Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday condemned the antisemitic attack on a Jewish woman in Ottawa, expressing support for the Jewish community.
“The senseless attack on a Jewish woman in an Ottawa grocery store this week is deeply disturbing. My thoughts are with her, her family, and Ottawa’s Jewish community, and my support is with law enforcement as they work to swiftly bring the perpetrator to justice,” Carney said in a post on X.
“To Canada’s Jewish community: you are not alone. We stand with you against hate and threats to your safety, and we will act to confront antisemitism wherever it appears,” he added.
The violent stabbing in the Canadian capital, which left a woman in her 70s injured, took place on Wednesday, inside a Loblaws grocery store known for its kosher food section.
According to the Ottawa Police Service (OPS), the woman entered the store with a friend around 1:35 p.m. when she was approached and stabbed by a man. Officers arrested the suspect at the scene “without incident,” while store staff provided immediate aid to the victim. She was transported to hospital and released later that day.
On Thursday, OPS confirmed that a 71-year-old man appeared in court to face charges of aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon. The police have not released the suspect’s name and stated that the victim and attacker were not previously acquainted.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) also issued a statement, calling the incident “deeply troubling.”
CIJA noted that the attack occurred “inside an Ottawa grocery store that houses the city’s most well-known kosher food section and has been the repeated target of anti-Israel protests.”
Josh Landau, CIJA’s director of government affairs for Ontario, emphasized the broader climate of hostility: “While the motivation behind this unprovoked assault has not yet been determined, we cannot ignore the broader context in Ottawa. Anti-Jewish hate, antisemitism, and violence have been normalized since the abhorrent attack on October 7. Jewish institutions, businesses, and community members have been increasingly singled out by extremists.”
The assault in Ottawa comes amid a sharp rise in acts of antisemitism in Canada since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
In June, the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa was defaced with red paint and the words "feed me".
A lawyer formerly employed by the City of Ottawa was later dismissed after being charged in connection with the vandalism.
Data released at the end of July by Statistics Canada reveal that hate crimes targeting Canadian Jews remained alarmingly high in 2024, with 920 police-reported incidents—making Jews the most targeted religious group in the country.
Jews were found to be 25 times more likely to be the victims of a hate crime than other Canadian citizens.
The number of overall antisemitism hate crimes was down slightly from their high in 2023, when they reached 959. However, they remain well above the figures for 2022, when 527 antisemitic hate crimes were reported.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)