On the List for a Reason: A Canadian-Israeli Soldier’s Reflection on Being Doxxed

A week ago, I found out I had made a list. Not a list of honors or achievements, but a list of Canadian-Israeli soldiers, published in an article that has been widely condemned as a hit piece against Jews from Canada who chose to serve in the IDF. Many people responded as expected—condemning the article, calling out the blatant targeting of Jews, and vowing not to be intimidated by those who seek to make us hide.

And they’re right. We must never cower in the face of those who try to make us fearful of our identity. We must fight back against antisemitism and make it clear that we will not be silenced.

But as much as I agree with those sentiments, I think they have been repeated almost daily since the start of the war due to the massive uptick in antisemitism. I don’t think it’s what people need to hear, and I don’t think the goal of the author of the article is to silence us; at least, I don’t think it’s the end goal. 

I didn’t end up on this list because I am Israeli. I was put on this list because I am a Jew from outside of Israel who refused to stay away—especially when my people needed me. If being on this list means anything, it means that even though it wasn’t the easiest, most natural path for me, I made a decision. I chose to place my destiny with the destiny of my people.

It’s easy to focus on the hatred behind this list, on the people who seek to expose, shame, or threaten us. But the reality is that there will always be those who hate Jews. There will always be those who cannot tolerate the idea of Jews coming together, standing strong. The real lesson here isn’t just that we should never hide. It’s that we should understand exactly what they’re trying to stop us from doing.

Though the recent uptick in antisemitism seems like just a reiteration of the same old-school hate we experienced over the past 2000 years, I believe that the hate I experienced, and that we’ve experienced for the past year and a half, and really since the Holocaust is quite unique. From the words of those who support terror themselves, they aren’t antisemites, they’re anti-Zionists. They can’t stand the destiny of our people, our return to our land, the strength of those who protect its inhabitants, and the ultimate goal of building Jerusalem at the center of it all to be a beacon of light for the whole world.

It all goes back to the first anti-Zionists. As soon as the Jews crossed the Red Sea, leaving Egypt behind, we sang songs of our longing to reach our land, to build the Beis Hamikdash. A desert nomadic nation called Amalek couldn’t handle that. They attacked.

When the first Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the Jews were exiled to Babylon and Persia. The moment they saw the opportunity to return home, to rebuild, Amalek struck again—this time through Haman’s genocidal plot in the Purim story.

And after 2000 years of exile, when Jews who had been scattered all over the world decided, once again, to come home, to take back our destiny, Amalek rose again. In the very same decade that Jews began returning en masse, the Holocaust ravaged European Jewry, and Jewish communities across the Middle East were uprooted and expelled. And yet, from the ashes of that destruction, the Jewish people came home to begin the final ingathering.

This is what our enemies cannot stand. The idea that another Jew—because of them—might decide to come home. That another Jew, instead of cowering in fear, might instead choose to stand and fight for his people. That another Jew from Canada might look at the world and say: I choose to be a part of the eternal destiny of the Jewish people.

So, no—I’m not just here to defy antisemitism. I’m here to help combat the seemingly never ending cycle of exiles and persecution, and finally put an end to history repeating itself. This isn’t just about standing up to hatred. It’s about fulfilling the ultimate purpose of our people: the return, the rebuilding, and the redemption of Israel and the whole world.

That is why I’m here. That is why I wear this uniform. And if that’s what put me on this list, then I have never been prouder.

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