Let me be very clear: there is no “but what aboutism” or “two sidesism” about Hamas’s brutality of October 7th. It was cruel, brutal and merciless. Hamas and their terrorism must be unequivocably condemned.

It’s been three weeks and a day since Hamas’s October 7th brutal terrorist attack on Israelis living near the Gaza border. It’s been three weeks and a day since they broke down the much-lauded security fence and streamed into the kibbutzim, fields and music festival in Israel. It’s been three weeks and a day since the terrorists broke into homes and murdered some 1,400 men, women and children of all ages, of nationalities other than Israelis. It’s been three weeks and a day since they committed every atrocity, many of which most of us couldn’t have imagined. And it’s been three weeks and a day since they stole over 200 people, from the elderly to toddlers, to people in wheelchairs, to the ill, took them into Gaza and held all but four of them hostage in the tunnels Hamas built under Gaza until now, with no release in sight.

Three weeks and a day has not diminished the horror of October 7th. We have since seen and continue to see the ferocity through Hamas’s own body cameras, victims’ cell phones, security images on the attacked sites, reports from Israeli forensic pathologists and from the tearful accounts of the Israeli volunteers dedicated to recovering the bodies of those killed in attacks on Israeli civilians. Some of those images and descriptions will remain with me for a very, very long time: the child and parent tied together and burned; the dead family, parents and children, holding each other; the burned babies; the woman who had been raped, with blood on her pants and hands tied behind her being pushed into a vehicle; the mass shooting of young people running from the music festival and burned cars along the road where they tried to escape but were gunned down; destruction of the kibbutz buildings, sometimes with people inside. We know that grandparents, parents and children were gunned down or died when grenades were thrown into their homes. We know how they shot up children in their beds because of the pictures of bloody children’s bedrooms. We know that some bodies were so mutilated or burned that efforts to identify them are ongoing, especially of foreign victims. We know they killed or took as hostage Israelis (and a Canadian living in Israel) who had worked for peace and Israelis who had assisted Gazans. Not that it mattered: these weren’t individuals, they had no identity except they were Jews or assumed to be Jews.

We also know of the grandfather who told his family to stay in a back room while he sat in the front room because he thought that if the terrorists saw him, they’d think he was alone; he was right: they killed him but he saved his family. We know of the young man who kept throwing grenades back at the terrorists as they threw them into where he and others were hiding, until he couldn’t throw any more; one of the others had his arm to his elbow strafed off and he is now a hostage. We know of the young woman, the security chief of her kibbutz, who ignored the instructions from the authorities to wait for them and instead organized a waiting party with guns for the terrorists; the guardians killed 15 terrorists, saving the people in her kibbutz. We know of the caregiver from Thailand who offered the terrorists all she had, $1,500, if they would spare the person in a wheelchair for whom she was caring and herself — and they did. And we know that Arab/Palestinian citizens of Israel helped to rescue festival-goers. They, too, are part of October 7th.

Since October 7th, we have seen three streams of response: the pro-Palestian marches, demonstrations and social media posts denying Hamas’s brutal actions, justifying them or outright celebrating them; rallies and demonstrations in Israel and elsewhere calling for peace; and Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

I was an academic for over 30 years and executive director of the Law Commission of Ontario for another 8 years, located in a university. I am familiar with the anti-Israeli views of leftist academics with whom I otherwise shared much in common, something I did not share. But I am nevertheless appalled at the degree of anti-semitism that has characterized much of the academic response to October 7th. I am appalled that Jewish students in Toronto are being confronted by fellow students with anti-semitic statements. I am appalled to see a video of Los Angeles high school students streaming through their high school hallway yelling “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in imitation of all the demonstrations occurring in Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, Pakistan, Turkey, Europe and elsewhere. This is a catchy slogan, appealing both to those who know what it means and those who do not. It is, in less “poetic” form, contained within Hamas’s Document of General Principles and Policies; it means the eradication of Israel. I am appalled to see videos of posters of the hostages being torn down, including, but not only, in Canada.

Let me be clear here, too. Not everyone participating in the marches or demonstrations is anti-semitic, but much of the response to Hamas’s terrorism has been anti-semitic in attempts to justify or celebrate it as an act of resistance, to ignore it when making statements in favour of Palestine, in the treatment of Jews on an individual basis or protests at Jewish businesses.

The anti-semitism that has characterized Jewish life throughout history is alive and very well today; and it is being too often treated as justified.

I recognize that many Israelis and many Jews living outside Israel are calling for peace and oppose now and in the past many of the actions taken by the Israeli government that have worsened the situation in Gaza and have ensured the place of Hamas there at the expense of the Palestinian Authority. I have defended Israel in the past, but I am also critical of actions taken by the Israeli government with both internal and external effects. As someone who opposes fundamentalism in all forms, I oppose the far-right and fundamentalist Jews now supported by the current government to a greater extent than even before. I’m a critic of the current prime minister of Israel, whose dedication to saving his own skin has led him into pacts with the far-right.

Over the past weeks, we have seen the photographs in the media of dead and bloodied children, the rubble that were once homes and other buildings and outdoor areas where people congregate in Gaza. About 8,000 people have been killed. The death toll for children is very high, since about half of the population of the Palestinian Territories are under 20. We have seen Palestinians displaced so that Israel can send rockets into areas where they believe Hamas is entrenched and still be able to say they are protecting civilians. The lack of food, water and electricity is resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

Hamas does not care about the people of Gaza; on the contrary, they use them as human shields. They have enough electricity for their tunnels, enough fuel, enough other supplies. Israel’s position is that they will not resume provision of these needs until Hamas releases the hostages; at this point, there is no indication that Hamas cares enough to release the hostages. The reality is that the the people of Gaza are caught by both Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas in this post-October 7th conflict and by Hamas’s determination to destroy Israel. Seen from afar, the images are heartbreaking.

I don’t intend to wade into the politics of this situation; while I have my views, I do not feel equipped to deal with nuances, how to attain peace, how to — and here’s my view at the most superficial level — attain the two-state solution. But that is not what I’m writing about here. Here I’m expressing my anger, my sadness, my sense of helplessness at all the hurt, damage and loss of life of those who are in the way of destruction.

So I end by reinforcing two things: there can be no nuance around condemnation of Hamas’s brutality on October 7th; and it is vital that the anti-semitism on college campuses, other educational institutions, by governments, by anyone and everywhere be denounced.