The Canadian government condemned the Saturday bombing outside the Beth Yaakov synagogue in the seaside resort town of La Grande-Motte in southern France.
The attack “is a reminder that antisemitism is not a relic of the past—it is a reality experienced by Jewish communities around the world,” the government stated on Sunday. “Canada unequivocally condemns this terrifying attack and stands with France against antisemitism.”
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said he was not impressed with the statement or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s efforts to curb Jew-hatred.
“Thank you for fighting attacks on synagogues abroad while failing to do anything meaningful at all in Canada to stop bomb threats, gun shootings and Molotov cocktails against more than 100 synagogues and other Jewish centers, including those I grew up attending,” Neuer wrote.
Others had similar reactions.
“While it’s important to see the Canadian government condemning this horrific terror attack targeting Jews in France, it’s concerning to see a lack of reflection on domestic extremism and radicalization here at home, mere days after 100s of Jewish institutions were in the crosshairs,” wrote Michael Levitt, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center.
“Canada’s condemnation of the antisemitic attack in France is welcome. Like France, we face a similar rise in antisemitism and attacks on communal institutions,” stated the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
“Government of a country where synagogues and Jewish schools are regularly firebombed (in response to the worst antisemitic pogroms since the Holocaust): antisemitism ‘is a reality experienced by Jewish communities around the world,’” wrote Ryan O’Connor, a lawyer in Toronto. “Then finally do something about it in Canada.”
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s envoy on antisemitism and a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, wrote that the country “unequivocally condemns the antisemitic attack on the Beth Yaakov synagogue yesterday in La Grande Motte, France.”
“France has the third-largest Jewish community in the world after Israel and the United States,” she stated. “This attack, along with several others that we’ve seen in Canada and other parts of the globe in recent months, are clear signs of the international rise in antisemitism, particularly after Oct. 7.”
Lyons added that “this deplorable act on a place of worship reminds us that antisemitism and hate have no boundaries and are serious threats to democracy, national security and international security.”
