Antisemitism is a moral failure of leadership

Real safety for our Jewish community starts by reclaiming the universal moral principles our leaders have abandoned

Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced new national measures to confront rising antisemitism, acknowledging that hatred of Jews has surged far beyond acceptable democratic discourse. While enhanced security remains necessary, lasting safety will require more than guards, cameras and police protection. It will require a return to universal moral principles that address hatred at its source.

Like Jews worldwide, the Canadian Jewish community faces unprecedented hatred, intimidation and violence disguised as opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza. To achieve that, we must transform hearts, a challenge that extends far beyond Canada’s borders. One source of such transformation may lie in the universal Noahide commandments that Judaism teaches were given for all humanity.

This hatred reached its horrific peak in December 2025 when terrorists murdered 15 people at the Chanukah at the Sea celebration on Bondi Beach, Australia. Among the victims was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a Chabad rabbi who had recently co-authored Conversations with My Rabbi with journalist Nikki Goldstein. The attack shocked Canadians and Jews worldwide, demonstrating that antisemitic violence now threatens even the most peaceful community gatherings.

Yet from this tragedy emerges unexpected hope. Rabbi Schlanger’s posthumous book centres on conversations about the seven universal Noahide commandments—principles Judaism teaches God gave for all humanity, not just Jewish people. These include prohibitions against murder, theft and cruelty, as well as requirements to establish systems of justice. While God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses for the Jewish people, the Noahide commandments offer a universal moral foundation that could address the hatred we witness today.

This isn’t merely theoretical. Three compelling reasons suggest these ancient principles offer practical solutions to contemporary antisemitism and global conflict.

First, international institutions already embrace this prophetic vision but lack the spiritual grounding to make it effective. In 1959, the Soviet Union gifted the United Nations a bronze sculpture inscribed with Isaiah’s stirring words: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares … nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Despite choosing this Hebrew scriptural passage to inspire world peace, the UN has failed to reduce global conflict. The cruel irony is obvious: while international bodies embrace Jewish prophetic vision, they permit unprecedented antisemitism against the very community that gifted humanity this moral framework.

Second, Western democracies already rest on foundations derived from Jewish ethical monotheism. The U.S. Supreme Court displays Moses and Solomon in marble friezes. The concept of humanity deriving dignity from a divine Creator inspired the Declaration of Independence. This moral vision animated Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke about reaching the “Promised Land,” where former slaves and masters would live in equality. As early as the 17th century, English jurist John Selden, one of England’s leading legal thinkers of the era, recognized how the seven Noahide commandments could form the foundation of international law in his groundbreaking work De Jure Naturali et Gentium.

Third, societies that genuinely embrace the belief that humanity is created in God’s image cannot sustain antisemitism. People motivated by binding principles against killing and harming others cannot simultaneously demonize Jews or any community.

The problem with current international values is their lack of transcendental grounding. States manipulate secular human rights language to advance their interests because these values derive from flawed human politics rather than unchanging principles.

The path forward requires more than political commitments. Transformed communities demand that leaders and educators recognize these universal principles as binding moral law that transcends human manipulation. When societies embrace them, they create hearts that cannot harbour hatred toward Jews or indeed any people.

Canadian Jewish communities need immediate protection, but lasting safety requires the heart transformation that Rabbi Schlanger advocated. His posthumous words about universal principles demand our attention, not as religious doctrine but as the moral foundation our fractured world desperately needs.

Joseph Quesnel is the founding director of the Canadian Foundation for Universal Ethics Education. A seasoned journalist and policy analyst with over 15 years of experience, he has provided expert testimony to both the Senate and the House of Commons on public policy. He holds a degree in political science and history from McGill University and is completing a Master of Journalism at Carleton University.