A TREE IN THE FOREST
ONE REPORT OF A SINGLE HATE-ISRAEL THREAD IN CANADA SHOWS WHAT WE ARE UP AGAINST.
You may have noticed — I hadn’t realized it consciously — that I don’t write a lot about actual examples of antisemitism. I tend to start from a place that we acknowledge this is a rampant problem, then leap on to some observation about what that means or a rant about what is to be done about it.
I think I am overwhelmed attempting to report on the forest of overt and violence-enflaming antisemitism. I wouldn’t know where to begin or end. I have attended so many events and webinars lately, and read so many articles and posts, that have provided stories of individual incidents of atrocious anti-Jewish incidents that I (even I!) do not have the capacity to write about them all.
Just one example was a session with my friend Dr. Ted Rosenberg, who recently released a book about antisemitism in the medical profession in Canada. (I helped a bit on the editing.) The testimonies he includes are a depressing litany of unimaginable affronts in the 21st century. He goes into intense detail about how the discrimination encountered by Jewish people in academia (for example) are dismissed by the very institutional forces in place to address discrimination against every other group.
If you subscribe to the stereotype that lots of doctors are Jewish (I always say stereotypes may be bad but they are real timesavers) you can be assured the times they are a-changing. Jewish students are literally changing their names and erasing identifiers from their resumes in hopes of getting into med school. Social justice-related volunteer activities play a big role in admissions these days. If you volunteered for Magen David Adom (the Israeli affiliate of Red Cross) or did a semester abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, you can pretty much be assured your application will get pushed to the bottom of the pile by some of the academics and administrators who are routinely signing hate-Israel petitions and posting incendiary antisemitic memes these days.
But anyways. Read the book. Ayekha: Where Are You?
This is all to say that, if you look for them, you will find thousands of depressing stories in almost every walk of life to convince you that antisemitism is proliferating and manifests in ways you literally cannot even imagine.
I guess that is why I avoid getting into the weeds. To mix metaphors, if I am writing about the forest of antisemitism, which tress do I focus on? But then this week came a single report about a thicket of the most atrocious Jew-hatred on a single Canadian university campus.
Here is a sole example, something that probably epitomizes a phenomenon happening thousands if not millions of times the world over. If you weren’t aware already of the nauseating anti-Jewish racism permeating our society, here is an amuse bouche in the smorgasbord of hate.
Canada’s National Post did a powerful report on a leaked chat group from a “pro-Palestinian” student group at Western University in London, Ontario.
Headlined: “’Allah will burn them’: What pro-Palestinian students and allies say when they think no one is watching,” the story is a unique opportunity to see inside the heads of “pro-Palestinian” activists.
It’s a chilling read.
“The [leaked chats] shine a light on what some opponents of Israel are saying to one another when they think no one’s watching,” the newspaper reports. “What they found in the chat histories is unsettling: a stream of Hitler memes, pro-Hamas videos and antisemitic cartoons. More alarming is the advice group chat members give each other on escaping detection. There are even tips on bringing knives to peaceful protests.”
The group chat for the university’s Palestinian Cultural Club wasn’t always intensely political, the Post reports.
“In its text history there are innocuous links to Zoom events, reminders to apply for leadership positions and good-hearted Eid Mubarak greetings shared during Ramadan,” it says. “But the tenor changed on Oct. 7, 2023, the day thousands of Hamas fighters invaded southern Israel, triggering a war still being fought today that has shaken up the Middle East.”
A member shared a message delivered by Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida, with one boasting “he’s such a G,” (meaning gangster, cuz these kids are kool). Another replied: “I love the way he talks.”
Obaida was killed Aug. 30 in an Israeli air strike. (He’s a dead G and he’s not talking now.)
Students vented their frustration that London locals did not view the Hamas invasion as a liberating chapter in the story of the Palestinian people. Rather than coming to the realization that they are bloodthirsty monsters and their neighbors are not, they blamed the Jews for puppet-mastering the masses.
The “yahood [Jews] own everything,” one student wrote. “That’s how they control everyone. Money.”
Members discussed which local restaurants to support or boycott.
“London is filled with these yahoodi’s. We have to make a list of where we can and can’t eat,” one wrote. (Census Canada, 2021: The population of London is 0.5% Jewish. But these students see a Jew behind every tree and under every rock.)
Surprise: The words “Jews” and “Zionists” are used interchangeably. One student warns the others not to say the quiet part out loud.
“The government are slaves to these jews,” one writes. In response, another says: “Guys this is serious. (If) you wanna refer to them as something, refer to them as Zionists. If you get caught referring to them as Jews they’ll get you for antisemitism and ruin ur life. And this isn’t an exaggeration.”
I thought everyone knew that.
Western University’s president Alan Shepard is “clearly a zionist pig” and “someone kidnap the dog, maybe then he’ll move.” (Some confusion here: Is he a pig or a dog? And if he is kidnapped, how will he move? But anyways.)
Then this: “Just out of curiosity, does anyone know Alan (Shepard’s) house location. I heard it’s public information.”
A student shared a TikTok video “featuring photos of journalists at CNN, NPR, the New York Times, Fox News, CBS and NBC, emblazoned with Jewish stars. Hava Nagila, a celebratory Jewish song traditionally performed at weddings, is playing in the background,” the Post reports.
“I know they (Jews) are no shit, it just sucks eno(ugh) they control our education and jobs and everything that matters,” the poster opined. Another replies: “Let them be dogs, be the smarter person.”
The atrocious spelling and ridiculous commentary is probably evidence eno(ugh) that the Jews don’t control their education.
Other nuggets:
“How do i get them out of palestine,”
Responses: “I need an area that isnt habitable and give it to them.”
“Bro they used to be a diaspora they can return to being a diaspora.”
“lmaooo telling a high jewish population to go to a planet that is a gas giant wont turn out well.”
“Mars is suitable for them let them burn a little.”
“But speaking of burning, the suns a pretty good spot.”
“We gotta make them hate their life not let them burn.”
“Allah will burn them but we should send em off alone.”
“(W)e need them to hate their life while they are living AND hate their afterlife.” (Chat fills with laughing emojis.)
“References to the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler abound in the group chat,” reports the Post. “At the suggestion of a ‘sticker competition’ before a protest in late October 2023, one member shared a cartoon of Hitler with a banner proclaiming ‘#1 Victory Royale!’ beneath a skull sign and the number 6 million — a reference to the victims killed in the Holocaust. The same student then posted a doctored image of Hitler, making a heart sign with his hands.”
“Those administering the WhatsApp chat didn’t intervene. For members, it wasn’t the message, but the fear of its publicization that concerned them,” the story goes on. “I feel like sending hitler stickers is going to leave a horrible horrible mark if someone else sees.”
In what counts as reason in this context, someone comments: “If we can refrain from using anything hitler related, that would be amazing.”
Nevertheless, along comes a Nazi-era cartoon of a hunch-backed, bearded Orthodox Jew with a hooked nose.
In a discussion about anti-Israel protests, a warning to stay safe. “The Zionists are now recruiting volunteers to infiltrate our protests disguised in kuffiyehs. We have nothing to hide or fear but still important to be safe. These lunatics are unpredictable and insane.”
Yeah. The Zionists are unpredictable and insane.
How to identify the “Zionist” infiltrators at a hate rally?
“Drop a loonie and see who picks it up.”
“Let them try, they’re going to come and realize we’re actually peaceful people, not animals like them.”
Uh-huh.
Some began asking how to carry weapons at protests.
“I got a knife but it doesn’t sound like a good idea to carry it around,” one writes.
“(I)t can be used against you so I would say don’t wallah.”
“(J)ust be careful if you guys want to carry that stuff. lol have oranges in your bag so your excuse for the knife is to cut oranges.”
Identifying a local Jewish business owner who has posted criticism of the anti-Israel protstors, the chat responds: “I’m a geology major, I got some pretty rocks that I can use to ‘fix’ her brains. Just gotta work on my aim.”
Another chimes in: “Get me a bow and an arrow shaped rock. I gotchu.”
Then this: “Any physical violence from our side is going to give people a ‘valid’ reason to continue to call arabs violent and terrorists,” one wrote.
“I want a jew to approach us tomorrow,” another said. “Violence was never the answer (but) with them maybe.”
One student wished he could “pop some Israelis,” adding “I’ll (actually) pop them if I see them in person.” A couple of weeks later, the same member asks: “did you get the shipment of rifles and shotguns and rocks.”
I have excerpted these from this one solitary story because it does, indeed, as the National Post headline says, demonstrate “what pro-Palestinian students and allies say when they think no one is watching.”
You can extrapolate this one tree into a massive forest of “pro-Palestinian” activism.
So, in reading this, realize that these voices are almost certainly not outliers. They probably reflect, to some extent, the prevailing attitudes and approaches of the young people at the heart of the “pro-Palestinian” movement.
So when they chant for ceasefire and peace, and condemn war and Israel, you will know the subtext.
And when they say “Zionist,” in case you were still under any illusions, you will know what they mean.
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In 1928 there was a quota on the number of Jewish doctors that could practice in Montreal. My grandfather practiced medicine in Gaspe Village then until the end of WWII. Only then could he return to Montreal. He was a founder of the Doctor’s Hospital because of the few places Jewish doctors could practice at that time.
Antisemitism is resurfacing much to the world’s shame
I am so glad to be retired at this point in my life as it frees me from a lot of discrimination and threats based simply on the fact that I am a Jew. But today I'm sad. I moved to our current home two years ago. I was excited that a number of the people who live in the little condo and townhouse complex where we bought were very active politically in social justice groups, as I was. I looked forward to learning about my new more racially diverse neighborhood and what i could do to make it a better place. Then came October 7th and up went all the antisemitic signs and Palestinian flags. Because our complex is so small, I decided never to talk to the others about politics. I have been successful in making friends here on a superficial level by pretending to be a pretty much apolitical Democrat. Today a neighbor is hosting a group like ones I used to be very active in, one for Black rights. I am part Black and would love to be part of this, but I checked online and many members support destroying Israel. I am no longer at all active in Progressive politics. So we will see less and less Jewish professionals of any kind and less Jewish political activists except for those of us who are active in supporting Israel. It will be a worse world as a result as we can already see from the situation in the USA where the Jewish Voice of Peace accomplished their goal of convincing thousands not to vote or to vote for a third party candidate who had no chance of winning.