restaurant in Montreal was spray painted with swastikas on its entrance in what is the most radical Islamist city in Canada. pic.twitter.com/pAgte47pyM
— Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) March 4, 2026
In another troubling antisemitic incident, a 15-year-old Jewish student in Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, has been forced to continue his education online after his school failed to stop repeated antisemitic harassment and bullying.
In an interview with the National Post, the boy’s mother, Aviva Rubin-Schneider, described how her son had been harassed for years by classmates at Park West School.
He reportedly found swastika graffiti in the bathroom and was repeatedly subjected to antisemitic slurs such as “Jewseph” and “Jewboy,” while some students were also said to have performed Nazi salutes toward him in the school hallways.
The situation further escalated in 2024 when the boy was physically assaulted on school grounds, with fellow students punching and kicking him, throwing him to the ground, and hurling antisemitic slurs.
After the attack, Rubin-Schneider said her son “never really went back to school,” prompting the family to withdraw him entirely while citing Park West School’s inability to provide a safe learning environment.
Now, the boy continues his education virtually through the public school system and requires ongoing therapy.
“He literally doesn’t go to school anymore. He has absolutely no desire to be in school,” Rubin-Schneider told the National Post. “I’ve pulled him out completely. He’s got no desire to learn. He has no faith in any of the schools, the systems or anything of that sort.”
“The fact that my son does not go to school anymore just tells you he’s petrified,” she continued. “He doesn’t want to go to school. He doesn’t want to be around these kids. He knows he’s just going to be bullied again.”
When the incidents first began, the boy’s mother reached out to Halifax Regional Police’s hate-crime unit, leading an officer to meet with the school principal and later conduct student sessions on racism, intolerance, and hate crimes.
However, Aviva Rubin-Schneider said no further action followed, even after her son was physically assaulted on school grounds.
Like most countries across the Western world, Canada has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Canadian Jews have been hit by a wave of antisemitic incidents, with at least 32 reported across five provinces in just the first week of January this year, according to data collected by the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith.
“Antisemitism in Canada is now accelerating at an increasing rate, spreading across provinces, platforms, and public spaces. That is a warning signal, and it demands more than piecemeal reactions,” the group wrote in a letter urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to create a Royal Commission that would explore the problem and draft policy proposals for solving it.
According to the group’s latest audit released last year, 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.
Now, concerns are growing about increasing targeted attacks on the local Jewish community, fears that Iran may activate sleeper cells abroad, and the risk of politically motivated violence linked to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Hours after the announced death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a boxing gym run by Iranian-Canadian dissident activist Salar Gholami in Richmond Hill, a suburb north of Toronto in Ontario, was struck by gunfire.