Final Verdict on Jesse Brown’s Antisemitism Series? “Don’t Waste Your Time”
Endless layers of distortion show there's little actual value to be gained from Brown
This article is Part Three of a three-part series critically evaluating the CANADALAND investigative series "What Is Happening Here?" View Part One and Part Two here.
Rather than a genuine and honest investigation into antisemitism in Canada, CANADALAND’s series “What is Happening Here?” (WIHH) is a vehicle for Brown’s right-wing Zionism. Throughout the first three episodes, Brown used poorly sourced reporting and self-indulgent interviews to paint anti-Zionism as an “eliminationist” movement and that Israel’s actions in Gaza have little, if any, relevance.
In reality, Brown has shown that many of the real and disturbing incidents of antisemitism he discusses are linked to Zionism, complicating his thesis that antisemitism in Canada has nothing to do with Israel. In the fourth episode, we get to the heart of what motivates Brown’s anger towards the anti-Zionist movement: it personally affects him.
How Brown Views Anti-Zionist Protests
Brown discusses the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests at Bathurst and Sheppard in Toronto, his proverbial backyard. Brown says most Jews in Canada live in neighbourhoods near Bathurst Street, which has become the home of a number of anti-Zionist protests specifically at the intersection at Sheppard. Over 40 demonstrations have taken place there since October 7th, 2023 (that is approximately one a month).
Brown presents that these protests happen because the area is Jewish. But the protests at Bathurst and Sheppard emerged in response to pro-Israel demonstrations. Brown was unable to interview any of the organizers, but instead spoke to Moez Zaman, given permission to speak on behalf of the protest at Bathurst and Sheppard.
Brown asks if Zaman believes in armed resistance in support of Palestine. Zaman clarifies he is not a part of pro-Hamas demonstrations, but says Hamas is part of legitimate Palestinian armed resistance against Israel’s occupation. Before questioning the legality of armed resistance in Palestine, scholar Muhunnad Ayyash said that we should situate Brown’s question in a political context.
In Canada, Hamas is a designated terror organization, material support of which can lead to serious legal consequences. In light of Hamas’ attacks on October 7th, speech has been treated a form of material support in some countries (such as UK mass arrests of protesters for expressing vocal and visual support for Palestine Action). In an interview, Ayyash said Brown’s question is “designed to pin you in a position where you become legally vulnerable (or at least vulnerable in the court of public opinion).
Ayyash said Hamas is recognized by Palestinians as a legitimate political group with “a particular ideology … like any other political party;” supported by some, rejected by others. Labelling Hamas as terrorists brands them as an ‘enemy group’ “outside the scope of what is valid or legitimate politics.” Ayyash describes this as a “purely political tool” to dismiss the legitimacy of resistance to colonial occupation.
Instead of discussing this nuance, Brown asks Zaman why activists, in the wake of threats to Jewish safety, choose to protest at Bathurst and Sheppard rather than the Israeli consulate. Zaman responds that incidents Brown references weren’t done by members of the pro-Palestinian movement and that any violence against Jews should be condemned. He explains Bathurst and Sheppard was chosen due to pro-Israel demonstrations taking place there.
Zaman proposes a solution: end both demonstrations. If the pro-Israel demonstrations ended, theirs would too. Instead of accepting this, Brown moves goalposts and asks Zaman how ending the demonstration would help Palestinians. Zaman explains activism has a butterfly effect and that this protest remains part of a larger movement.
Holding people accountable among movements is often a problematic area of organizing. It would be interesting to hear from movement leaders about different ways to approach the problem. However, it seems Brown doesn't have the capacity to engage in this conversation about accountability in good faith. As we've seen, Brown refuses to hold people like Selina Robinson accountable for her racist remarks.
The interview concludes with Brown claiming ‘Globalize the Intifada’ could inspire people to go and commit violent acts against Jews. Zaman replies that, while that is possible, it’s not a sufficient reason to stop protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They are also mitigating the risk to the Jewish community. After the interview, Brown relays the pro-Israel rally did in fact stop once the remaining hostages were released by Hamas. However, the anti-Zionist rally continued. The possibility the demonstration had attracted enough momentum to continue on its own is not raised. Brown plays audio clips of people taunting and harassing residents of the neighbourhood. With the end of this episode, Brown is finished with his boots-on-the-ground data collection.
Scott Martin
Addressing a Real Issue
Over the first four episodes, Brown believes he's proven antisemitism in Canada is rising at higher rates than other countries and the anti-Zionist movement is targeting both pro-Israel and Jewish people with antisemitic rhetoric.
But Brown doesn’t need to prove this to have a conversation about antisemitism; he needs to prove it to try and win some twisted oppression olympics. I don’t say this to deny a rise of antisemitism in Canada. Consider, the very real phenomenon of far-right actors using the pro-Palestinian movement as a shield to forward an antisemitic worldview.
This is no better exemplified than by Nick Fuentes, leader of the ‘Groyper’ movement and infamous American antisemite. Fuentes has breached the mainstream, taking interviews with people like Tucker Carlson, who has spent his career parroting white supremacist dog whistles. Fuentes’ rise in popularity has led to other far-right extremists like Alex Jones to adopt increasingly hostile stances towards Jews.
An uncomfortable truth arises in another possible cause for violent attacks against Jewish Canadians: genuine anger, despair, and impotence people feel in the wake of Israel’s genocide and the world’s allowing of it. Brown talks of gaslighting by pro-Palestinian protesters; Israel’s consistent record of deception, smear campaigns and general distaste for the much-lauded ‘rules-based international order’ has been consistently papered over by the very same media organizations CANADALAND was previously intended to criticize. At the same time, Israel repeatedly presents itself as the representation of Judaism in the world.
It should be obvious that acting out this anger on Jewish Canadians is not remotely acceptable. But there must be some understanding of the factors behind this rise, especially by those with mental health issues. Brown cuts off exploration of this difficult issue from the beginning. He wants to know why people are expressing anger at Jewish Canadians, but doesn’t consider Israel’s role. He limits his investigation to the very people he suspects of being guilty in the first place.
Some on the progressive left have already become too chummy with people like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene for my taste. Regardless of their stances on Israel, these are vile, hateful people who have proven track records of disinformation. It is a real problem that antisemites see the anti-Zionist movement as an opportunity to platform their antisemitism. People like Carlson and Greene should be fiercely rejected when they appeal to a leftist sensibility through criticisms of Israel. You never need to ‘hand it to someone’ just because they happened to say something you agree with (something about a broken clock…).
This issue - infiltration of the anti-Zionist movement by antisemites - is the only conclusion Brown draws from his data collection, a task he stops at the end of episode four.
Explanations... according to Brown
In episode five, Brown explores three theories to explain why antisemitism is increasing in Canada, none of which he accepts as the ultimate answer.
First: all levels of government are responsible for their failure to act. Brown interviews Toronto City Councillor James Pasternak, who says the federal government bears some responsibility for the rise in antisemitism. Despite the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is charged by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, an organization that Canada is a member of, Pasternak has said it hasn’t been helpful that the Prime Minister confirmed he would arrest Netanyahu or to launch an arms embargo against Israel.
More importantly for Pasternak is mayor Olivia Chow’s lack of action regarding pro-Palestinian protests, specifically those at Bathurst and Sheppard. The mayor should stop supporting what he calls passive actions and instead support harsher enforcement measures by police. Pasternak says the lack of action stems from a fear of supporting Jewish Canadians.
This brings Brown to the second theory, the rise in antisemitism is due to the refusal of police to do anything about it. He cites reporter Terry Glavin, who claims a 678% increase in antisemitic incidents in Canada. This claim has no source. Despite being a far more specific claim than Paris Marx’s general comments that experts say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Brown finds Glavin’s statement acceptable and Marx's not.
Brown interjects here to say "police around the country have been under order to keep the peace during protests over enforcing laws that get broken during protests." This is quite the claim as, if true, that would mean police have been directed from above not to engage in law enforcement activities during protests and would contradict instances of arrests at pro-Palestinian protests, such as of the so-called "Indigo 11". However, like many others, this claim goes unsubstantiated by Brown; another indicator that his intervention into Marx's comments likely was not motivated by journalistic objectivity.
The TPS has, in fact, been criticized by Ontario's Solicitor General for its alleged failure to enforce the law at pro-Palestinian protests. Further, as per their public statements, TPS makes it clear they will respect people's rights to lawful protest but warn that breaking any law may lead to arrest.
Returning to Brown’s survey of theories, he turns to the third: Canada’s high levels of immigration, specifically from Muslim populations, is responsible. Brown is careful to not endorse this position outright but says it's worth exploring nonetheless. He explains how Conservatives have long framed Muslims as bringing ‘non-Western’ values to Canada and that Liberal immigration has failed to secure Canadians from people who immigrate to cause harm.
He reintroduces Terry Glavin to rant about 1.8 million Muslims in Canada and that the federal government is giving our tax dollars to Muslim organizations like the Muslim Association of Canada, who then, supposedly, promote the Muslim Brotherhood and fundamentalist Islam generally. Brown admits this strikes him as unclear notions about a nonetheless real problem. Glavin's claim has no source.
To explore the apparent connection between Muslims and antisemitism, Brown interviews retired sociology professor Dr. Robert Brym, who has studied rates of antisemitism in Canada. Dr. Brym wanted to answer two questions: What percentage of Canadians have antisemitic attitudes? Which Canadians? Dr. Brym distinguishes between what he calls antisemitic sentiment (negative attitudes towards Jews generally) and antisemitic behaviour (harmful actions directed at Jews because they are Jews).
Dr. Brym found antisemitic sentiment has not changed much in Canada since 2014, which has some of the lowest levels of antisemitic sentiment in the world. However, what has increased in recent years is the level of antisemitic behaviour in Canada, which itself is a worrying trend. When looking specifically at Muslim Canadians, Dr. Brym said that antisemitic sentiment was four times higher among that demographic than the rest of Canadians; research shows that half of Canadian Muslims expressed at least slightly negative attitudes towards Jews.
In general, Dr. Brym says Muslim Canadians expressed the highest rate of both antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment. Further, the research shows negative attitudes are increasing among young people generally and university students specifically. Brown says Dr. Brym’s research supports the theory that universities have become hotbeds of both anti-Zionist and antisemitic indoctrination. Israel's actions being spread through social media channels as a "live-streamed genocide" apparently warrants no mention.
Brown ends by explaining why he rejects the three theories. But Brown doesn’t actually reject the “Muslim” theory. He's quite happy to accept Dr. Brym’s conclusion that Muslims in Canada have a tendency towards acting on their alleged hatred of Jews (and to ignore Dr. Brym’s warnings against claims concerning entire communities).
A Zionist Project, Through and Through
To justify his belief in the alleged threat the anti-Zionist movement poses to Jews, Brown argues that, despite demands being met, demonstrations continue. As examples, Brown lists Canada’s halting of arms shipments and exports to Israel (something the federal government has repeatedly misinformed the public about), official calls for a ceasefire (Israel has killed over 100 children in the first 100 days of the 2025 ceasefire) and the recognition of the Palestinian state (which is conditional on a number of demands Canada has no authority to make).
If all the anti-Zionist movement wanted was a flag raising and conditional state recognition, Brown would have no reason to fear it. This is an obvious mischaracterization of the pro-Palestine movement’s goals, which Brown never engages with in good faith.
He complains that things are happening to him: his neighbourhood is being disrupted, his community is being protested. This, in tandem with the few anti-Zionists who appear on the show, demonstrate that Jesse feels like he belongs to the Zionist community. He feels at home with people like Heather Reisman and Warren Kinsella because they are Zionists. He gets angry at Jews, like Dave Meslin, who are not.
The hard truth of the matter is that Brown himself is flirting with antisemitism. Brown lashes out at anti-Zionist Jews because, in his mind, there is functionally no difference between Zionism and Judaism. This view is reinforced by deployed data points like “94% of Canadian Jews support Israel’s right to exist.” Israel’s “right to exist,” Zionism and all forms of settler colonialism are premised on the displacement, segregation, ethnic cleansing and genocide of a people to build a system of supremacy for another. As scholar and journalist Blake Lambert told me, the “question is not the right to exist. The question is how it exists.”
When Lambert listens to Brown’s series ‘sociologically’ he hears “a community in fear.” Brown avoids important questions and forwards a view of antisemitism aligned with conservative Jewish groups. “It lives up to the viewpoint that Canadian Jews are embattled … antisemitism is running riot… no one is doing anything about it.” Lambert disagrees: We can have better conversations.
Sheryl Nestel, scholar and longtime member of Indendent Jewish Voices (IJV), said those who hold positions of power in the institutional Jewish community are no longer scholars and rabbis but instead increasingly influential and ideological business owners and donors.
“Jewish communal life has lost its soul.” Nestel said. She then described the purpose of IJV as imagining an alternative Jewish future. “The institutional Jewish community, as we know it, is morally bankrupt and there’s no saving it.”
We stand at a peculiar point in time, Lambert tells me. On one hand, Canadians are increasingly critical of Israel and recognize an important difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. On the other hand, antisemitism is increasing but is being blown out of proportion by right-wing Zionists to protect Israel. “For right-wing Zionists,” Lambert told me, Israel is “the focus of their identity.” Thus, any attack on it will be experienced as an existential threat.
What Is Actually Happening Here?
WIHH makes it clear this is how Brown feels. Even in its most neutral and abstract definition, Zionism requires the settling of strangers in a land where people already lived. In historical reality, this has meant the occupation, displacement, segregation and genocide of the Palestinians who live there. The refusal to recognize Zionism as perhaps the biggest factor in the recent growth of antisemitism in North America is not only a refusal to engage with reality; it is to become complicit in the growing harm done to Jews who are seen as nothing more than biological representatives of a rogue state committing genocides at will.
When given an open floor as a Palestinian-Canadian to comment on Brown’s approach to these subjects, Muhannad Ayyash gave sage advice. “Don’t waste your time listening to him.”
Lambert echoed Ayyash and said “getting upset at Brown for not being a credible actor does not seem to me to be worth the energy.”
The centrality of Zionism in Canadian society has made it far too easy for Palestinians to be ignored. This is why episode 6 of WIHH is not covered in this series. In it, Brown interviews Adam Louis Klein, the self-appointed leader of the “Movement Against Anti-Zionism.” I also believe Adam Louis Klein, PhD candidate in Anthropology at McGill University, is not worth the energy.
Instead, what has worth is investigating Canadian complicity in Israel’s ongoing occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people. The people of Palestine deserve not just allies in words but accomplices in deeds. The Zionist movement, which has manifested as a genocidal death-cult willing to risk total nuclear annihilation rather than admit faults, has shown its true face. Anti-Zionist movements are working against this so that one day, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
