Content warning: This article discusses antisemitism and the recent and ongoing violence in the Middle East.

October 7 marked one year since the Hamas led attack on Israel, which killed 1,139 people and resulted in the capture of approximately 250 hostages. Since 2023, Israel has continued to bomb and displace Palestinians in Gaza and has recently intensified its attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As of writing, Israeli officials report that Hamas has returned 117 captives to Israel. Meanwhile, Israel’s military actions have killed over 42,000 Palestinians, with more than 10,000 reported missing following attacks on nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals and health centres. In Lebanon, Israel’s attacks have killed over 2,000 people, most of whom were killed since September. 

At U of T, the violence and deaths in the Middle East have been central to student protests, vigils, and student union elections. Over the summer, U of T saw Canada’s largest pro-Palestinian student encampment at King’s College Circle, and subsequent division between community members on campus. While the Canada-wide Jewish Faculty Network supported the protesters, some Jewish faculty members, such as Rotman School of Management Professor Ramy Elitzur, accused Jewish students involved in the encampment of being anti-Semites. 

In interviews with The Varsity, Jewish students at U of T discussed changes in their communities, on campus, and within themselves over the past year. 

October 7, 2023 and 2024

K — a practitioner of Reform Judaism and a graduate student at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation — recalls feeling confused and conflicted upon waking up to the news of October 7. She grew up attending Jewish Sunday school and was raised in a Jewish household. While she does not have family in Israel, she remembers a sense of shared shock and devastation in her family when they heard about the events of that day. 

“I was really struggling to understand this feeling that I didn’t realize was so strong… like how it would have impacted me to know something happening in a foreign country that technically I have no national ties with, but religiously is significant,” she said.

Genevieve Beirne — a practitioner of Reform Judaism raised in New York and a third-year engineering student at U of T — grew up attending religious school once or twice a week, participating in Friday night Shabbat dinners, and going to synagogue on Jewish High Holidays. Although she does not have family in Israel, the attacks of October 7 were a shock to her, and she noted that many people with personal ties to Israel had emotional responses to the attacks. 

Oleksii Varlamov, a third-year philosophy student, was born and raised in Ukraine by Jewish parents. As a child, he attended a Jewish school and could read Hebrew but was no longer religious by the age of nine. Unlike K and Beirne, Varlamov recalls being less surprised about the events of October 7. 

“For me, what was surprising is how surprised other people were. The oppression of Palestinian people by Israel has been something that I’ve thought about for a long time. When [the] October 7 [attacks] happened, it was definitely surprising, but it felt like — for [the] people around me — it was the first time they heard of the conflict at all,” he said. 

While Beirne expressed interest in visiting Israel in the future, even without a familial connection to the country, Varlamov indicated that he has no affiliations with the state.

“I’ve never been to Israel. My parents have never been to Israel… It’s just a place that exists… I have as little relation to [Birobidzhan] as [I do] with Israel,” he said. Birobidzhan is the administrative centre of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, a region in Russia that is the only other official Jewish state in the world, aside from Israel. 

Encampment and the definitions of antisemitism

On May 2, a group of student protesters set up an encampment in King’s College Circle, demanding that the university disclose its investments, divest from companies that supply the Israeli military with weapons and technology, and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions. U of T stated that claims of its connection to the Israeli military “have no basis in fact,” and filed an injunction with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to remove the encampment. When the court granted the university’s request, the student protesters cleared the encampment on July 3. 

On the second day of the encampment, Hillel Ontario and Hillel U of T — a Jewish student organization — posted a joint statement on Instagram, urging the university to “enforce their existing policies and hold violators accountable for their actions.” The statement expressed concerns over “chants of ‘all the Zionists are racists; all the Zionists are terrorists’ and graffiti that stated ‘Go back to Europe.’” 

While Beirne did not enter the encampment, she recalled seeing photos of the graffiti and thought it was discriminatory. However, she said, “I personally did not feel any less safe on campus… I disagree with the Hillel statement [because] I think we should be respecting people’s right to protest and freedom of speech.”

“I think that the vast majority of what the protesters were advocating for and saying was not antisemitic. It may have been anti-Israel,” she added. 

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism categorizes claims that “the existence of a State of Israel [is] a racist endeavor” as antisemitic. However, definitions vary. For example, the Nexus Task Force’s Guide to Identifying Antisemitism in Debates about Israel notes that “harsh characterizations of Israel that may be unfair are not necessarily antisemitic” and that “criticism or disagreement with Israeli government policies are not antisemitic.” The Nexus Project works with American scholars and political leaders to advocate for US government action against antisemitism.

In 2022, U of T President Meric Gertler rejected the IHRA working definition, deeming it insufficient to address many of the antisemitic incidents on campus. As of writing, U of T does not have an officially adopted definition of antisemitism.

K noted, “I think that anything critical of the Israeli government is legitimate and real… [but] it’s hard for me to give a general answer to what constitutes antisemitism… I think that every Jewish person will have a different answer to it.”

During the student encampment, she found the protests unsettling over fears that she would not be welcome but added that, “I’m not going to criticize people for protesting the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are being killed in the Middle East.”

“For Jewish students and Jewish people all over the world, the issue is that we’re not allowed anymore to determine what is and isn’t antisemitic,” she added. “So, while I completely agree that by no means is all criticism of Israel antisemitic, and a lot of it is not, when it does cross that  line, a lot of people [cannot] understand or accept that Jewish people who feel afraid of [antisemitic] rhetoric are the ones who themselves know what it means and know the significance that it carries.” 

Varlamov remembers experiencing antisemitic jokes and physical violence while growing up in Ukraine, but he has not faced similar incidents since moving to Canada. During his frequent visits to the encampment in May, he recalled participating in one of the encampment’s weekly Shabbat dinners and noted that he did not feel unwelcome or uncomfortable because of his identity. 

In the middle, in between, and the unsaid 

Some of the students expressed difficulty in finding their space within student protesters and within their own communities.

“I’ve… felt alienated by people, no matter what their view is — whether it be in support of Israel [or] in support of Palestinian determination. I think that these viewpoints are viewed as mutually exclusive — which has been very difficult and deeply uncomfortable,” said K. 

She noted that her main source of fear is revealing her Jewish identity to people outside of her community because of uncertainties about how people will react.

“I can remember the first time ever I was asked to provide an opinion on Israel. I was 13 [years old] at my middle school graduation, and I was the only student who was asked. And, of course, I was asked because I was Jewish,” she said. “I feel that this isn’t a safety thing, but I feel that it’s hard to share my identity because I will [then] be asked to provide a big, lengthy piece on the issue.” 

On the other hand, Beirne finds difficulty connecting with people within her Jewish community. 

“A major effect [on] me is feeling like I disagree with the majority in a lot of Jewish spaces right now,” she said. “In some cases, like with Hillel, there is a lot more going on [this] year than there was two years ago. It’s frustrating to think [that] the Jewish community on campus [is] so much more active now because of a war that Israel is raging on a foreign country.”

“I want to have a Jewish community that is not tied to war,” she said. 

In an email to The Varsity, Hillel UofT’s Co-President Matan Frankl wrote, “This past year has been exceptionally difficult for Jewish students. I very much understand wanting to separate the on-campus Jewish community from the current war, however many of our community members are personally affected by developments [in the Middle East].”

“We have an amazing system of support, through our staff and students, to provide a space to share and experience Jewish campus life without feeling overwhelmed or alone,” he added. 

Oleksii Varlamov is an International Affairs columnist for The Varsity’s Opinion section. 

 

If you or someone you know has experienced harassment or discrimination based on race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship and/or creed at U of T, report the incident to the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity office: https://antiracism.utoronto.ca/help/. 

You can report antisemitic incidents at U of T to Hillel U of T at https://hillelontario.org/uoft/report-incident/.

If you or someone you know has experienced antisemitism and is in distress, you can contact:

Editor’s Note (October 21, 4:08 pm): This story has been updated to include Hillel UofT’s statement to The Varsity.