Mr. Speaker, on this solemn day of Yom HaShoah, we remember the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. It is a fitting and sobering occasion to acknowledge the B’nai Brith's annual audit on anti-Semitism, which reported that over 2,000 incidents involving anti-Semitism were committed in 2018, the highest number in decades.
Anti-Semitism was widespread and visible. There were violent attacks around the world, indiscriminately, seemingly anywhere, from synagogues to public markets to out in the streets.
The unspeakable attacks in synagogues in Pittsburgh and San Diego, where victims were targeted solely because they were Jewish, are absolutely reprehensible. We grieve for the victims and their families.
In Canada, we are not immune. We see the world's oldest hate take many forms in bullying, in harassment, in violence online and in our communities. It must stop.
I commend B’nai Brith for its work. We should all read the audit. We must learn from it. We must stand together in fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of hate and say, united, “Never again.”