This article originally appeared in The Hub.
By Jack Mintz, June 8, 2026
Is the golden age for Jews over? Last month, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore was being interviewed by Israel’s prominent journalist, Haviv Rettig Gur, about the state of British Jewry. Two U.K. Jews were murdered and three injured at the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on the Day of Atonement last year. Hate crimes involving arson, stabbings, and destruction of property were common despite Jews making up only 0.5 percent of the U.K.’s population.
With this rapid growth of antisemitism, Montefiore argues that the golden age for British Jewry, which started with the granting of full political rights in 1858, is now over since October 7th, 2023.
Asked why, Montefiore explained that British Jews are under siege by violence, intimidation, and the “hate marches,” often steered by Islamic or other extremists, in London and Manchester. Many Jews feel they must hide their identity to avoid being shunned or terrorized.
While one might want to separate Israeli policies from antisemitism, Montefiore argues that, undoubtedly, a major source of today’s antisemitism is related to antizionism, which labels Israel as genocidal and an oppressor. Since many antizionists can’t take their war to Israel, Jews at home become the target. Call it neo-antisemitism, even if it is age-old.
The broader question is why Israel and Jews are now viewed as oppressors after centuries of being woefully oppressed. The roots of today’s neo-antisemitism go back to Frankfurt School critical theorists in the 1940s and 1950s who argued that true equality requires suppressing oppressive ideologies.
This became the basis for policies to “level the playing field,” which was taken up by the anti-colonialist movement, which labelled Europeans and other colonialists as oppressors of indigenous populations. The accusation was extended to Jews in recent years, even though Jews have had a presence in Israel since Roman times.
Today, neo-antisemitism has become acute in other countries, with Australia topping the list with the December 2025 Bondi Beach massacre where 15 were murdered and 40 injured. It took Jewish killings to finally jolt the Australian government into taking action. A Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has been appointed, led by an eminent High Court Justice who has already begun chilling interviews focused on Jew hatred.
The Australian government has committed $604 million AUD to fight antisemitism over five years, which amounts to almost $1000 AUD annually for each Jewish resident. Money is not only being paid for the security of Jewish institutions but also for mental health support, education, and research on antisemitism.
With this background, one can only express disappointment with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address on antisemitism this week. While he clearly recognizes that antisemitism is a growing problem in Canada, it comes short in both analysis and implementation. Rightly arguing that we should not “transport foreign conflicts from abroad,” he fails to point out that purveyors of doing so are often radical pro-Hamas or Islamic groups who steer hate marches and other forms of intimidation.
While Carney tries to separate antizionism from antisemitism today, it is foolhardy to do so. Criticism at pro-Palestinian demonstrations—including accusing Jews of being baby killers and the hanging of Jewish effigies—questions the legitimacy of Israel as a state. Antisemites don’t separate antizionism from Jew hatred—it is part and parcel. For this reason, Canada’s continuing hostility towards Israel in foreign policy only encourages neo-antisemitism at home.
The only action with Monday’s announcement was to appoint members to the politically led Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, unlike the Australian approach to form an independent investigation exclusively devoted to antisemitism. No new money is promised even though the Jewish community has made it clear that current support for security is inadequate (only a portion of capital and training costs are covered by the federal government). In Canada, the federal government is only shelling out $70 annually per Jewish resident.
Nor has much action been taken with respect to last spring’s Senate report on antisemitism, which included 22 recommendations. Some were quite sensible, such as calling for the delisting of terrorist entities that are given charitable or non-profit status. Minister Miller and Council members should be as transparent as the Australian royal commission by publishing interviews, papers, and analysis for the public to understand.
So far, we have not seen violent antisemitism as witnessed in the U.K. or Australia, although two recent terrorist incidents were fortunately thwarted by the RCMP. Today, Jews are walled in by security at synagogues and other key institutions. Jewish public announcements often exclude locations to avoid hateful demonstrations or security threats. Students erase any reference to Jewish activities from their resumes to improve chances for university admissions or employment.
If this neo-antisemitism continues unabated, perhaps the golden era for Jews in Canada is over after all.
Jack Mintz is the President’s Fellow of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgar and a distinguished fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
