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Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2018 the Audit ANNUAL AUDIT OF ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS 2018 THE AUDIT Since 1982, the Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents has served as the authoritative document on antisemitism in Canada. The data expressed in the Audit, produced each year by B’nai Brith Canada’s advocacy arm, the League for Human Rights, reflect the level of antisemitic incidents reported to, and monitored by, the League, including through its Anti-Hate Hotline as well as data collected from police and law enforcement agencies. Cited regularly by Canadian and international mainstream media outlets, public officials, NGOs, and government bodies, the Audit focuses on antisemitic incidents that both meet, and fall short of, the Criminal Code definition of a hate crime. This is essential for capturing the climate of antisemitism in Canada, which requires independent tracking and assessment. As such, the Audit serves as a barometer for antisemitism as a phenomenon in Canada. © 2019 The League for Human Rights B’nai Brith Canada Content prepared by Ran Ukashi Design & Layout by Daniel Koren and Jayme Kalpin Printed in Canada All Rights Reserved This publication may be quoted with proper attribution Copies may be made for personal, limited use only All cover photos illustrate samples of antisemitic imagery in Canada in 2018. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS THE AUDIT 4 Executive Summary 5 Introduction METHODOLOGY 7 The IHRA Definition 9 Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion 10 Definitions of Antisemitic Incidents ASSESSING THE DATA 12 Incidents by Type 13 Online Harassment 14 Incident Breakdown by Month 17 Breakdown by Region 18 “Canada-wide” Antisemitism 19 Antisemitism in the Global Context THE CANADIAN CONTEXT 22 Antisemitism in the Political Domain 23 Communicating Antisemitic Views 24 Holocaust Denial 24 Criminal Investigation of Antisemitic Incidents 25 BDS and Antisemitism SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 27 Advocating for the Community 29 B’nai Brith’s Eight-Point Plan to Tackle Antisemitism 31 B’nai Brith Canada Credits www.bnaibrith.ca/audit 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2,041 INCIDENTS The first time since 1982 that there have been more than 2,000 incidents. A NEW NORMAL? Levels of Canadian antisemitism skyrocketed in 2016 and continue to rise. 143% INCREASE There were 131 recorded incidents of antisemitism in the Prairies, up Hate mail sent to Jewish Canadians across from 54 the previous year. Ontario and the Prairies in February. THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR 2018 was the third consecutive record-setting year for antisemitism in Canada, with a 16.5% increase over 2017. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY Perpetrators are rarely held accountable for antisemitic harassment and vandalism. ANTISEMITIC HARASSMENT There were 1,809 incidents of antisemitic harassment in 2018, up 28.4% from 2017. 4 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2018 INTRODUCTION We are nearly two decades into the 21st century, yet we continue to witness a regrettably continuous evolution of antisemitism in Canada. The year 2018 featured 2,041 incidents of antisemitism recorded in our Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, a 16.5% increase over 2017. To put that in stark perspective, this represents the third straight record-breaking year for antisemitism in Canada, reflecting a “new normal” regarding the landscape of antisemitism here. Data from the Audit reflect figures from Statistics Canada indicating that Jews continue to be the most-targeted religious community for hate crimes in the country. Not only have we seen a significant uptick in online expressions of anti-Jewish hatred, but antisemitism has increasingly sprouted in regions that are typically less prone to such prejudices, including Eastern Canada, the Prairies and parts of Western Canada. Significantly, 2018 marked the first time Quebec has exceeded Ontario—home to the country’s largest Jewish population—in antisemitic incidents. Antisemitism has real-world consequences. In October 2018, a white supremacist made good on his online threats by murdering 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. That same month, a Montreal man was charged for threatening to murder Jewish girls at a Jewish day school, while in July, a Medicine Hat man was charged with incitement to hatred after he was found using Canadian currency defaced with antisemitic propaganda. What was once a fringe phenomenon now attracts mainstream legitimacy among a small element of Canadian society. In 2018 alone, we saw political candidates making disparaging remarks against Jews and politicians granting awards to individuals who have vilified Jews. We saw antisemitic intimidation on university campuses, the ongoing display of hate at the infamous al-Quds Day rally in Toronto—on public grounds and without permits—as well as high school students being harassed, religious Jews being assaulted in the streets, synagogues and homes being vandalized, among other examples. Despite all of this, Canada remains a fundamentally decent and tolerant society. But to maintain its multicultural and inclusive character, more must be done by elected officials, police agencies, civil society, and the public at large. We cannot afford to be silent when asked by future generations what we could have done to combat antisemitism, racism, and bigotry in all its forms. Our Eight Point Plan to Tackle Antisemitism [See Page 29] provides a template for doing just that. For a better tomorrow, we must all take concerted action today. RAN UKASHI NATIONAL DIRECTOR THE LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS www.bnaibrith.ca/audit 5 METHODOLOGY Antisemitism has long been called the world’s “oldest hatred,” as it has existed in one form or another since antiquity. Justifications for antisemitism range from malicious accusations against Jews and Judaism, to far-right antisemitism informed by utopian ideologies that label Jews as malicious actors seeking to dominate mankind, to far-left antisemitism that targets Jews under the guise of anti-Israel or anti-Zionist activism. Over the centuries, antisemitism has consistently transformed to adapt to every time and place, thriving in both religious and secular contexts, in societies controlled by socialist, communist, fascist, or military dictatorships, as well as within hyper-nationalist contexts in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and elsewhere. To delineate the parameters of antisemitism and identify its root causes, B’nai Brith Canada uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. IHRA was formed in 1998 with the aim of uniting governments and experts to advance and promote Holocaust education. Top: Antisemitic post shared on Canadian social media in August. 6 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2018 THE IHRA DEFINITION Promoting Holocaust Education, Research And Remembrance Since 1998 IHRA defines antisemitism as follows: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits. Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could include, but are not limited to: • Calling for, aiding or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion. • Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing or stereotypical allegations about Jews such as the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions. • Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews. • Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust). www.bnaibrith.ca/audit 7 • Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. • Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations. • Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour. • Applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation. • Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis. • Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. • Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel. Hate mail sent to a Jewish Montrealer in January. Antisemitic acts are criminal when they are so defined by law (for example, denial of the Holocaust or distribution of antisemitic materials in some countries). Criminal acts are antisemitic when the targets of attacks, whether they are people or property – such as buildings, schools, places of worship and cemeteries – are selected because they are, or are perceived to be, Jewish or linked to Jews. Antisemitic
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