{"id":36964,"date":"2026-05-08T10:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/36964\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:44:09","slug":"avi-benlolo-csis-needs-a-refresher-course-on-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/36964\/","title":{"rendered":"Avi Benlolo: CSIS needs a refresher course on antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service released its 2025 Public Report<\/a>. Its assessment of security issues in this country was not groundbreaking, with the annual report outlining the usual domestic threats. However, it seemed to have a very basic and outdated understanding of antisemitism and how it is manifesting in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitism continues to persist in Canada, manifesting itself in different ways: vandalism and graffiti, circulation of hate propaganda, intolerant and racist statements, bomb threats to Jewish schools and community centres, etc.,\u201d the report states. It adds however, \u201cNot all hateful behaviour or online posts, including antisemitic speech, constitute threats to the security of Canada as defined in the CSIS Act. However, such hate has, on occasion, motivated individuals to mobilize to violence. Since 2014, there has been one attack and five disrupted plots targeting Canadian Jewish institutions or interests. This includes the August 2025 arrest of a minor in Montreal who intended to target Jewish people and police.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report notes that terrorism, lone-actor violence and youth radicalization are of special concern when symbolic targets such as synagogues, schools and community centres are involved.<\/p>\n

None of those examples are new. We have seen copious violence targeting the Jewish community in recent months, especially gunfire targeting synagogues and businesses in Toronto and Vaughan. It appears that for all our intelligence apparatus, and despite the fact the Jewish community is the most targeted group when it comes to hate crimes, CSIS hasn\u2019t been able to sufficiently disrupt and prevent such attacks.<\/p>\n

There is much at stake for Canada. On one hand, we may have a well-meaning intelligence and law enforcement community determined to protect our freedom and democracy. On the other hand, over these past 25 years, Canada\u2019s institutional and social architecture has changed from promotion of pluralism and co-existence to confrontation and an increasing tide of rising security threats.<\/p>\n

In a public dialogue this week with Raheel Raza, president of the Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, I pointed out that threats against the Jewish community and Canada have been mounting since the horrible \u201cIsraeli Apartheid Week\u201d campaign was launched on our university campuses in the early 2000s, followed by the vigorous \u201cBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions\u201d (BDS) campaigns against Israel.<\/p>\n

Generation after generation of Canadian students graduated university holding false, defamatory, and discriminatory views against Israel and by extension, the Jewish community. Ms. Raza and I agreed that our warnings had gone unheeded \u2014 \u201cwe told you so\u201d was the catchphrase of our conversation centred on finding a path to improving Muslim-Jewish relations. It feels like CSIS was tuned out of this growing threat to Canadians.<\/p>\n

It was too late by the time October 7 happened and a global intifada immediately followed with chants of violence on the streets of Toronto and Montreal. The so-called \u201cextremists\u201d referred to in the CSIS report had already laid the foundation for the violence we are seeing in our country today. Now the Jewish community is being warned of an imminent attack. We are being told that threats are accelerating and becoming unpredictable and decentralized. Trust me, we know. We live it every day.<\/p>\n

The report rightly looks at foreign actors as motivating and inspiring many of these threats, including Iran. But it fails to sufficiently look at the domestic enablers grounded in our institutional structures. Our universities continue to undermine our civic freedom by marginalizing Jewish students and faculty, creating a toxic environment. One student is now suing her university<\/a>, alleging a poisoned learning environment.<\/p>\n

Just recently, McGill\u2019s law faculty chair resigned over a BDS referendum and his belief that the university is failing to protect Jewish students. In his resignation letter, Jonathan Amiel said, \u201cOver the past two and a half years, I have observed an escalating pattern of hostility toward Jewish students, faculty, and alumni met with persistent inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like organs in a human body, public institutions are the vital organs of democratic societies. Security and intelligence assessment and action must include countering the radicalization of institutions that may serve as breeding grounds for domestic terrorism and threats to our core foundational values of freedom and democracy. Just this week, news broke that two board members resigned from the Ontario Medical Association after it became known that a Jewish doctor, running for president of the association, was singled out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Canada, threats to our freedom and democracy are moving beyond neo-Nazis, white supremacist groups and ideologically motivated extremist groups. They have moved into the realm of institutional radicalism that is terrorizing Canadian citizens. Institutions, including unions and public broadcasters, are sharply influencing and inciting Canadians against the Jewish community. For instance, the CBC\u2019s Fifth Estate continues to broadcast its problematic documentary, \u201cFunding the Occupation<\/a>,\u201d even though it was released in 2025 and much has changed since.<\/p>\n

CSIS\u2019s work continues to be vitally important. But its understanding of antisemitism must evolve. Our institutions are being hijacked and as a result, the Jewish community is being terrorized. Our intelligence community must act swiftly to disrupt and prevent this institutional radicalization in our country.<\/p>\n

Avi Abraham Benlolo is the Chairman and CEO of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative, a Canadian think-tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service released its 2025 Public Report. Its assessment of security issues in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3124,16062,17,13493,11458,16065,16063,15858,13737,16064],"class_list":{"0":"post-36964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-antisemitism","9":"tag-bomb-threats","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-canadian-security-intelligence-service","12":"tag-community-centres","13":"tag-csis-act","14":"tag-domestic-threats","15":"tag-jewish-schools","16":"tag-security-threats","17":"tag-university-campuses"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}