Canada’s new prime minister is failing the Jews

A dull and awkward communicator, Carney chose this moment to affect jocularity; to present himself as the guy who delivers clever zingers with ease. Smiling, Carney responded: “Thank you. Thank you, Diana. I’m aware. ‘Tis why we have an arms embargo.”

“Diana”, one assumes, was a light-hearted reference to his wife, Diana Fox Carney, a climate zealot who may also have strong views regarding Israel. (By the way, Diana, there is no arms embargo in place.)

When this moment was amplified on social media, Carney squirmed. “I didn’t hear that word [genocide],” he told reporters on Thursday. “It’s noisy. You hear snippets of what people say, and I heard ‘Gaza’ and my point was that I’m aware of the situation in Gaza.”

Formerly the Governor of the Banks of England and Canada, Carney has the air of a man who sits at the head of every table and commands the room. As he reminds Canadians constantly, he knows everyone who matters and understands how the world works. So even if he often appears as testy, arrogant and possibly the last person in the room with whom you’d want to have a pint, he’s got the chops, he assures us, to take on Trump.

Within days of his Liberal Party leadership victory on March 9 (but before being sworn in as PM on March 14) Carney’s Special Envoy to Syria, MP Omar Alghabra, lauded the new Syrian regime and announced Canada’s intention to appoint an ambassador at the earliest opportunity. This, as Christians and Alawites were being murdered by government factions.

Days later, Carney’s government announced that Canada was providing approximately $100 million to Unwra on an emergency basis; even though numerous members of the organisation have been exposed for actively colluding with Hamas, including some in the October 7 attacks. In recent months, the US, Switzerland, the Netherlands, have consequently, revoked funding commitments.

But these early signs of a blind spot for Islamist threats were just warm-ups. Carney has steadfastly avoided public contact with the Canadian Jewish community; the fourth largest in the world.

Since October 7, our community has been subjected to violence and incitement by Canadian Islamists who have teamed up with the hard left – a phenomenon seen throughout the Western world. But except for the province of Alberta (and very few municipalities) – law enforcement has been alarmingly permissive, allowing the pro-Hamas crowd to run amok.

Arrests are few and rare, despite flagrant and constant breaches of a plethora of civil statutes and multiple provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code. And with no law enforcement guardrails, the public Islamist frolic in Canada has only intensified. Schools in Toronto and Montreal have been attacked with incendiary devices. Daily, Jewish children are assaulted in public schools. Adults are threatened and ostracised in workplaces.

But Carney has ignored this reality. He has been silent, as prominent Jewish philanthropist and former Canadian Senator Linda Frum, stated on X earlier this week: “Prime Minister Carney has made 0 comments about this crisis (violent antisemitism) affecting every Jewish person in Canada.”

The previous Thursday, after a shambolic week on the road, Carney’s campaign announced he would be taking a “pause” to focus on his tariff strategy. More likely, he’s being tutored in the fine art of not saying the first thing that pops into his head. Like on April 3, during a French-language interview with two prominent journalists, when Carney was asked for his views on the war between Israel and Hamas.

His response: “[There is] a common theme in the situations of Canada, Ukraine and Gaza. It’s about territorial integrity. That is absolutely untouchable.”

For background, Carney and his Liberal Party colleagues have repeatedly described Trump’s tariffs (and his casual suggestion that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state) as an attack on Canadian sovereignty. In one glib remark the prime minister lumped together Trump’s aggressive trade policies, Israel’s defensive war against genocidal Islamists, and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine – as if all three were morally equivalent.

On Friday, a lame “post-pause” photo op with an Ottawa rabbi created an opportunity for the prime minister to issue a boilerplate comment about fighting antisemitism. Meanwhile, on the same day, a Toronto-area Liberal MP spoke in a mosque and doubled down on the “genocide” rhetoric. Carney? Silent.

Carney would be well-advised to use this peculiar and indefinite “pause” to refresh his approach to antisemitism and Israel. But given his intransigence and voter demographics, that is an unlikely outcome.

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Vivian Bercovici served as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel from 2014-16. She publishes articles and AV podcasts at stateoftelaviv.com and writes a regular column for the National Post (Canada)