TORONTO – A few days ago, a former colleague reached out to wish me a happy birthday and suggested meeting for coffee. It was one in a handful of messages shared across two years, years in which silence became an answer to rising antisemitic hate.
This colleague was never among the โKeffiyeh Nazisโ chanting โFrom the river to the sea,โ but they did nothing as Jews across Canada faced demonization, attacks, and ostracism. They watched quietly as Jewish existence was increasingly criminalized; inaction became complicity.
In the years since October 7, 2023, the response has been chilling: the murder and rape of Jews was not only glossed over but often justified, excused, or even celebrated by politicians, โprogressiveโ Jews, and community leaders. After nearly 7,000 terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,152 Israelis in barbaric ways, Jewish grief was cut short. Demands for restraint replaced sympathy, insisting Israel not act against the perpetrators.
What followed was a flood of new blood libels, spread even by forty percent of American Jews. These individuals, described as modern-day Kapos, believed blaming Israel would spare them from Islamist hate, a delusion that history consistently disproves. Cowardice has never saved Jews from persecution.
The memory of October 7 revealed a terrible truth: while Israel has brave allies, millions still harbor fantasies of a โFinal Solution.โ Western governments, including Canadaโs, have directly or indirectly supported and rewarded terrorists who rape and murder Jews. The world is quick to mourn Jewish victims, but turns hostile the moment Jews defend themselves.
After October 7, the so-called โparanoiaโ was exposed as justified fear. Subsequent events and reactions confirmed every suspicion.
This brings the narrative back to the former colleague, someone once loved and trusted. The invitation for coffee is not an act of reconciliation but an attempt to forget, to reset, to feign ignorance when the crisis passes. Many will call to move on, to let bygones be bygones. But this is cowardice masquerading as virtue.
Two years after October 7, we must not forget and must never forgive the silence, the excuses, and those who watched or sided with evil. The future of Jewish life must be built on pride, conviction, and unwavering loyalty to the community and Israel. Advocacy and resources should be directed toward strengthening the Jewish world, not toward those who celebrate its pain. Tikkun Olam begins at home, with survival and vitality.
Those who rejoiced in Jewish suffering on October 7 deserve neither coffee, nor forgiveness, nor any place in the future.
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