Content warning: This article discusses antisemitism, Nazism, police brutality, and anti-Palestinian racism.

Unless you’re too busy rushing to class, you may have noticed the clusters of swastikas appearing on the edges of the UTSG campus — some near Queen’s Park and others at the intersections of Bloor and St. George Street. As a Jewish student at U of T, it’s impossible to look away. 

I first started seeing them two years ago, but I’ve seen this occurring sporadically on campus since at least 2016. I have noticed a pattern: the swastikas often appear on top of socialist or leftist-issue posters and at the very edge of campus. Their placement may be a purposeful strategy, both to catch students’ attention and frustrate any attempts at stopping the perpetrators. Whenever I notify the administration, I am told that while the symbols are near campus, they are technically on city property and the university’s ability to intervene is limited.

Nazi sympathizers have felt safe near campus and in Toronto to display antisemitic graffiti for so long without facing repercussions. So, what is U of T doing with its resources to supposedly “combat antisemitism?” Well, for starters, U of T spent $3.8 million on “lawyers,” “increased security[,] and repairs” related to the King’s College Circle pro-Palestinian encampment, attempting to end the encampment partially on the basis of the protest being antisemitic. However, a court ruling concluded that the protests were, in fact, not antisemitic. 

I argue that U of T is not only ineffective in addressing real antisemitism, but also, by targeting student activists, perpetuates a culture that normalizes hate, fosters an unsafe campus for everyone, and distracts from genuine efforts to combat antisemitism. 

Antisemitism and hate: past and present

Despite U of T President Meric Gertler and his administration claiming to care about antisemitism, the issue of antisemitic graffiti continues to fall through the cracks. When I finally contacted Campus Safety, I was told that they would notify the City to have them removed. Yet, rather than U of T taking a proactive approach, it falls on Jewish students like me to report these incidents. Besides, I’ve already been covering them up myself.

When confronting Nazi symbols, we must remember their history. Nazi ideology was not limited to anti-Jewish sentiment; it also perpetuated anti-queer, anti-racialized minority, and pro-genocide rhetoric. Nazi propagandist Wolfgang Diewerge wrote in 1941, “It is a matter of who shall live in Europe in the future: the white race with its cultural values… or Jewish subhumanity ruling over the stupid, joyless, enslaved masses doomed to death.” 

One might assume that such explicit hatred is a thing of the past, or at least shunned by those in power. Yet, I hear eerily similar genocidal rhetoric from prominent Israeli politicians, a state closely tied to Canada’s arms industry and supported by many Canadian institutions. 

In October 2023, Nissim Vaturi, a member of the far-right Likud party led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote in Hebrew on X, “Erase Gaza. Nothing else will satisfy us. It is not acceptable that we have a terrorist authority next to Israel. Do not leave a child there, expel all the remaining ones at the end, so that they will not have a resurrection.”

Despite such rhetoric from Israeli leaders, Gertler refuses to sever ties with Israeli universities built on illegally occupied Palestinian territories, as established by the International Court of Justice. The university continues to employ David Goldreich, a Rotman School of Management professor who tore down posters about a student strike in support of the humanitarian crisis in Palestine. 

Furthermore, while the Toronto Police Services (TPS) criminalize and attack pro-Palestine activists, U of T has allowed a group known as JForce, which proclaims to be “defenders of Israel,” to be present on campus. On their website, JForce claims to protect Jewish students from protesters. 

What does safety for everyone really mean?

U of T and the TPS are quick to counter claims of their alleged antisemitism through over-policing pro-Palestine students and activists. But where are they when swastikas are staring at us in the face? It makes me question how much the university truly cares about antisemitism and Jews outside of their political and financial interests. From my perspective, U of T uses the label of antisemitism as a convenient excuse to silence criticism of its protest policies and its potential investments in the arms industry. 

It is undeniable that antisemitism is on the rise in Canada, with antisemitism accounting for 56 per cent of reported hate incidents in early 2024. However, in a world where Israeli soldiers draw the Star of David on destroyed Palestinian homes, carrying out institutional and state-sanctioned violence against pro-Palestine supporters in the name of protecting the Jewish people doesn’t make us safe. On the contrary, I argue that it lowers our guard against the violent ideologies and actions of those who target marginalized groups. This could ultimately lead to actual antisemitism being dismissed or not taken seriously. 

I also see that the global stage’s excuse of ‘keeping Jewish people safe’ has shielded Israel’s genocidal rhetoric and actions from meaningful criticism during the past year — and the 76 years since the Nakba, when over half of the Palestinian population was displaced in 1948 from what is now the settler-colonial state of Israel. From this, I believe both Zionism and Nazism to be rooted in the dehumanization and marginalization of ‘others.’

If we are to solve U of T’s antisemitism problem, we must remember that lasting safety for one group cannot be achieved through the subjugation of another.

Ryn Van Leeuwen is a third-year student studying sociology and anthropology. They are Head of Admin for the Anthropology Students’ Association.