Condemnations of antisemitism are necessary. But they are simply not enough

A girl wearing an Israeli flag stands next to a memorial for the victims of Sunday’s shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.Hollie Adams/Reuters

Irwin Cotler was a minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada and Canada’s first special envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism. Noah Lew is a lawyer, special adviser to Mr. Cotler, and a director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

In the wake of the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney – in which 15 people were murdered and more than two dozen injured – politicians and other public figures commenced the now-typical routine of issuing condemnations.

The routine began after the unspeakable mass atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023 – the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust – on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. It kicked up again, more recently, on Yom Kippur, after a synagogue shooting in Manchester.

At this point, political staffers would be prudent to draft the condemnations in advance of upcoming Jewish holidays: “I condemn the antisemitic attack on [insert Jewish institution or event] on [insert holiday] in [insert location].”

Bondi Beach shooting suspects visited Islamist militant hot spot weeks before attack, police say

Here in Canada, disturbing headlines have become all too common:

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