Hate is for the haters. Much of the thrill of posting toxic messages can come from the attention and social approval a poster gets from like-minded people.
There have been 368 reported anti-Jewish incidents in Australia since the Gaza war began. But antisemitism has been a running theme in the country since the mid-1800s.
In my analysis of 12,000 Telegram comments posted after the October 7 Hamas attack, I found commenters talking about the two wars as part of the same antisemitic plots.
The silence of some Canadian universities in addressing antisemitism, in particular when considered alongside active approaches toward equity and racial justice, needs to be addressed.
In Ontario and in Alberta, university decisions about balancing free expression and protection from harm will be an important test of recent university policy shifts pertaining to free expression.
A scholar of the Mideast at a large public university says that caring and a commitment to free speech have been central to his campus’s response to students upset and angry over the Israel-Hamas war.
International conflicts can often trigger hate crimes against diasporas and other connected communities. Canadian governments should take action to prevent a rise in hate crimes.
Many people who aren’t Jewish are responding as if what’s been taking place is just another episode of Israeli-Palestinian violence. But it’s different for many Jews.