I believe this is one of the most pivotal moments in our nation’s history.
When we look back on the 1930s and 40s, we remember the chilling words that defined Canada’s indifference to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust:
That infamous phrase, uttered by a Canadian official in response to whether Jewish refugees should be admitted in 1939, continues to haunt our national conscience. We remember the turning away of the MS St. Louis, its passengers doomed as the world looked the other way. We ask ourselves how such cruelty, such silence, was tolerated — and why no one stood up.
Now, history is calling again. And it is asking: Where do you stand today? And does the younger generation even remember?
The newly released government-commissioned
on antisemitism in Ontario’s schools is a damning indictment of our education system. More than 780 documented incidents of antisemitism — from swastikas and Nazi salutes to outright bullying of Jewish students — were reported to have occurred between October 2023 and January 2025. In one incident, a Grade 9 boy was personally accused of being a “terrorist, rapist, and baby killer”; in another, a 13-year-old girl was surrounded repeatedly by male classmates shouting “Sieg Heil!” while making the Nazi salute.
Some of the perpetrators were educators themselves. One six-year-old, for example, “was informed by her teacher that she is only half human because one of her parents is Jewish.”
And in nearly half the cases, nothing was done. No discipline. No correction. No justice.
We cannot pretend to be surprised. Jewish families have been warning about this for years. But now the evidence is indisputable. Jewish students in Canada are being harassed, humiliated and erased in the very institutions that are supposed to protect and empower them.
This is not a moment for silence.
Over the past several weeks, I have been calling on institutional leaders across this country to do more than express concern — to issue clear, unequivocal statements condemning antisemitism, and to back those statements with meaningful action. Whether you are the CEO of a major bank or corporation, the head of a national association or union, or the leader of a school board or public institution, this moment demands your voice and your leadership.
This government report on antisemitism in our schools should jar every conscience. It is not just a wake-up call — it is a moral alarm bell. You have a choice: issue a statement as an institution, take action as a leader or speak out as an individual. But do not remain silent. The problems in the Middle East should not be an excuse for antisemitism. If you are not speaking out as a corporate leader, history will remember.
If our nation’s history matters — if we have learned anything from the painful legacy of “None is too many” — then this is a consequential moment to refuse the role of bystander. It is a moment to stand up, to speak out, and to join me in this fight.
What is at stake is nothing less than the fabric of our nation. For those who still remember children playing hockey on quiet streets, neighbours helping neighbours push cars from snowbanks or the simple kindness of a helping hand — for anyone who longs for the Canada where downtown cores were alive with laughter on a weekend afternoon, where school assemblies echoed with songs like Kumbaya, and where playground slides weren’t defaced with hateful graffiti — this is the Canada we must fight to bring back. This is the Canada we must defend.
The Abraham Global Peace Initiative has been sounding the alarm. We have taken this issue directly to Ontario’s Ministry of Education, urging zero-tolerance policies and accountability for school boards that fail to protect Jewish students. We are advancing a national proposal for a security task force dedicated to confronting antisemitism head-on. We are calling for an immediate public inquiry, and for the education system to move beyond Holocaust remembrance to confront modern-day anti-Jewish hate.
We are also calling on governments to enforce consequences for educators who engage in or ignore antisemitic acts. Jewish students must not be forced to remove their symbols, hide their identity or transfer schools out of fear. Our laws already prohibit hate speech, but we must ensure they are applied with the full weight of justice in every classroom and corridor.
There are no neutral bystanders in the fight against hate.
We must be the people of the moment. Let us stand now, together, and say never again — and this time, mean it.
National Post
Avi Abraham Benlolo is the CEO and Chairman of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative.
