It may seem easy or predictable to denounce evil. Yet, in every period of human history since the dawn of Christianity, it has proved just as easy to deny, minimize or stay silent about the evil of Jew-hatred.

In that light, former prime minister Brian Mulroney made a point worth remembering in a speech Sunday at a University of Toronto conference on anti-Semitism. Canada should always strive to make clear to itself and the world where it stands on this poison.

The temptation is to say it's about someone else. It's about France, where Jews have been attacked on the street. It's about Egypt, where a television series has gloried in a long-discredited anti-Jewish forgery. It's about the United Nations and its wacky conference in Durban, South Africa. Or, if it is about us, it's about David Ahenakew, the native leader in Saskatchewan who endorsed the Final Solution.

But what Mr. Mulroney called anti-Semitism's "incomprehensible resilience" makes the subject relevant today to Canadians. It is relevant because of attempts, here and abroad, to exclude Israel from the community of nations -- as distinct from legitimate criticism of Israel. The physical attack on an elderly Jewish man who wished to listen to former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Montreal's Concordia University last fall is one example of how Israel and its supporters are sometimes treated as pariahs.

It is relevant because of the torchings, after Sept. 11, 2001, of synagogues in Toronto, Saskatoon and Quebec City. It is relevant because anti-Semitism is part of Canadian history, including the shameful episode of blocking Jewish immigration in the 1930s and 40s during European Jewry's hour of peril. And as Mr. Mulroney noted, it is woven through the history of Christianity, and Christianity is the faith of a majority of Canadians.

It is true that Canada sets a high standard of tolerance, accommodation and equality. Mr. Ahenakew's monstrous comments were universally condemned. But the rising terrorism threat has prompted Jewish schools and institutions of worship to post guards at their doors. Mr. Mulroney's speech was a welcome reminder that the broader community should not allow Jews to feel isolated at this difficult time.