Since the massacre in Southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Jewish people worldwide has experienced a new wave of antisemitism. Canada is no exception.
According to B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents for 2023, there were 5,791 reported incidents–a 109.1 per cent increase from the previous year.
“It’s incredibly unprecedented,” said Austin Parcels, the Manager of Research and Advocacy for the organization.
While some acts are clearly antisemitic to many, Parcels said there are other concerning trends in the way this old hatred has resurfaced. One such trend has been attacks on Jewish institutions.
“The shooting at a Jewish girls’ school in Toronto–twice, I believe that happened,” he said. “In McGill… they drew the Hamas upside-down triangle on buildings named after Jewish individuals.”
Parcels added, “we’re living in a different era, of course, than we did in the 30s… the amount of stuff that can be said or sent to people online, through their personal email accounts…the amount of medical doctors we’ve had who’ve had just horrible letters sent to them through their public emails, letters sent to their addresses, all because this stuff is easy to find online.”
Rob Nagus, the Executive Director for Jewish London, has experienced this himself, being very active accessible to the public and having done a number of interviews with media to discuss issues of antisemitism post-Oct. 7. He said he’s received a number of concerning messages that could definitely be considered antisemitic.
“I’ve received horrible phone calls that, you know, make my mom, who’s 80 years old, very scared,” he admitted.
One of the trends in antisemitism today is that in a number of cases, it is not being taken seriously when it is reported.
“A common theme is that a lot of the Jewish concerns that are brought forward to the appropriate parties…are not being listened to and we’re kind of being gaslit,” he said.
He said this may be partially attributed to the complicated conflict going on in the Middle East.
“It’s had a tremendous impact for the Muslim community, it’s had a tremendous impact for the Jewish community, for the Palestinian community, for the Israeli community,” he continued. “And I think there’s a reluctance to deal with that because it’s so sophisticated, it’s so complicated and it’s so nuanced.
For any non-Jewish Canadians who may not be speaking out about antisemitism today, Nagus says “I get it.”
“Holy cow, this is complicated, and this is challenging. But I will say that what the Jewish community is feeling now is unprecedented in my lifetime,” he said. “I think that the more the average Canadian can get engaged, and dive deeper than your social media posts, or your TikTok video, to really get to the root of some of these existential and really complicated philosophical issues… is really critical.”
