Three years since October 7: Canadian Jews report spike in antisemitic attacks and fear

Three years after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel and the ensuing conflict, Jewish Canadians are reporting a profound shift in their safety and sense of belonging. Firebombings at synagogues, shootings at Jewish schools, and physical assaults classified as hate crimes have become routine. Students hide Star of David necklaces for fear of being attacked. Security guards search bags before bar mitzvahs. Synagogue services now start with staff pointing out emergency exits.

"The society we're living in is not quite the society we thought," said Lisa Grushcow, senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal, which has been operating since 1883 as one of the most progressive branches of Judaism. "There's this feeling of a world that's really been turned upside down."

Grushcow's synagogue was firebombed in June and had a swastika spray-painted on its exterior in February 2025. "There's been a lot that's become normalized over the past three years that I think is just deeply disturbing — for us as a community, but also for us as a society," Grushcow said.

National data backs the lived experience. Since 2023, Jewish communities have been the most frequently targeted group in police-reported hate crimes in Canada — despite representing less than one per cent of the population. In Toronto alone, police made 573 arrests since October 7, 2023, and laid 1,398 charges in connection with demonstrations, protests, and hate-motivated offences targeting Jewish communities. A CSIS annual report for 2025 mentioned disrupted plots targeting Canadian Jewish institutions. In August 2025, a Montreal youth was arrested, intended to target Jews. CSIS said religiously motivated violent extremism has "increased significantly since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict," which has "fuelled violent extremist organization narratives and has the potential to inspire a new generation of extremists."

An Ottawa Police Service Board report issued last week documented the impact on daily life. "Jewish residents have reported fear about wearing a kippah, Star of David or other visible expressions of Jewish identity in public," the report states. "Community organizations have adopted heightened security measures for religious, cultural and commemorative gatherings — including advance registration, identification requirements, restrictions on attendance and, in some circumstances, limiting public disclosure of event details."

Grushcow is encouraging non-Jewish Canadians to ask their Jewish friends to attend synagogue — a direct counter to the isolation and fear now shaping Jewish community participation.