WARNING: This article contains sensitive topics related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Those in need of support can contact the Mental Health Crisis Line: 613-722-6914 (within Ottawa) and 1-866-996-0991 (outside Ottawa), the Ottawa Distress Centre Crisis Line: 613-238-3311, or the Youth Services Bureau 24/7 Crisis Line: 613-260-2360 or 1-877-377-7775 (toll).
In the last year, the Israel-Hamas conflict has resulted in the deaths of at least 42,612 Palestians and 1,139 Israelis.
Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish communities in Ottawa have experienced a rise in hate-motivated incidents since Oct. 7, 2023.
A July 2024 statement from the Ottawa Police Service Hate and Bias Unit highlighted a 100-per-cent increase in hate-motivated crimes against Muslim and Jewish people in the first six months of 2024, compared to the total amount in 2023.
At Carleton University, some Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish students who spoke to the Charlatan describe facing mental unwellness and incidents of hateful speech. For people in these communities, the ongoing conflict can reignite past traumas and generate fear of experiencing hatred.
Carleton community members are calling on one another to recognize each others’ humanity.
Lack of mental health supports, hateful speech toward Palestinian students
Janine, a fourth-year Carleton communications and media studies Palestinian student who did not want her name published for safety concerns, said the rising death toll in Gaza has affected her life in “absolutely every way possible.”
“I’m completely consumed by it,” she said. “When I wake up the first thing I do is check the news … I wonder what I’m going to wake up to.”
Janine said it is very hard to maintain mental focus when her Palestinian community is mourning.
“We go to protests and we look strong and we are strong, of course, because that’s what we have to be. We have no other way of coping.”
“We can’t be happy without feeling guilty about it because that could have been us,” she said. “We were one of the lucky ones that made it out. I still have family in Palestine, but because my dad fled the country on his own when he was 18, that’s the only reason I’m here. That literally could have been me.”
“It was really hard at the beginning,” Batool said. “I can’t even count … I lost maybe 40 members of my family in one night.”
She said she stays in contact with her family in Gaza through a WhatsApp group chat.
“They’re basically updating me, saying ‘We’re still alive,’” she said. “Then the communication was cut off, so I couldn’t even get updates if they were alive or not.”
While some professors are understanding and encourage her to take necessary time for her mental health, Batool said focusing on classes remains a significant challenge.
“It was really hard for me to focus on school and study … Every time I want to sit and study, I just can’t. I have to go online and see what’s going on [in Gaza],” she said.
Janine said she has mental breakdowns when she can’t focus on school amid the ongoing conflict.
“I’m basically failing my classes,” Janine said.
Wearing keffiyehs makes it “a lot more obvious” for people to target Palestinians and those who stand in solidarity with Palestine, Janine added.
“I’ve been called a terrorist,” she said, referring to a previous confrontation during her participation in a local bake sale raising humanitarian funds for Gaza.
Throughout the past year, different associations on campus have organized bake sales to raise money for the Islamic Relief Fund and Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
Whether through bake sales or hanging posters around campus, raising awareness about casualties in Gaza is important for the Palestinian community on campus, according to Batool.
However, Batool said that Campus Safety prohibited Palestinian and Jewish communities from displaying posters around campus following Oct. 7, 2023.
Campus Safety did not provide a response to this critique in time for publication, despite repeated requests from the Charlatan for comment.
In the past year, campus groups have criticized Carleton for censoring students displaying solidarity with Palestine.
“The school doesn’t show any support,” Batool said. “They don’t really care at the end of the day.”
Broader antisemitism generating fear for some Jewish students
Dahlia Belfer, a recent Carleton graduate in social work and Jewish community member, described antisemitism in Western society as “constantly bubbling under the surface.”
She added she believes university students should be held to a high standard of thoughtfulness.
Another Jewish student at Carleton, who wishes to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said it’s important to separate the Israeli government from Jewish people.
The student said she doesn’t feel safe wearing symbols that show her religion and ethnicity. She said she also changed how her name appears on Uber out of fear of discrimination.
She also said her family took down their Mezuzah, a piece of parchment inscribed with scriptural verses often displayed on doorposts, out of fear of discrimination.
A March 12 picture of “antisemitic” graffiti, taken by Belfer in a Nideyinàn washroom and obtained by the Charlatan, depicts a noose hanging a Star of David beside a swastika.
Displays like this can be “harmful and triggering,” Belfer said.
Belfer said antisemitism is not new to her family. Growing up in a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in Ottawa, she said the community comes together when acts of antisemitism occur.
“The way I explain it is that every single Jewish person on my street has the same colour garage, and we all share a can of paint. Every once in a while, someone will walk up the street and paint something [hateful] on someone’s door,” she said.
“My brother will go out for a walk, or my neighbour will be driving to work and see it in the morning, and go home and get their can of paint and knock on your door and say, ‘Hey, this happened, you gotta get on the phone, you’ve got to report it, and I’ll help you cover it up.’”
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Belfer said her family has received death threats to their home and found a swastika in their mailbox.
Belfer expressed that this fear will not prevent her and her family from being proud of their Jewish heritage.
“[My mother’s] favourite thing to say right now is, ‘I’m gonna love being Jewish a hundred times more than anyone hates me for it,’” she said.
Boyarsky encourages Jewish students to be proud of their identity and wear their stars of David and kippahs publically. He added his responsibility as a rabbi is to hear students and empathize with them.
“We try our best to really be there for students, to care for them, and to really nurture them and to realize that they have to be proud of who they are,” Boyarsky said.
‘We need to recognize the humanity in each other’
Ahmed Kahlil, a second-generation Canadian who serves as the chaplain for Muslim students at Carleton, acknowledged the stigmas Carleton’s Muslim community faces.
He said he’s seen an increase in students approaching him to express concerns about facing different forms of Islamophobia on campus within the last year.
“Muslims unfortunately face an accusation of being terrorist sympathizers all the time,” Khalil said.
After Oct. 7, 2023, Khalil said racism has become more overt.
“I try to tell the students to embody [kindness] in their lives and to never allow these negative perceptions or negative interactions define them,” Khalil said, reiterating a sermon he delivered at Carleton’s atrium — a sermon which Campus Safety allegedly later investigated.
Khalil said Campus Safety contacted him after hearing complaints about the sermon. He said investigators shared some of the quotes that caused the complainants to feel unsafe.
Khalil said that he was accused of saying “death to all Jews” during his sermon – an allegation that he said is “simply not true.”
“Not only did I never say that in my own life, but I definitely worked hard to fight against it,” Khalil said. “In our faith, we don’t wish death on anybody, let alone a whole group of people.”
When the Charlatan asked for additional context surrounding Campus Safety’s investigation of Khalil’s sermon, Carleton’s media relations officer responded on Oct. 1, “The safety and wellbeing of our community is of paramount importance to the university. Carleton reviews all formal complaints in accordance with our established policies and procedures.”
Khalil said the main focus of his sermon was to encourage students to peacefully express their emotions through different democratic means, including protests and campaigns.
“If feelings of frustration and anger are not dealt with, they can fester and explode in a way that is very unhealthy,” Khalil said.
In situations where people identify with victims in Israel or Palestine, he added it is easy to vilify one another. He urged communities to recognize the humanity in each other despite political grievances.
“We should realize that human beings feel pain and they feel sadness and grief on either side of the spectrum,” Khalil said.
What is Carleton’s role and responsibility?
Mira Sucharov, a political science professor at Carleton specializing in Israeli-Palestinian relations, said she encourages Carleton to protect student safety. She said no one should feel targeted or harassed due to their ethnic or religious identity.
“The Carleton administration needs to ensure that everyone feels physically and emotionally safe on campus vis-a-vis their identities,” Sucharov said. “[Carleton] should encourage dialogues across communities so [they] can better understand other communities’ perceptions and intentions.”
Sucharov said meeting halfway does not necessarily bridge the differences that arise from the conflict. Rather, Sucharov encourages people to articulate their values and think about what they stand for, instead of who they stand with.
Sucharov said hatred that was once dormant in Canada can come out as intensifications of the conflict arise.
“When there is an intensification in conflict between Israel-Palestine, hatred that has otherwise existed in a dormant form in Canada can come out of the woodwork, and so there is a possibility that hatred and prejudice and bigotry can be activated,” she said.
A Nov. 21 statement sent by Carleton’s media relations officer to the Charlatan said Carleton is committed to the safety and well-being of every member of its community “by providing an environment that is conducive to personal and intellectual growth, free of injustice and characterized by compassion, respect, peace, trust and fairness.”
The statement added that Carleton does not tolerate “hate incidents or hate crimes and takes seriously any reports of antisemitism, Islamophobia, intimidation, threats, harassment or violence,” encouraging students affected by the conflict to connect with available wellness resources.
“Campus Safety Services is working with law enforcement agencies as well as other partners to monitor the local situation on campus and in the City of Ottawa,” the statement read.
On Sept. 19, media relations declined to answer the Charlatan’s question if any additional resources have been implemented since Oct. 7, 2023 for communities affected by the ongoing conflict.
Intense campus climates amid conflicts is “nothing new,” Sucharov said. She said it’s important for universities to support their student population.
“For decades and decades, students in North America and other parts of the world have been keenly aware of political conflict abroad,” she said.
“The challenge is that we want students to not only feel that they’re articulating principled positions, but that they are understanding the intentions of those who disagree with them and that there is some way to bridge the difference.”
Featured graphic by Alisha Velji/the Charlatan.
