Community and Political Leaders Celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut in Toronto

Earlier today, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center had the pleasure of joining the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto and community and political leaders at Toronto City Hall and Queen's Park to raise the Israeli flag and celebrate Israel's 75 years of independence. Leaders in attendance included Toronto Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie and Councillors James Pasternak and Mike Colle, Ontario MPPs Stephen Lecce, Laura Smith and Robin Martin and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner. FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt delivered remarks on behalf of the organization at City Hall.

We thank everyone who hosted and attended these meaningful celebrations. Yom Ha'atzmaut Sameach!

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Tour for Humanity Visiting Schools in New Brunswick

FSWC's Director of Tour for Humanity, Daniella Lurion, was welcomed on Global News Halifax this morning to discuss the mobile human rights education centre and important lessons it delivers to inspire students to stand up against hate. The Tour for Humanity is currently in New Brunswick until May 12 before it heads to Nova Scotia during its first-ever east coast visit.

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3 Newmarket Educators Bring Back Lessons from Nazi Concentration Camps to Students

Three Pickering College teachers in Newmarket recently shared their experiences as participants in FSWC's Compassion to Action program, which took place in Poland last month. "Aside from the occasional sound of weeping, the room was filled with an intense silence as we all absorbed another way in which these people were treated as commodities," said Pickering College’s Keli Jay as she described the tour through the site of the former Auscwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp.

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Irwin Cotler: The Lessons of the Holocaust Remain Sadly Relevant Today

In the National Post, Special Envoy Irwin Cotler reflects on what society has learned over the past 80 years and what lessons we must act on, including the danger of forgetting the Holocaust and the imperative of remembrance, the danger of antisemitism and the danger of silence and indifference in the face of evil.

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Trial Begins for Accused in Tree of Life Synagogue Mass Shooting

Jury selection began Monday in the death penalty trial of the man accused of murdering 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh back in 2018. The accused faces 63 counts, including 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

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Jewish Student with Autism Had Swastika Carved Onto His Back, Mother Says

A mother in Las Vegas said she filed a report with local police and emailed the school after her son, who has autism, came home with a swastika carved onto his back. The FBI has been in contact with the local authorities.

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Rapper Meek Mill Vows to Fight Antisemitism After Visit to Auschwitz

Rapper Meek Mill has vowed to speak out against antisemitism after travelling to Poland to participate in March of the Living, which included a visit to Auschwitz. "I always stand on anything that condemns racism, but now that I had an education, I’ll definitely spread the word to people in my culture about what I’ve seen and what I felt at that concentration camp today," said Mill.

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Swiss to Erect 1st National Memorial Honouring Nazi Victims

Switzerland's Federal Council approved 2.5 million Swiss francs for the country's first national memorial to honour the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and millions of other victims of the Nazi regime.

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Car Ramming in Jerusalem Wounds 5

As Israel prepared to mark Yom HaZikaron, the country's memorial day to honour the country's fallen soldiers and police officers and terror victims, five civilians were wounded in a car-ramming terror attack near Jerusalem's busy Mahane Yehuda market. Our thoughts are with the wounded, as we pray for their quick recovery.

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Report Antisemitism and News of Concern to FSWC

If you would like to report antisemitism or news of concern to Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, please email advocacy@fswc.ca.

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