Toronto, 2026 = Berlin, 1938?

Canada is the worst. And, within Canada, Toronto is the worst.

Statista describes itself as a global data and business intelligence platform. Based in Germany, it is an award-winning company that aggregates data and statistics from thousands of sources, and it annually produces more than a million statistical analyses on 80,000 different topics.

For 2025, Statista reported, the worst country in the world for violent antisemitic attacks was Canada. Canada had 6,800 such attacks last year, far more than Germany (5,729), the United Kingdom (3,700) or Australia (1,750). The United States was far down Statista’s list, with 398 violent crimes committed against Jews.

Within Canada, Montreal is a terrible place to be Jewish - but Toronto, measured different ways, is much worse. Jews make up just four per cent of Toronto’s population - but about 80 per cent of all religion-based hate crimes targets Jews.

In 2023 - when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israeli men, women and children, sexually violated Israeli women and girls, kidnapped hundreds, and grievously wounded thousands - antisemitic crime actually grew by 80 per cent in Toronto. In the following year, 2024, it was even worse. In Toronto in that year, the Ontario Chiefs of Police reported, there was “a historic high…with the Jewish community being the most prominent target.”

So, Toronto can be credibly regarded as one of the worst cities in the world for violent attacks on Jews. We are only about halfway through this year, 2026, and Canada’s largest city is already well on its way to distinguishing itself as one the worst places on the planet to be a Jew.

There have been multiple shootings at synangogues, more than in any other Canadian city. Jewish businesses have been vandalized and shot at and firebombed. There have been weekly “protests” in Jewish neighbourhoods designed to terrorize and intimidate people. There have been assaults. There has even been at least one incident, where pro-Iranian extremists hired thugs to shoot up Jewish institutions in Toronto.

The human rights organization B’nai Brith, which tracks these things, says there almost certainly have been many more anti-Jewish hate crimes, but they go unreported, because people are afraid to come forward, or because they think the police and politicians will do nothing. Or both.

On the weekend, there was yet more of it. Two Toronto bakeries had their windows smashed, as in the Nazi Kristallnacht, and one was sprayed with bullets. The bakeries make bagels, among other things, and do not set the policies of the government of Israel. But that doesn’t matter anymore.  Not in Toronto.

As in Nazi-era Germany, Toronto’s Jewish minority are now routinely targeted for the sin of being Jewish. As in those barbaric times, Jews are hiding the symbols of their faith, or are fleeing the city. I have one Jewish friend - a calm, educated documentary filmmaker - who keeps a small crucifix in his wallet, now, in case he needs to pretend that he isn’t a Jew. He and his family have packed suitcases by the door, ready to go.

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