June 22, 2023
TORONTO – B’nai Brith Canada is conducting an investigation into Goniec, an Ontario-based Polish-language newspaper.
Thus far, the investigation has revealed a pattern of dissemination of antisemitic and hateful content directed against Jews and other Zionists.
The sordid history of Goniec is replete with vile accusations against Jewish people and the State of Israel. It regularly engages in Holocaust distortion by using language such as the “Holocaust Enterprise” to describe attempts by Jewish groups to provide enhanced Holocaust education and awareness.
Goniec has previously called upon its readership to “stand up to the Jews” in response to fabricated attempts by Jews to destroy Poland, a commonly repeated antisemitic trope in the country.
The newspaper, published by Polish Canadian Andrzej Kumor, has accused Jews of spying on U.S. citizens and of having “terrorism in their blood.” These baseless and racist accusations were exposed by B’nai Brith in a complaint to the Peel Regional Police, which resulted in the arrest of Kumor in June, 2020.
Kumor was promptly released and warned by the police that continued promotion of hatred against Jews could lead to criminal charges being laid. The articles cited by B’nai Brith in our complaint have been removed from Goniec’s website.
Despite the police warning, Goniec published two articles in March of this year promoting conspiracy theories which suggest that Poland is controlled by Jewish forces engaged in a “scolding campaign” as part of a “Jewish Holocaust Industry.” The March 17, 2023 article repeats the accusation that Jews are plotting against Poland in an attempt to “deprive the Polish nation” and “bring it to a state of complete defenceless.”
“The publication of these articles demonstrates that Kumor is not concerned with hatefully targeting the Jewish community of Canada,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “An arrest and a warning from the police against the continued promotion of hate has not deterred Kumor from this behavior.”
After B’nai Brith’s advocacy regarding Goniec reached the front page of the National Post in 2020, the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada banned it from its distribution network.
“While B’nai Brith commends these actions aimed to combat hate and eliminate antisemitism from Canadian media,” Mostyn said, “the persistent publication of vitriolic rhetoric by this newspaper demonstrates that there is more work to be done by law enforcement, the federal and provincial governments, and civil society more broadly.”
