Holocaust survivor warns Canada about rising antisemitism from Auschwitz

– AUSCHWITZ: A Canadian Holocaust survivor has warned that antisemitism is rising in his country and called on the country’s leaders to take action against the perpetrators.

Nate Leipciger spoke at the annual March of the Living at Auschwitz in Poland on Tuesday, where thousands of people gathered to commemorate those killed in the Holocaust against the backdrop of rising antisemitism around the world.

The 98-year-old man said he was recently targeted when mezuzahs (sacred scrolls of scrolls) were forcibly removed from the apartment doors of his Toronto building.

The violence escalated in March when his synagogue was also targeted in a drive-by shooting. “The front doors and the lobby were destroyed. It’s terrible that we’ve lost our sense of security,” Leipciger told Fox News Digital.

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“Once you lose that, you no longer know when and where the next attack may occur. It is extremely disturbing to live in a free, democratic country where everyone should have equal rights and to be persecuted like this,” he added.

Born in Poland in 1928, Leipciger was deported to Auschwitz in 1943. He survived several camps and death marches before being liberated in 1945, later immigrating to Canada in 1948.

He said the only way to prevent history from repeating itself is to stand up for the truth and confront deception and lies.

Temple Emanu-El in Toronto, Canada was hit on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star)

“The race is over. We have run for centuries. As Jews in any country, including Israel, we have to defend our right to live as free citizens enjoying the fruits of the Western culture of which we are a part.”

There has been a sharp increase in antisemitism in Canada since the Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023; B’nai Brith Canada reported 6,219 incidents in 2024; This number is more than double the number recorded in 2022.

Figures for 2025 have not been announced yet. Public Safety Canada He noted that between April and June 2025, “the majority of hate crimes targeting religion (69%) were directed at the Jewish community.”

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Canadian Jewish communities are “extremely concerned” about the rise in antisemitism, a fact that Israeli officials have cited both privately and publicly to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.

“We recognize that Jewish communities in Canada are extremely concerned about their safety and well-being, both as individuals and as communities, including their institutions,” Israeli Ambassador to Ottawa Ido Moed told Fox News Digital. “Israel regards the recent attacks on synagogues as very serious and considers Canada among the high-risk countries in terms of armed attacks.”

Crowds completing the March of the Living pass through the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Yossi Zeliger)

Moed said Israel has offered to expand cooperation with Canada in areas including training and security coordination, and has initiated roundtable discussions on policy, regulation and best practices.

Yehuda Kaploun, the US Special Representative to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, told Fox News Digital in a statement at Auschwitz that leadership accountability is critical in combating antisemitism.

Kaploun said, “Law enforcement in various countries have a duty to identify terrorist organizations, as we have done with the Muslim Brotherhood and parts of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The world must do this collectively, and America is leading the way in this fight.” he said.

Earlier this month, shots were fired at a Jewish-owned restaurant in Toronto during Passover. In March, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, sent a letter urging Ottawa to step up efforts to protect Jewish communities after three Toronto-area synagogues came under shootings in just one week.

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Canadian Jews are 25 times more likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other group, said Richard Marceau, senior vice-president of strategic initiatives and general counsel at the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

“What we’re seeing in Canada is a systematic failure at every level to address Jew hatred,” he told Fox News Digital.

“Confronting this crisis is necessary not only to protect the Jewish community, but also to secure the future of the Canadian way of life,” he continued. “All levels of government must do more to protect Canadians, including ensuring robust and consistent enforcement of existing laws, increasing transparency in prosecutorial decisions, strengthening support, including financial support, for community safety, and addressing the drivers of radicalization in Canada.”

SanJaya Wijayakoon, chief of the RCMP in Vancouver who joined a global law enforcement delegation at the March of the Living, said engagement with the Jewish community is at the heart of policing.

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EDMONTON, CANADA – APRIL 13 Anti-Israel protesters hold anti-Semitic posters on April 13, 2025 in Alberta, Canada. (Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto, via AP)

“A big part of our work is making contacts and maintaining strong relationships where we can get information, provide advice and guidance on maintaining security, and if something crosses the line into criminality, we can fully investigate it,” he said.

“I think as the years go by, fewer and fewer people within the police understand what happened in Europe in 1945. Being on this program and on this march allows us to go back and talk to our people about what I’ve learned and what I’ve observed, and they can apply it in their daily work,” he added.

World Jewish Congress Israel Region President Sylvan Adams drew attention to the recent synagogue attacks in Toronto and criticized the government’s response, saying it was inadequate.

“I would like the Prime Minister to properly define the problem and stop going around pretending that radical Islam doesn’t exist,” Adams said. he said.

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“We are under attack. Foreign actors operate in Western countries in three areas: they send radical imams to mosques, they invest large amounts of money in education systems, and they target us on social media. I find the reaction of Western leaders, other than President Trump, completely lacking,” he said.

“Everyone in the West needs to wake up. They are trying to take away our freedom. It starts with the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews,” he added.