In 2018 Statistics Canada reported that Jews were the most targeted group for hate crimes. The report showed that there were 347 anti-Sematic hate crimes that year, making up nearly 20% of all hate crimes. Historical events like the holocaust and the first crusade killed millions of Jews and in some cases forced them to convert to other religions.
Anti-Semitism has evolved over the years and even though now it may not be large scale attacks against the religion, it is still a prevalent problem even if it may not generate a lot of noise. For the victims of anti-Semitism there are several support systems in place to help, one being Western Hillel.
Mitchell Gould is the advocacy coordinator for Hillel Western, and he spoke more about the different systems in place to help Jews in London.
“There’s Jewish London that provides support and advocacy for Jews. There’s also Western Hillel that provides support to students, I’m the advocacy coordinator for Western Hillel, so for any instances of anti-Semitism students can come to me to provide support and next steps. And there’s the Center For Israel and Jewish Affairs which provides support to the broader community and the Jewish community.”
Anti-Semitism has evolved over the years and even though it may not be as extreme as it once was it still does exist in some form.
“It is an ongoing issue but luckily it’s not as big as swastikas and graffiti all the time but it is still definitely something that occurs in different ways. But that’s not something that is part of the daily life here, and I think it’s reflective of anti-Semitism in Canada where you know it’s there but it’s not always in the news.”
While it is hard to pinpoint where exactly anti-Semitism has the biggest presence in our society, Gould knows that Jewish students at Western have felt it.
“There’s no one community I can say we see more anti-Semitism from but it’s definitely something felt by Jewish students at Western and Jews in the broader London community as well.”
How do we make this a bigger topic of discussion?
“What I’d like to see is more education, more people who are willing to read up on anti-Semitism on their own time and then they can reach out to the Jewish community in solidarity when anti-Semitic events occur… So people know how to speak out against them or ensure they don’t happen again.”
If you’d like to educate yourself on anti-Semitism, Jewish London (https://jewishlondon.ca/) has classes and other events where they teach people about Jewish and Israeli history and culture.
CC // BBC
CC // NBC
CC // Hillel Western
CC // Jewish London Ontario
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