Amsterdam today, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or Calgary tomorrow? 

Both Richard Marceau, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ (CIJA) vice president and general counsel, and Fr. Deacon Andrew Bennett, the faith communities’ program director for the Christian think tank Cardus, are concerned the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the Netherlands on Nov. 7 could be replicated elsewhere. 

“There are signs out there, and the people that I’ve been speaking to in the Catholic community who are trying to build ties of friendship and support with the Canadian Jewish community are very concerned by his coming to Canada,” said Marceau. 

Advertisement

Bennett is one of the Catholic figures to whom Marceau is referring. Canada’s former ambassador for religious freedom established the Canadian Christian Declaration on Anti-Semitism on Sept. 23. This document has now garnered 720 signatures as of Nov. 19. He told The Catholic Register “we should be under no illusion” that Canada is immune to such violent riots, where Israeli soccer fans attending a game in Amsterdam were viciously attacked. 

“If we look at the protests that have taken place, and I’ve been in the midst of some of these protests walking through Montreal or Toronto on various business trips,” said Bennett. “The vitriol, the very visceral anger and the hatred that is present in these protests is frightening.

“Our leaders have been weak in denouncing these and taking action,” continued Bennett. “We have to recognize that not all publicly expressed opinions are valid, and I’ve written recently about what seems to be the descent into moral relativism in this country where we can no longer detect good from evil or objective truth.”

Advertisement

Marceau, a former Bloc Québécois MP, is grateful to Canadian Christians and Catholics for their solidarity and encouraged them to continue “speaking out about their values and the kind of society they want to live in.”

“It would shock many Catholics to know that to go into a synagogue, even on Shabbat, you have to go through rings of security,” said Marceau. “It’s unnoted. Can we in Canada truly talk about freedom of religion and conscience if you cannot in security and safety practice your religion, which is of course a very strong and important and central value for the Catholic Church?”

Echoing St. John Paul II’s 1987 comments about Jews being Christians’ “elder brothers in the faith,” Marceau emphasized that it is pivotal for the “elder brothers to be safe, respected and able to live true and free as Jews in Canada.”

Bennett and the signatories of the Canadian Christian Declaration on Anti-Semitism will work towards that goal in the months ahead with continued bridge-building and educational efforts. There are plans for a summit, likely to take place in early March 2025, and afterwards, a number of partnerships will be cultivated between Christian and Jewish clerical leaders and their respective congregations. 

“Right now, I think there’s an insufficient level of awareness, knowledge and frankly of bonds of friendship between Christians and Jews in this country, and I don’t think that is out of malice in any respect,” said Bennett. “It’s really due to just a lack of awareness, a lack of contact with one another. And so that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”

Advertisement

The riots in Amsterdam have hospitalized five people and up to 30 others have sustained injuries. At least 71 individuals have been arrested. 

The attacks were condemned by Dutch politicians and Catholic bishops, but in a notable pivot, on Nov. 18, Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, said she regretted using the word “pogrom” to describe the violence after the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local Ajax football club.