‘I was told to go die’: What Canadian Jewish students said about the antisemitism they’ve experienced on campus

Canadian authorities, by and large, now regard antisemitism as a significant and growing problem, and universities have become one of the places where, post-Oct. 7, 2023, it has manifested itself most visibly.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney identified antisemitism in Canada as having reached levels not seen in generations, he specifically highlighted the plight of Jewish students being driven from common spaces on University campuses.

Hundreds of experiences like that and far more egregious instances of antisemitism are detailed in the Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences (CASE) report issued last week.

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Here’s a verbatim sampling of what some Jewish students say they have experienced on Canadian campuses taken from that report:

I was told “Hitler should have finished you off” when people found out that I was Jewish.

I saw graffiti saying “Zionism is a death cult,” “Zionists invent false allegations of sexual assault,” “Death to Zionism,” and “Death to Israel.”

A professor wrote that we need to kill all Zionists, that she had worked with them and saw how evil they were.

I went to the bathroom; someone saw my (Star of David) and said, “Welcome to your gas chamber,” while people were vaping.

My friend was walking through (REDACTED) Hall. He also wears a kippah, and a group of students shouted, “There’s a Jew…let’s get him.” They then chased him out of the building.

I was told by a professor, in class, in the middle of the lecture, that Jews belong in Poland and need to go back.