Ariella Kimmel: Canada can't let its guard down against antisemitism
The same old hatred has been given a trendy rebrand.
By: Ariella Kimmel
Across the long history of antisemitism, one of the darkest truths of this ancient hatred is the ease with which it transforms to match the fears and social dynamics of each historical period.
It’s happening again. Right now. Here.
We should not be surprised — we’ve seen it before. In the Middle Ages, Jews were accused of killing Jesus, a charge that was used to justify centuries of persecution, forced conversion, expulsions and, not uncommonly, massacres. Soon came blood libels, grotesque myths that Jews murdered Christian children for ritual use, fanning mob violence and expulsions. When the Black Plague swept Europe, Jews were scapegoated yet again, blamed for poisoning wells while they themselves were dying of the plague in their ghettos.
The arrival of modern times brought new accusations. Jews were no longer viewed as demonic entities. Instead, they became political or economic manipulators, with conspiracies claiming that Jews were controllers of governments, financial institutions and media outlets. These conspiracy theories were openly embraced by political movements, especially in Europe, which led to pogroms across the continent and, eventually, to the Holocaust.
The hatred was the same. So was the target. But antisemitism evolved in form, and always matched to the political and cultural fears of the day. That’s what made it so insidious.
That process continues today. Across the West and the globe, antisemitism has morphed into anti-Zionism. The same hatred now hides behind the language of human rights, singling out the world’s only Jewish state for demonization and holding Jews collectively responsible for its actions. The targets have changed to synagogues, campuses, social media, and even hospitals; however, the pattern endures — when society looks for someone to blame, the Jewish people are recast in whatever role best fits the moment.
Canada, despite its aspiration to tolerance and equality, is not immune. We are seeing this insidious form of dehumanization taking hold in this country. It’s not cloaked in the overt antisemitism of the past, but it follows the same dangerous logic: the slow stripping away of dignity, legitimacy, and safety from an entire community.
The terms “Zionists” and “Zionism” have their historical routes in those who supported, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the creation of a modern nation-state for Jews in their ancestral homeland. Today, the term functions as a pejorative to ostracize Jews who support the modern version of that state, Israel. The practice of dehumanizing “Zionists” started in hidden online spaces, but it now penetrates through academic, journalistic, artistic and activist environments. It is profoundly dangerous, and history has already taught us where such thinking leads.
Then again, so does the daily news. Since Oct. 7, and during and after the war that followed, a series of Jewish-identified locations and individuals in Canada were targeted for harassment, vandalism or worse. Jewish-owned businesses have been the sites of protests despite having no connection to Israel or the war. Jewish schools and places of worship have been firebombed and shot at, sometimes, more than once. Largely Jewish neighbourhoods — places with no link to Israel beyond the religion of many of the families living there — have been selected as the locations for loud protests and marches; these protests continue even after the war in Gaza has been ended by a ceasefire. Jewish campus groups have been harassed; just a few weeks ago, a meeting was even violently broken into in Toronto, resulting in injuries to one guest.
And now this: just this past weekend in Toronto, a series of apartments in a city-owned building had mezuzahs, small prayer scrolls that are attached to door frames, ripped off. This is clearly antisemitic and it was aimed right at the homes of Jews — senior citizens, as well (the building in a senior’s residence).
Mayor Olivia Chow condemned this. It doesn’t many any of us feel better. Nothing has, these long two years. It is hard to explain to non-Jewish Canadians how isolating and horrific this has been for Canada’s Jews, many of whom have never been to Israel and may not support Israel’s military campaigns (if they have any opinion on the matter at all). Across the country, Jewish Canadians have been shouted at, shunned, or threatened for expressing even moderate support for Israel’s right to exist, or simply for existing as Jews themselves. Jewish students have been told to remove Stars of David, avoid rallies, and to keep their heads down. Synagogues and schools and even daycares have been forced to bring on extra security; a massive and enduring police presence. Heavy patrols and semi-permanent command posts have become a fact of life in many Jewish areas. Online, “Zionist” has become a slur, a synonym for oppressor, colonizer, even genocider.
None of this constitutes debate or dialogue. It’s demonization, and isolating of an already small and historically vulnerable minority group.
Let’s be clear: Criticisms of Israeli government decisions remain both valid and necessary for public discussion, as with any other country. But much of what we have seen in Canada goes well beyond that — many of the incidents are, in fact, clearly criminal. The transformation of political criticism about Israel into accusations that Zionists or Jews are inherently wicked or responsible for evil marks the end of political dialogue; the attacks on Jews and Jewish sites is proof of how bad things could get.
And this, too, is not new. The main goal of dehumanization is to eliminate empathy between people. Once someone is defined as less than human, as an abstraction of a cause rather than an individual person, it becomes easier to justify discrimination or violence against them. The moral brakes that stop us from harming others begin to fail.
The exclusion of Jewish people from progressive spaces, while also attempting to have them banned from public spaces like sports, the arts and academia, demonstrates the failure of moral brakes here in Canada. (See Adam Zivo’s recent article at The Line for his own experience attempting to tell Jewish stories at no less a progressive institution than Pride Toronto — it didn’t go well.) This kind of slow isolation is visible when public figures are expected to renounce their identity before they can speak. It’s visible when online mobs target Jewish Canadians for expressing grief or solidarity with Israelis murdered by Hamas.
Slapping the term “Zionism” on the actions and words does nothing to change the reality of what is happening here. What makes this moment especially corrosive is that much of the dehumanizing rhetoric is delivered with moral conviction. People believe they are standing on the right side of history. That makes them blind to the historical resonance of their actions. They truly cannot understand that they are inflicting the kind of harm on a minority that they would be outraged by if any other person was doing it to any other group.
For those who study the history of the Holocaust, one of the starkest lessons is that it did not begin with gas chambers. The process started through words and propaganda efforts that treated Jews as threatening outsiders. It began with silence from those who could have spoken up.
Things are clearly not that bad in Canada, but the lesson from history is that things can get bad very quickly if the majority does not stand up and reject dehumanization, isolation and exclusion. The explosion in antisemitism in this country over the last two years requires our immediate attention. We must stop and reverse the moral erosion that has already set in in Canada, a country where Jews have felt safe and accepted for generations. But increasingly no longer do.
We need to draw a bright line: you can oppose Israeli policy without denying the humanity of Jews or even Zionists. You can support Palestinian rights without shaming or endangering Jewish Canadians. You can protest without intimidating individual businesses and entire communities, and you must never engage in direct violence against property or individuals.
Canada’s moral test right now is simple: will we remember what history tried so hard to teach us? Or will we look away?
Ariella Kimmel is President of Winston Wilmont, a Public Affairs Firm and a volunteer within the Jewish community.
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This article reminds me of a weather forecaster standing out in a storm, telling us that the weather is bad. That is patently obvious. We need to call out the groups and people doing this. Quit pussy footing around it.
Our universities have become hotbeds of antisemitism. We pay a special Govt appointed representative to remind us all how Islamophobic we are and to think that the two issues are not connected is being willfully blind. There are twice as many Muslims in this country as there are jews, and the ratio is getting larger. Gutless Liberals know where the votes are and so only give token attention to the problem.
Carney called us the most European of non- euro countries. Have a look how much worse it is over there, and hope, that as usual, Carney doesn't know what he's talking about.
The lack of action to address clearly illegal harassment of jewish communities in Canada'a major cities is unforgivable. The least we can do is vote the municipal leadership out of office, and ensure police boards/commissions have members who better reflect the values we expect.