Online Radicalization, Israel-Iran Conflict Drive Surge in Incidents, Annual Audit Reveals
April 27, 2026
OTTAWA – Canada is in the throes of a national crisis of antisemitism, according to B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, which has just released its Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents for the year 2025.
For many in the Jewish community, this conclusion will come as no surprise. It is a sobering reminder that more must be done to address the proliferation of hate and bigotry in our society.
The Audit must serve as a warning that hate and extremism are becoming increasingly “normalized,” said Simon Wolle, B’nai Brith Canada’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Our review of the past year’s antisemitic incidents must be understood as a wake-up-call. Hate and extremism are a threat to Canadian democracy and civil society, not only to the Jewish community.”
Understanding the Numbers
During 2025, B’nai Brith Canada documented 6,800 incidents of antisemitism. This is equivalent to 18.6 incidents, on average, each day.
This is the highest volume recorded in the annual Audit since its inception in 1982.
When compared to previous years, the 2025 figures appear especially significant. The total number of incidents increased 9.4 per cent from 2024 to 2025, and 145.6 per cent from 2022 – prior to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks – to 2025.
Ontario, the Prairies, Atlantic Canada, and British Colombia experienced significant increases in the number of documented incidents. In Quebec and Alberta, the total number declined.
Most incidents occurred online, reinforcing a trend that has emerged in recent years.
The surge in hate during 2025 was, no doubt, linked in part to the war in the Middle East. But Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy, and the lead author of the Audit, said antisemitism has become so ubiquitous that the conflict cannot be considered the primary source of the phenomenon.
“Conspiracies about Jews and Jewish influence in Canada are no longer something we only see on the radical fringes,” he said. “In recent years, and especially during 2025, it has become clear that antisemitism is increasingly normalized throughout Canadian society.”
Robertson said many self-described “anti-Zionists” are employing classic tropes that have traditionally been used to dehumanize Jewish people.
“The fact of the matter is that when it becomes acceptable, and even popular, to demonize Zionists, Jewish communities suffer,” he said.
In another trend, the steady surge in right-wing, neo-Nazi, and accelerationist movements since the pandemic has continued to contribute to antisemitic incidents in Canada. On social media, Holocaust denial has also gone viral, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create false representations of historical events.
Several notable examples of antisemitism in Canada during 2025 included:
- Student organizations across Canada participated in a demonstration during March that targeted Israel with slogans and placards that contained antisemitic rhetoric.
- Candidates participating in the Federal Election during 2025, including Jewish members of Parliament, had their materials vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, including the Hakenkreuz.
- In June, a former City of Ottawa lawyer desecrated the National Holocaust Memorial with the words, “FEED ME,” in what he later described as an attempt to compare the Holocaust to the conflict in Gaza. This is a grotesque example of Holocaust inversion.
- Also in June, organizers of an LGBTQIA+ pride demonstration in Montreal attempted to bar a Jewish group from participating in the event.
- A Jewish man walking in a Montreal park was assaulted during August, and the attacker threw his Yarmulke into a puddle of water.
- During September, two synagogues in Halifax were desecrated with the Hakenkreuz, while a nearby Jewish community centre was defaced with the words “Jews did 9/11” on its exterior.
- A McGill University building was vandalized in November with the words, “Kill all Jews.”
- Supporters of the Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh, sought to carry out a terrorist attack in Canada. Security officials said the suspects were inspired by an IS-linked massacre at Bondi Beach, in Australia, during Hannukah last December.
Wolle said that, although the Audit is meant to provide information about the spread of antisemitism and hate in Canada, the onus to act now falls on leaders at all three levels of government across the country, as well as law enforcement agencies.
“Canada has vast tools at its disposal to address this crisis of antisemitism,” he said. “Our findings support the need for a whole-of-government approach to combating hate, antisemitism, and extremism in Canadian society.”
Trends in Antisemitic Incidents, Regional Breakdown (2025):
- Atlantic Canada: 384 (Increased);
- Quebec: 573 (Decreased);
- Ontario: 3,194 (Increased);
- Prairies: 841 (Increased);
- Alberta: 677 (Decreased);
- British Columbia: 847 (Increased);
- Territories – Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut: 13 (Decreased);
- Canada-Wide: 271 (Decreased).
When online incidents cannot be allocated to a specific region, they are identified under the region “Canada-Wide.”