October 7 and the Gaza war radically changed the way many people around the world, including Diaspora Jews, viewed Israel. 

For Toronto-based journalist Jesse Brown, the turning point came not with Hamas' massacre itself, but with the domestic backlash that followed.

“Canadians got angry with Jews after October 7, and the entire national discourse seemed to just turn against Jews in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined possible,” he told the Haaretz Podcast. 

Using police-reported hate crime statistics from Canada and the United States, Brown argues that a Jew in Canada is now about nine times more likely to be the victim of a hate crime than a Jew in the United States.

Ironically, he explained to podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, the progressive political atmosphere in Canada has made things worse for Jews, not better. 

Brown’s podcast series “What is Happening Here” documents the skyrocketing antisemitism targeting Jewish institutions and neighborhoods in Canada, including synagogues being shot at, firebombed or vandalized, and Jewish-owned businesses and individuals singled out for harassment campaigns.

Brown contends that debates over whether specific chants or actions are “anti-Israel,” “anti-Zionist” or “antisemitic” obscure the practical impact on Jewish communities. While he stops short of equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, Brown said that contemporary anti-Zionism is “just as dangerous to Jews.” 

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