Antisemitism is very strong in modern Canada, even without current conflicts

According to police and independent monitors, antisemitic incidents in Canada have spiked dramatically in 2023. Many Canadians will satisfy ourselves with the idea that this is merely an unfortunate consequence of overseas events. Jewish Canadians, we are confident, need not worry. These are political acts, not real hate crimes.

We would never discount the experiences of any other group in this fashion. Only Jews.

That should be evidence enough of a problem. Moreover, the explosion of antisemitic rhetoric and incidents is clearly a sign of a larger problem. Finally, and more importantly, there is a significant strain of undeniable Jew-hatred and even genocidal threats in the anti-israel perspectives we are hearing in mainstream public discourse.

The omnipresent slogan “From the river to the sea” is a call for the elimination of the Jewish state and maintains only the weakest plausible deniability against the idea that it is an overt call for extermination. More unnerving is the chant, “Intifada! Revolution! There is only one solution!” – an outright call for violence and a deliberate echo of the “solution” attempted against the Jewish people just a few decades ago.

Decent Canadians are mostly silent in the face of these rhetorical atrocities – even though we know that words have consequences.

It is not so much that a small number of activists perpetuate deeply hateful antisemitism. It’s that seemingly every other person marching for Palestine is utterly untroubled by the company they keep.