Governments in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada are struggling to keep pace with increasing anti-Jewish hate, leading to attacks against Jews for simply being Jews. Antisemitism is no longer an outlier; it is becoming more normalized in America and around the world.
Some Jewish communities and their allies, particularly across the English-speaking world, are pushing back. Their governments are starting to listen and take action.
Essa Suleiman, a Somalia-born British citizen, recently stabbed two Jews after they left a synagogue in a London neighborhood. Security cameras captured 76-year-old Moshe Shine standing at a bus stop adjusting his kippah before the attack.
Suleiman had been referred to Britain’s counter-radicalization prevention program in 2020, three years after being released from prison for stabbing two policemen and a police dog. He was also reported to the police after verbal and physical abuse against Jews attending vigils for the hostages held by Hamas.
Ashkan Asadian witnessed the assailant stab Shine in the neck. The Iranian-born British citizen immediately responded because he felt that “maybe I can save someone’s life; Jewish or non-Jewish, they are human.” He helped distract the attacker and alerted responding police officers. The local hero described Jewish and Iranian people living in North London’s Golders Green neighborhood as having “a good relationship.”
The assault followed a series of recent arson attacks on synagogues and ambulances across London, and dozens of arrests since late March in incidents claimed by an Iranian-backed group. Last October, a Syria-born British jihadist pledging allegiance to the Islamic State rammed his car into worshippers outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. Two Jewish men died in the terror attack.
Recently, police arrested two Green Party candidates for online incitement. One of them shared that “ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism, it’s revenge.”
Britain’s official terror-threat level was raised from substantial to severe—the second-highest level—following the most recent attack. Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, stated that “the government has recognized they haven’t done enough and that the task is enormous. The silent majority are with us. It is time for them to raise their voice, to come out and say, ‘We will not tolerate this anymore.’ ”
The government listened and has started action. It announced an additional $34 million in funding for the Jewish community, with Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, warning Iran that interference in British society will not be tolerated. He said that “antisemitism is a crisis for all of us. It is a test of our values. It is not enough to simply say we stand with Jewish communities. We must show it.”
Britain’s Jewish community is the most targeted religious group in the United Kingdom, which recorded the highest rate of antisemitic assaults per capita in the Diaspora. On May 10, the community plans to unite in central London for a march titled “Extinguish Antisemitism” to demand action against this scourge.
Australia: From a safe society to a grieving one
A joint Jewish-Greek choral concert planned to honor victims of the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre on Dec. 14 and to raise money for survivors was canceled after a majority of the Australian Hellenic Choir voted not to share a stage with Jewish performers.
James Tsolakis, the choir’s president, did not mince words: “There’s a bit of antisemitism in the Greek community. I didn’t realize the extent of it. Unfortunately, we have a lot of people blaming the Jewish community for what’s happening in Israel and Palestine.” The choir’s management contradicted him, claiming scheduling conflicts.
Jewish Choral Society Chairperson Anne Spira said that “like many other Jewish artists in Australia since Oct. 7, 2023, our choir has been canceled. We have been deplatformed, and it is deeply upsetting for us and the Jewish community.”
Australia’s Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion issued its interim report days later, confirming that police had denied the Jewish community’s explicit request for additional security, including officers for the location of the Chanukah massacre. The Jewish community’s security group had warned then that a terrorist attack was “likely.” Father-and-son terrorists who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State murdered 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Sheina Gutnick, the daughter of one of the victims, testified to the commission that “antisemitism was allowed to come into the open.” Jewish author Michael Gawenda explained how “friendships and mentorships ended after Oct. 7.” Executive Council of Australian Jewry leader Alex Ryvchin once thought Australia “was the safest place in the world, golden.”
The Commission issued 14 recommendations, including extending High Holy Day security protocols to all high-risk Jewish public events, all accepted by Australia’s government, which committed to implementing all changes across the country.
Canada: Records and red flags
Pro-Palestinian groups recently filed rcently filed a complaint with Canada’s Revenue Agency, seeking to strip 11 Jewish day schools of their charitable status, alleging that their support for the Israeli military violates Canadian charity rules. The same coalition had previously targeted Jewish children’s camps with a similar campaign.
Canada recorded its highest number of antisemitic incidents in 2025 in 44 years of tracking for the third consecutive year. B’nai Brith Canada stated that “each incident documented in the audit meant pain, suffering and anguish for a human being, a fellow Canadian.”
The country’s Senate Human Rights Committee recently issued a report, Standing United Against Antisemitism: Protecting Communities and Strengthening Canadian Democracy. The Senate’s 22 recommendations include reinstating the special envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, a position the prime minister eliminated in February. The report also fails to mention Islamic extremism—the ideology behind many of the most violent incidents it was designed to address.
The federal government’s response? Many of the recommendations already “reflect the government’s actions” and that it is “taking concrete action against hate in all its forms, including antisemitism.”
A worldwide problem that needs solutions
Anti-Jewish hatred is not limited to English-speaking countries. Assailants spray-painted an Italian train station with messages of “May Jews burn alive,” “May Zionists be hanged” and “Let’s burn Israel,” along with swastikas. In France, hundreds of Jewish doctors are considering moving to Israel because “it is becoming more and more difficult to live here because of antisemitism.”
In stark contrast, 15 countries convened in Uruguay in South America for the First Congress of Latin American Legislators Against Antisemitism. According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement, “the active participation of legislators from Latin America demonstrates that there is a real willingness to confront antisemitism by strengthening legal frameworks, promoting education and defending the democratic values that sustain our societies.”
Points to consider:
1. Antizionism has become a disguise for anti-Jewish hatred.
Antisemitism mutates into new forms. Anti-Zionism—support for Israel’s destruction—was first sponsored by the Soviets. Now it finds support from a British Green Party candidate who calls a terror attack against a synagogue “revenge” and Australian choir singers who refuse to share a stage with Jews. This is a familiar pattern of excluding Jews because of their religion, culture and history. The label changed, but the target did not. Antizionism is not merely a political position; it has become the primary vehicle for contemporary antisemitism.
2. Governments are starting to listen, but not acting fast enough.
Australia’s government accepted all 14 recommendations from its Royal Commission on Antisemitism. Canada’s Senate issued 22 recommendations to combat antisemitism. Britain raised its national terror threat level, and its prime minister pledged serious action and funding. These are meaningful steps, but each country failed to hear security proposals from its Jewish community that could have prevented recent violent attacks. Governments are starting to listen more, but they are not yet acting with the urgency that the moment demands.
3. Most non-Jews support their Jewish neighbors. Some are proving it.
When an Iranian British man watched a terrorist stab a 76-year-old Jewish man in the neck at a London bus stop, he did not hesitate. He immediately intervened, distracted the attacker and helped police detain him. A Muslim hero responded during the Bondi Beach massacre. Their actions reflect a broader pattern of non-Jewish solidarity from all faiths standing with Jewish communities. It is often said that the silent majority supports Jews. It is time for them to speak up—and act.
