Attacks on synagogues in Australia, Canada and elsewhere over recent weeks highlight the stakes in the fight to defend Israel as a refuge for Jews, to advance the working-class fight against Jew-hatred and pogroms.
In British Columbia, Canada, someone scrawled death threats against Jews on the front doors of Victoria’s Congregation Emanu-El, the oldest continually operating synagogue in the country.
“Jews are evil! Because genocide is evil! Stop genocide. Stop the Jews!” the virulent text read. “Jews are murdering thousands of gentile children. In the future Palestinians will get their revenge against you child-killing Jew-monsters.”
“This is a painful reminder that the fight against anti-Semitism is far from over,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said in response.
When the Aug. 2 attack came, members of the synagogue were preparing for Shabbat services, including a bar mitzvah in the morning and a Tisha B’Av service in the evening.
It came just days after the government of Canada joined France, the U.K. and the Arab League in calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state. Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera this call was “the fruit” of their Oct. 7 pogrom. “Before Oct. 7 did any country dare recognize a Palestinian state?” he asked. These calls aim to prevent a total defeat of Hamas by Israel.
In response to the synagogue attack, Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s public safety minister, announced an expansion of the Hate Crimes Unit. But the attack on the synagogue is not a “hate crime,” but the threat of deadly violence against Jews in support of Hamas’ goal of another Holocaust.
“The messages invoked age-old and violent antisemitic blood libels, falsely accusing Jews of murdering children and calling for revenge,” Nico Slobinsky, vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs for the Pacific Region, told Canadian Jewish News. “These are not just hateful words, they are dangerous incitements.
“That the act of antisemitic vandalism was discovered the weekend of Tisha B’Av, a day that commemorates centuries of Jewish persecution, is no coincidence.”
There has been a rise in antisemitic attacks in Canada since Hamas’ murderous assaults in Israel. Hamas supporters have shot bullets at Jewish schools; carried out physical attacks, threats and vandalism at synagogues; and attempted to shut down events featuring speakers from Israel. Pro-Hamas encampments have been set up on at least 15 university campuses across the country.
Jew-hatred attacks in Australia
In Melbourne, Australia, a man wearing a “Scream” mask and a long black coat, riding a black e-scooter, targeted the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in South Yarra five times between March 11 and July 30, spray-painting antisemitic messages on its walls. One reads, in large letters, “WAR CRIMES,” with Star of David substituted for letter “a.”
There has been a surge in antisemitic attacks across Australia, rising from 495 in 2023 to 2,062 in 2024.
In just three days, July 4-6, in southeast Australia there was an arson attack on a synagogue, a physical assault on workers and patrons at a Jewish restaurant, the torching of a car, and graffiti attacks on businesses assumed to be linked to Jews. On July 31 Giovanni Laulu, accused of setting fire to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne Dec. 6 where one worshipper suffered burns, made his first court appearance.
“It is important that working people and our unions are standing up to protest these Jew-hating attacks, and we must continue to do so,” Robert Aiken, the Communist League candidate in the 2025 federal elections, told the Militant. “Capitalist governments have never protected Jews, fought against pogroms, nor supported the right of Israel to exist as a refuge for Jews.”