A Canadian publisher of a Polish-language publication was arrested on June 11 and then subsequently released for publishing anti-Semitic articles.
B’nai Brith Canada filed a complaint against Andrzej Kumor in August 2019, citing stories in his publication Goniec stating that Jews and Zionists have “terrorism in their blood” and that “Jews are spying on you.” Other articles alleged that the “Jewish political lobby” controls the United States government. Kumor also made the “terrorism in their blood” remarks in a YouTube video.
The articles and YouTube video have since been removed from the internet; the authorities warned Kumor that he would be charged with inciting hatred against Jews if he posted any further anti-Semitic content.
“We salute the Peel Regional Police for their diligence in pursuing this matter, and hope that Mr. Kumor has learned his lesson,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said. “It is a criminal offence in Canada to willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group. B’nai Brith will continue to relentlessly pursue these incidents, so that incitement against the Jewish community and other groups cannot proceed with impunity.”
Mostyn also told the Toronto Sun, “It’s important news outlets understand that racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism are not fair game and are not going to be tolerated in Canada.”
The Sun noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Semitism has been on the rise in Canada, pointing to three Toronto synagogues being Zoombombed — the term used to describe disruptions of video conference calls with anti-Semitic and racial slurs — as examples.
“We’ve seen such a tremendous and overwhelming effort across social media to blame Jews for creating the virus, for spreading the virus, for profiting from the virus,” Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Campaign Against Anti-Semitism Director Jaime Kirzner-Roberts told the Sun. “And all of this hate on social media has implications for actual hate incidents. People are not just passively absorbing that information.”
