"The writing was on the wall with the Bondi Massacre, and I see the exact same pattern in Canada," Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, MK Sharren Haskel, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday after Toronto saw three shooting attacks on synagogues in one week.
Haskel held an emergency online briefing on Sunday for dozens of Canadian opinion leaders, journalists, and politicians. The meeting aimed to equip Israel’s friends in Canada with updated information and insights regarding the urgent need to combat the surge of antisemitism in North America, as well as Israel’s war, Operation Roaring Lion.
"Diaspora communities are being targeted. The Iranians are trying to inflame fears," she told the Post. "They have their agents in many, many countries."
Unlike traditional public diplomacy, Haskel's initiative focuses on building an active network of “truth ambassadors,” who will push back against the prevailing perception in their home countries that fundamentalist Iranian terrorism is merely a local problem.
Participants included representatives from a wide range of influential groups and communities, including social media influencers, LGBTQ+ human rights activists, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, and elected officials from both the municipal and federal levels in Canada.
For Haskel, these sorts of leaders and influencers are critical because they can be a "loud voice to speak against racism, against antisemitism."
"There are not many voices speaking out against racism and antisemitism in Canada,” she said. “Therefore, it is critical to hear those voices and to strengthen them, so they can speak out freely and without fear."
An Iranian web of danger
Haskel briefed the attendees on Iran’s “terror export industry” across the Middle East and the world, and explained how Tehran’s ballistic missile capabilities are transforming what was once perceived as a “local” Middle Eastern threat into an existential danger that threatens the peace and security of the entire Western world.
“Public diplomacy is a critical front in the battle for the justice of our cause," said Haskel. "Through dialogue with opinion leaders in Canada, we are mobilizing ‘truth ambassadors’ to take part in the battle of ideas against Iranian terrorism; a struggle that serves a shared global interest."
"In light of the recent outbreaks of violence, Canada’s government is expected to act,” she continued. “Inaction in the face of the octopus’s tentacles will lead to a ‘Bondi Beach 2’ in the heart of Montreal or Toronto. Those who ignore terrorism in the Middle East will ultimately face it in their own homes.”
Haskel has spent the last few years conducting briefings and interviews and writing opinion pieces. She warns foreign governments that "if they don't act and draw a red line against antisemitism, against those violent attacks on the Jewish community, it will only be a matter of time before someone will pay the price of blood."
She told the Post that she was "shocked but not surprised" by the Bondi attack, as the "writing was on the wall," but expressed disappointment that it was only after that massacre that the government of Australia "took measures into their hands and started cracking down on antisemitism in Australia."
"I don't want that to happen in Canada as well," she said. "I don't want the Jewish community to pay the price of blood because of the lack of action by the Canadian government. I will do everything in my capability to make sure I'm waking up the Canadian government before it's too late. Because once blood is spilled, that is one person too many."
Haskel called on the Canadian government to commission the federal police to investigate and address this issue.
"Once the federal police treat antisemitism as a federal crime, a hate crime, a racist crime, a call for violence or a call for murder, then more resources will be employed to identify and to catch the perpetrators,” she explained. “The second thing is that, when someone is caught or arrested, there needs to be stronger prosecution charging them with hate crimes. It is absurd how if [the Toronto shootings] had happened to any other minority in Canada – whether the Chinese, Indian, Indigenous, or African community – it would have been met immediately with the utmost outrage imaginable. And then the last point is, the government needs to restrict the demonstrations in front of synagogues, attacking Jews going to a house of prayer, and demonstrating in front of the place of worship."
"We have a huge responsibility to ensure that Jews around the world are kept safe," she said.
This is not mere work for Haskel. Born in Canada, she is close to the country.
"My dad lives in Canada. I have family and friends and relatives, and I see their frustration, anxiety, and fear. And my heart is absolutely shattered to know that one of the safest places Jews have ever had has become such a cesspool for racism, antisemitism, and persecution.
"I will do everything in my capability to fight that," she promised.