AUSCHWITZ: A Holocaust survivor from Canada has warned about growing antisemitism in his country, calling on the nation's leaders to take action against perpetrators.

Nate Leipciger spoke at the annual March of the Living at Auschwitz in Poland on Tuesday as thousands gathered to commemorate those killed in the Holocaust against a backdrop of growing antisemitism in the world. 

The 98-year-old said he was recently targeted in Toronto when mezuzahs (sacred parchment scrolls) were forcibly removed from apartment doors in his building. 

The violence increased in March when his synagogue was also targeted in a drive-by shooting. "The front doors and lobby were destroyed. It is terrible that we have lost our sense of security," Leipciger told Fox News Digital. 

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"Once you lose that, you no longer know when or where the next attack might occur. It is deeply troubling to live in a free, democratic country — where everyone is meant to have equal rights — and to be persecuted in this way," he added.

Born in Poland in 1928, Leipciger was deported to Auschwitz in 1943. He survived multiple camps and a death march before being liberated in 1945, later immigrating to Canada in 1948.

The only way to prevent history from repeating itself, he said, is to advocate for the truth and confront deception and lies.

"The running is over. For centuries, we ran. We have to stand up for our right to live as Jews in any country, including Israel, as free citizens enjoying the fruits of Western culture, of which we are part," he added.

Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, Canada has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism, with B’nai Brith Canada reporting 6,219 incidents in 2024 — more than double the number recorded in 2022.

While figures for 2025 have yet to be released, Public Safety Canada noted that from April to June 2025, "Among hate crimes targeting religion… the majority were directed at the Jewish community (69%)."

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Canadian Jewish communities are "extremely concerned" about a surge in antisemitism, a reality conveyed by Israeli officials both privately and publicly to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.

"We are aware of extreme concern among Jewish communities in Canada about their safety and well-being, both as individuals and as communities, including their institutions," Israeli Ambassador to Ottawa Ido Moed told Fox News Digital. "Israel views the recent attacks against synagogues as very serious and considers Canada among the high-risk countries in terms of shooting incidents."

Moed said Israel has offered to expand cooperation with Canada across areas including education and security coordination, and has initiated roundtable discussions on policy, regulation and best practices.

U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Yehuda Kaploun told Fox News Digital at Auschwitz that leadership accountability is critical to confronting antisemitism.

"It is incumbent upon law enforcement in various countries to designate terrorist organizations, as we have done with certain aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The world should do so collectively, and America is leading the way in that battle," Kaploun said.

Earlier this month, shots were fired at a Jewish-owned restaurant in Toronto during Passover. In March, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, sent a letter urging Ottawa to increase efforts to protect Jewish communities after three synagogues in the Toronto area were hit by gunfire within just one week.

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Richard Marceau, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and general counsel at the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, noted that Jewish Canadians are 25 times more likely than any other group to be victims of hate crimes.

"What we have seen in Canada is an all-level systemic failure to address Jew-hatred," he told Fox News Digital.

"Confronting this crisis is essential not only to protect the Jewish community, but to safeguard the future of the Canadian way of life," he continued. "All levels of government must do more to protect Canadians, including ensuring robust and consistent enforcement of existing laws, improving transparency in prosecutorial decisions, strengthening support – including financially – for community security, and addressing the drivers of radicalization in Canada."

SanJaya Wijayakoon, an RCMP superintendent in Vancouver who joined a global law enforcement delegation on the March of the Living, said engagement with the Jewish community is central to policing.

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"A big part of our work is to build contacts and maintain strong relationships through which we can receive information, provide advice and guidance on ensuring safety, and, if something crosses the line into criminality, investigate it fully," he said.

"I think as the years pass, fewer and fewer people within the police understand what happened in 1945 in Europe. Being in this program and on this march allows us to return and speak to our people about what I learned and observed, and they can apply it in their day-to-day work," he added.

Sylvan Adams, president of the World Jewish Congress Israel Region, pointed to the recent synagogue shootings in Toronto and criticized the government's response as insufficient.

"I would like to see the prime minister properly define the problem and stop pussyfooting around, pretending radical Islam does not exist," Adams said.

"We are under attack. Foreign actors are operating in Western countries in three areas: they are sending radical imams into mosques, they are investing massive amounts of money in educational systems and they are targeting us on social media. I find the response by Western leaders, with the exception of President Trump, to be entirely lacking," he said.

"Everyone in the West needs to wake up. They are trying to take away our freedom. It starts with the Jews but never ends with the Jews," he added.

AUSCHWITZ: Some 130 police leaders from across the globe converged on Kraków, Poland this week for a first-of-its-kind initiative amid rampant antisemitism. 

The event is aligned with the March of the Living, which brings thousands of participants to Germany and Poland each year to provide a first-hand look at the Nazi death camps and to teach the lessons of the Holocaust through engagement with survivors.

Paul Goldenberg, a law enforcement veteran of 37-years, deputy director of the Rutgers Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience, which organized the initiative alongside the University of Virginia’s Center for Public Safety and Justice, spoke of the importance of the trip.

"Being here is a testament to who these officers are and to the oath they have taken to protect all communities, regardless of identity," he told Fox News Digital. "It is a commitment not only to ourselves, but to the people we serve. These are very challenging times, and the police, in all their forms, can play a significant role in sustaining democratic values.

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"This initiative is about learning, professional development and remembrance. It is also about reminding ourselves who we are, why we hold these positions and what we must do to ensure people are kept safe — no matter who they are or where they are," he said.

The three-day program included a walking tour of Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter in Kraków, a guided tour of Auschwitz on Monday; a press conference and testimonies by a Holocaust survivor and survivors of antisemitic shootings, culminating on Tuesday's participation in the March of the Living and a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Goldenberg said the Holocaust was unique in that it was a state-directed campaign in which police forces played a role, and that a central lesson is how the Nazis’ dehumanization of Jews and other targeted groups enabled the system to function. He added that the goal of the initiative is for participants to return to their departments with a deeper understanding that will help them better train officers, support victims of hate crimes and appreciate the importance and critical nature of their responsibilities.

He pointed to the urgency of the situation, noting that armed military units are now guarding synagogues in Western countries and that both the United States and Canada have deployed specialized police forces to protect Jewish institutions.

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"What is striking is that these are not foreign entities — they are integral parts of the societies in which they exist. A synagogue in Belgium is Belgian. A synagogue in London belongs to London. A synagogue in New York City is part of the fabric of that city," he told Fox News Digital.

"From a policing perspective, what is deeply concerning is the erosion of safety and security for vulnerable communities. It is a deeply alarming scenario — one that, in some respects, echoes patterns seen in the 1930s," he added.

The theme of this year's March is combating antisemitism, which has surged to unprecedented levels since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.

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Abbie Talmoud, director for Jewish Community Affairs at the Embassy of Israel to the United States, survived a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., in May 2025, in which two Israeli embassy staff members, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were killed.

Speaking to Fox News Digital in Auschwitz, Talmoud said that amid rising antisemitism, feeling safe in the United States "is really difficult" and would require "systematic change," adding that she has stopped attending some events where she does not feel adequate security precautions are in place.

"There needs to be an understanding that the way we don’t allow racism for other races and ethnicities, we can’t allow antisemitism. It needs to come from the top — the school system, parents, governments," Talmoud said.

Catherine Szkop, director of public affairs at the Embassy of Israel to the United States, who focuses on interfaith relations and engagement, carpooled with Talmoud, Lischinsky and Milgrim to the event that evening and also survived.

"I have a family history tied to the Holocaust. In the Book of Names, I looked up ‘Szkop’ and saw a page taller than me filled with that name, along with dates and locations of those who were murdered. I realized my own name could have appeared there, with ‘murdered in Washington, D.C.’ written next to it," she told Fox News Digital at Auschwitz.

Szkop said she has never been this vigilant or fearful of potential attacks.

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"I wear headphones less; it makes me more aware of my surroundings. It’s a mix of fear and wanting some peace of mind after what happened. I don’t let it stop me from living, but it’s made me a little more afraid," she said.

Jeanne Hengemuhle, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, told Fox News Digital in Kraków that her agency, which includes 3,500 sworn members and 1,500 civilian staff, works closely with community leaders across the state to address hate-related concerns before they escalate into crises, emphasizing that early engagement, information-sharing and collaboration are key to preventing issues before they arise.

"We are law enforcement, but we are also part of the communities we serve, and we must recognize that role as the first line of defense," she said.

Hengemuhle said that, as human beings, there is a responsibility to do everything possible to combat hate, which requires understanding and educating one another, as well as drawing on different policing and professional backgrounds.

"This is my first year, and I am very humbled to have been invited to take part in the march and learn more. To me, it is about coming together and learning from what happened in the past so we do not allow it to happen again in the future," she said.

"The Holocaust did not happen overnight," she continued. "There were small, incremental changes that ultimately led to what took place. I think it is important that, by coming together and having these discussions, we ask whether we are seeing the kinds of early indicators that could lead us down a dangerous path — and how we intervene before it goes too far."

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To this end, senior police officials and associations from Europe and North America signed a landmark memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Berlin earlier this month, formally launching a new transnational initiative titled "Not on Our Watch – The Democratic Policing Initiative."

The agreement brings together the German Police Union (GdP), the European Federation of Police Unions (EU.Pol), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association (SRLEEA) and the International Police Delegation, in collaboration with leading academic institutions.

The MOU formalizes a shared commitment among participating organizations to strengthen early threat detection and intelligence-sharing across borders, including establishing coordinated operational responses to emerging extremist threats, among other things.

Jim Skinner, sheriff of Collin County, Texas, and incoming vice president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, told Fox News Digital in Kraków that as a law enforcement leader, his responsibility is to serve everyone equally, noting that while there is significant partisanship and political division in the United States, law enforcement must serve and protect all communities equally.

"We all have an obligation to dig deep and make sure hate doesn’t happen on our watch, and to recognize that we have a fundamental responsibility to think critically about how to keep our communities safe," he said.

Skinner noted that North Texas is home to a large and vibrant Jewish community, which he said he is fortunate to serve. He added that he traveled to Israel shortly after the Oct. 7 attack with two other sheriffs and visited Kibbutz Be’eri, an experience he said he will never forget.

"I came away with important, practical lessons for my organization, but also with a deeper understanding of a world filled with hate. It reinforced for me that the authority entrusted to me by the people who elected me must be used wisely in how I approach my job each day — to ensure that something like that does not happen to the citizens where I live, and that if it ever did, we would have a proper and effective response," he said.

"I think about the march," he continued, "it honors Holocaust victims and serves as a reminder of the consequences of hate and the importance of standing against violence and intolerance. That’s the message I want everyone I have influence over to understand."