Ryan Albom, 22, was standing just outside the student centre of York University’s Keele St. campus, watching a pro Palestinian rally last Monday when one of his friends pulled out an Israeli flag — and held it up.
At first, no one seemed to notice. Or care, says Albom, a student president of Hillel York, the Jewish students union. But as the rally drew to a close and the crowd dispersed and thinned, one of the protesters turned around, he said, and called Albom and his friend “terrorists.”
“We just stood there,” Albom said. “It was scary and we just didn’t feel comfortable saying anything.”
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Jewish students at universities across Ontario have become targets of hate.
“Each and every day, they’re being subjected to antisemitism,” said Jay Solomon, chief advancement officer of Hillel Ontario, the umbrella organization that represents Jewish student unions at nine universities across the province.
Hillel Ontario has been tracking antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents at the nine universities it represents, including York, TMU, U of T, the Universities of Guelph, Waterloo, McMaster, Western, Queens and Laurier, for about five years, Solomon said. But over the last few weeks, there’s been a “significant uptick in incidents.” And not just from students, he said, but also their parents, university staff and even faculty.
The war, and its civilian casualties in Israel and the Palestinian territories have led to an outpouring of concern, but have also fuelled hate aimed at both groups. Hate crimes against Jews, who make up a fraction of the city’s population and are already the most targeted religious group, have been on the rise since the war began. So have crimes against Muslims, also a most targeted religious group.
“It’s fair to say that when there are flare ups in the Middle East,” Solomon said, “Jews on campus become a convenient scapegoat.”
York University a local flashpoint for tensions
Although campuses across the province are experiencing a rise in antisemitism, York University has long been a local flashpoint for pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian tensions.
Days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, a statement issued by three student unions at York University, including its biggest, York’s Federation of Students, called the massacre “a strong act of resistance.”
Despite York’s swift condemnation and its demands for the unions’ executives to step down, they issued another statement last week, affirming its stance and calling the university’s actions an attack on student autonomy.
None of the three unions responded to the Star’s repeated requests for comment.
Last week, personal injury law firm Diamond & Diamond launched a $15-million class action lawsuit against the university drawing attention to what it describes as a “well-documented history of antisemitic sentiments on the York University campuses.”
It calls for an order mandating York to address “antisemitic behaviour on campus” as well as provide a clear, concise and easily accessible grievance mechanism to Jewish students.
One incident highlighted in the lawsuit dates back to February 2009.
After an on-campus meeting between two Jewish groups broke down one evening that month — they’d been debating how to diffuse tensions over anti-Israel sentiment at York — the lawsuit said they were greeted by more than 100 students chanting “Zionism equals racism” and “Racists off campus.”
Daniel Ferman was the president of Hillel York at the time and part of that meeting. While he is not part of the current lawsuit, he says he was among the students who ran into the Hillel offices for protection as protesters screamed: “Die, Jew, get the hell off campus.”
“It was very scary,” he said. “We were held hostage. I was called a f--- Jew, a dirty Jew.”
Looking at what’s happening right now at his alma mater, Ferman said it’s a shame that 15 years later the campus is still awash in “divisive politics.”
Sandra Zisckind, Diamond & Diamond’s managing partner, said her firm launched the lawsuit after one of the most horrific tragedies against the Jews since the Holocaust, because “students have a right to go to school and not feel discriminated against.”
“We are not suggesting it’s not OK to have a political discourse,” she said. “But they are being antisemitic under the guise of criticizing Israel and it is unacceptable.”
In response to the claim and the ongoing situation on campus, York spokesperson Yanni Dagonas wrote to the Star that “the University would like to affirm that we unequivocally condemn all forms of discrimination and hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
Dean Lavi, director of Hillel York, said this time the university is behind its Jewish students, supporting them through its commitment to due process against the three unions.
Still, he said, Jewish students on campus feel voiceless and intimidated.
Hillel York is working to help them feel safe, he said, hiring dedicated security guards and keeping Hillel’s space open earlier and later each day. But, he said, school safety also falls, in part, to York’s Federation of Students.
The YFS takes levies from each student each year and with it, Lavi said, is supposed to represent the interests of all 55,000 students, including York’s roughly 1,500 Jewish students. But right now, he said, “they don’t feel it’s doing its job.”
Jacob Burman, 21, a fourth year student in human rights and equity studies, said that over the last month he’s felt targeted because of his faith, especially when he sees other students holding up signs comparing Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were imprisoned during the Second World War before being deported to concentration camps.
At the rally last Monday, he said, he felt it when the crowd chanted “Viva intefadeh.” And, just days ago, he said, yet again when a friend from class called him out for being a “Zionist,” before calling him “disgusting” and spitting on the ground, at his feet.
“I was hurt,” he said. “Just because we’re Jewish, people assume we support everything happening in the Middle East.”
Correction - Nov. 1, 2023: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to the Warsaw Ghetto as a concentration camp.
