Mark Carney, candidate in the Liberal Party leadership race, on Feb. 25. Photo by Andrej Ivanov/AFP via Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh
March 9, 2025
Mark Carney, the newly elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and the incoming prime minister, has vowed to protect Canadian Jews amid rising antisemitism. But his stance on Israel is drawing scrutiny.
A former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Carney has never held elected office. He won a four-person race Sunday, with 85.9% of the vote, to lead the ruling party after Justin Trudeau announced his departure in January, stepping down after nine years in office amid internal party tensions.
Carney, 59, will take office immediately amid growing trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. and is set to face Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, in national elections likely to be held in October.
Poilievre, who hitchhiked through Israel in his youth and has described Canadian Jews as “the true Indigenous people,” leads in the polls. However, his party’s advantage has narrowed in recent weeks due to a nationalist backlash against President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports.
What would Carney’s leadership mean for Jews and Israel?
Canada’s 335,000 Jews have faced a surge in antisemitism, including firebombs and gunshots at synagogues since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and protests over the war in Gaza. Trudeau criticized Israel’s military response in Gaza, backed a United Nations resolution against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and said Canada would enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Jewish leaders who welcomed Trudeau’s exit said they were skeptical that his successor will improve relations.
Carney, who met with Netanyahu on a 2012 visit to Israel, balanced his support for Israel’s right to self-defense and the removal of Hamas as Gaza’s governing authority with a focus on humanitarian concerns for Palestinians.. Last month, he called Trump’s plan to relocate millions of Palestinians from Gaza “deeply disturbing” and suggested it would violate international law.
But his messaging has been mixed. During a recent debate, Carney raised eyebrows when he mistakenly said that he “was in agreement with Hamas” while answering a question about post-war governance. His chief rival, Chrystia Freeland, interjected, saying that the party did not support Hamas. Carney quickly corrected his French, clarifying that he meant supporting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state without involvement from the terrorist group.
“I support the hard work of reaching a two-state solution, with a viable and free Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the state of Israel, Carney posted on social media last month.
His critics say he hasn’t been vocal enough. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East gave Carney a “D+” on Palestinian rights, citing his lack of public statements. Meanwhile, Jeremy Levi, the Conservative mayor of Hampstead, a suburb of Montreal, blasted Carney for not mentioning “Israel” or “antisemitism” in recent social media posts. “Silence speaks volumes, and his silence is deafening,” Levi wrote on Instagram.
Carney was among 50 leaders and clergy who signed an open letter urging the government to enforce the law at pro-Palestinian protests and strengthen awareness about what constitutes hate speech.
Following Oct. 7, Carney quoted Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, and said: “I learned the perils of language and those of silence. I learned that in extreme situations where human lives and dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin.” Attending a Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration in January, he said that in response to rising antisemitism, “Never Again is more than a phrase — it must be a promise.”
Last month, Carney condemned the defacing of a swastika on a Montreal synagogue during Shabbat. “It has to stop,” he wrote on X. “As Canadian leaders, we need to say firmly and loudly that the Jewish community has the right to feel safe in Canada.”
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