Since October 7th, the rise in antisemitism has been alarming in its spread throughout Canada. The Trudeau government has done far too little to stop it and too much to countenance it.
As Israel first responded to the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the government’s reaction was unreliable. It said different things to different audiences and generally relied on perfectly crafted talking points to avoid taking a clear position on Israel’s right to defend itself.
Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Mélanie Joly, alongside our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, soon exposed its inner bias when Joly continued to question the bombing of a hospital in Gaza long after international allies had confirmed it was the result of forces hostile to Israel. It was an early sign of the one-side-ism that has come to reflect the government’s position on the ongoing conflict.
One would have thought that an appreciative message from Hamas in late December would have been enough to shame the government, but that clearly hasn’t been the case. Instead, the government has effectively doubled down on its messaging, calling for a ceasefire and then saying that the government could recognize a Palestinian state.
Most recently, through insouciance or naïveté, Minister Joly failed to recognize the borders of Israel after the shocking attack on a children’s soccer field by Iranian-funded Hezbollah terrorists. She subsequently issued a follow-up statement but her initial reaction was rather telling.
