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"Canada's Polite Pogrom" with Jesse Brown
What happened to Canada? Once known as one of the most peaceful, multicultural countries in the world, Canada has become the epicenter of a disturbing wave of anti-Jewish violence: weekly synagogue shootings, a Jewish girls' school in Toronto shot at three separate times, a Jewish grandmother stabbed in an Ottawa kosher supermarket, and 14 shots fired at a Jewish-owned restaurant on the second night of Passover.
In this episode, Naya Lekht sits down with Jesse Brown — founder and publisher of CanadaLand, Canada's largest podcast network, winner of the Hillman Prize for Investigative Reporting, and author of the viral Atlantic piece "Canada's Polite Pogrom" — to investigate how this happened, why it's still happening, and what the rest of the world needs to understand before it's too late.
Jesse doesn't offer easy answers. He traces the roots of the anti-Zionist hate movement from Nazi Germany through the Soviet Union into today's post-colonial academy, explains why Canada's multicultural identity left its institutions uniquely unprepared to recognize anti-Jewish hatred disguised as political activism, and argues that pleas for sympathy are a dead end. Instead, he makes the case for naming what we're actually up against: a radicalized ideology that believes what it says.
This is one of the most honest conversations about Jewish life in the diaspora you'll hear this year.
About the Guest
Jesse Brown is the founder and publisher of CanadaLand, the first and largest podcast network in Canada. He is the winner of the Hillman Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Humor. CanadaLand's podcasts have won gold awards from the Signal Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. As a journalist, Jesse focuses on Canadian media — reporting and analysis of what the press gets right and what it gets wrong. Since October 7th, he has devoted his work to documenting anti-Jewish discrimination and the anti-Zionist hate movement in Canada, a focus that led to his recent limited audio series What Is Happening Here? and his viral Atlantic essay Canada's Polite Pogrom.
Jesse will be joining Naya on stage May 17th at the first-ever World Symposium Against Anti-Zionism in Toronto.
Listen & Follow
🎙️ Jesse's limited series: What Is Happening Here? — available wherever you get your podcasts 📰 Read: "Canada's Polite Pogrom" in The Atlantic 🎟️ World Symposium Against Anti-Zionism — Toronto, May 17, 2026
Clarifying the complex. Step into my classroom.
View all episodes
By Naya LekhtWhat happened to Canada? Once known as one of the most peaceful, multicultural countries in the world, Canada has become the epicenter of a disturbing wave of anti-Jewish violence: weekly synagogue shootings, a Jewish girls' school in Toronto shot at three separate times, a Jewish grandmother stabbed in an Ottawa kosher supermarket, and 14 shots fired at a Jewish-owned restaurant on the second night of Passover.
In this episode, Naya Lekht sits down with Jesse Brown — founder and publisher of CanadaLand, Canada's largest podcast network, winner of the Hillman Prize for Investigative Reporting, and author of the viral Atlantic piece "Canada's Polite Pogrom" — to investigate how this happened, why it's still happening, and what the rest of the world needs to understand before it's too late.
Jesse doesn't offer easy answers. He traces the roots of the anti-Zionist hate movement from Nazi Germany through the Soviet Union into today's post-colonial academy, explains why Canada's multicultural identity left its institutions uniquely unprepared to recognize anti-Jewish hatred disguised as political activism, and argues that pleas for sympathy are a dead end. Instead, he makes the case for naming what we're actually up against: a radicalized ideology that believes what it says.
This is one of the most honest conversations about Jewish life in the diaspora you'll hear this year.
About the Guest
Jesse Brown is the founder and publisher of CanadaLand, the first and largest podcast network in Canada. He is the winner of the Hillman Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Humor. CanadaLand's podcasts have won gold awards from the Signal Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. As a journalist, Jesse focuses on Canadian media — reporting and analysis of what the press gets right and what it gets wrong. Since October 7th, he has devoted his work to documenting anti-Jewish discrimination and the anti-Zionist hate movement in Canada, a focus that led to his recent limited audio series What Is Happening Here? and his viral Atlantic essay Canada's Polite Pogrom.
Jesse will be joining Naya on stage May 17th at the first-ever World Symposium Against Anti-Zionism in Toronto.
Listen & Follow
🎙️ Jesse's limited series: What Is Happening Here? — available wherever you get your podcasts 📰 Read: "Canada's Polite Pogrom" in The Atlantic 🎟️ World Symposium Against Anti-Zionism — Toronto, May 17, 2026
Clarifying the complex. Step into my classroom.