When the Irish Hip Hop Trio Kneecap performed this past weekend at Coachella, shouting “F@#% Israel” from the stage, I was deeply disturbed. In my role, I am privy to many instances of antisemitism, locally and abroad. But this one felt different. The Jewish world sent outcries with comparisons of this music festival to the Nova music festival. I commiserated with a friend who brushed it off as ‘what we would expect of an Irish band’, given the rampant unabashed antizionism in Ireland.  

I have never been to Coachella (do they even allow women over 50?). In fact, my children have not attended Coachella either, but my eldest daughter—an avid concert goer who lives in Israel—could easily have been at Nova on October 7.  

I have been to the Nova Festival site twice.  

Just a few short months after October 7, it was a hallowed and haunting site where makeshift memorials were appearing—families erecting pictures on stakes in the earth, a field of ‘flowers’ where the anemone flowers were popping out of the soil in contrast to the long-stemmed monuments. I recently returned to the Nova site, where memories are being preserved in a living museum, educating visitors about the horrors that unfolded that day. The experience is less raw but equally emotional.  

While my initial reaction to the Coachella concert was the horror that the attendees were gleefully chanting along with the kneecap band, there was a more profound issue, something even more malicious that went further, the lucidity outlined by Hen Mazzig in this Jewish Chronicle piece, ‘The crowd at Coachella cheered ‘F*** Israel!’—and no one blinked. 

“This wasn’t radical resistance, it was crowd pleasing populism.” We have seen where statements similar to this often masquerade as ‘moral clarity’, intersected with other causes to lend legitimacy. But this weekend, it was different. There was a calculation in that moment—the evolution of antisemitism expressed was that it is not only safe to yell “F@#% Israel”, but beneficial. A calculation where expressions of this kind are not only normalized, but fast becoming a way of increasing one’s popularity, of socially levelling up.

This snowball effect was gnawing at me. Yom Hashoah has just ended, and at our community commemoration we heard from March of the Living alumni participants, young adults dedicated to preventing future atrocities and saying, “Never Again”. Israel is more than just a safety card for the Jewish people. Haviv Rettig Gur, a noted Israeli journalist, published an essay this week outlining the deep inherent Zionism about Yom Hashoah. Not only because it was started in Israel, marked on the Hebrew calendar by 27 of Nissan, but because of the history of the shoah itself and the response of the leaders. “…Zionism, along among Jewish movements and cultural worlds, knew what was coming." I encourage you to read it. 

We see the signs. We hear the narratives. We know that the values of our western society are at risk, that antisemitism is often the harbinger of deeper disturbances. “What is new is us, our clarity and purpose, a Jewish collective shorn of the blindnesses and vulnerabilities of the past.” 

October 7 was the lifting of the veil, the turning of the proverbial rock. I have seen our community move from shock to disbelief, through abject grief and often fear. While we lament the end of the golden age of Jewish life in the diaspora, I am now seeing whispers of strength that are becoming ripples of action.  

The Alberta government engaged us and the Calgary Jewish Federation to advise on the Grade 7-9 curriculum, ensuring accurate and empathetic Holocaust education. We are supporting the Jewish Health Care Association, assisting in areas of concern that our doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals are facing. We are empowering our youth to stand proud as Jews and will launch a student to student program this fall, bringing high school teens to classrooms in greater Edmonton. In addition, we continue to work towards strengthening our connections with Israel, particularly the northern periphery, through continued philanthropy and fostering ties among community members.  

Besides the projects that we are doing, we are observing the strength and resilience within our community, ranging from members who attended our security training session then become volunteers at events and programs, increasing their engagement in activities, or even increased enrollment at Talmud Torah school. Non-Jewish allies and friends are seeking involvement as they too see the signs and want to be part of the answers.  

It is a privilege to foster and support these actions. It is with your showing up—your philanthropy, your volunteerism, your participation—that we can engage in this work, day after day.  

Am Yisrael Chai.  

Stacey