Across the Western world, Jewish communities are confronting an increasingly hostile environment.

Antisemitism has moved from the margins into public life, appearing on our streets, across university campuses, throughout cultural institutions, in political discourse, and online. For many Jews, the question is no longer simply how we explain or combat antisemitism, but how we continue to live confidently and openly as Jews in societies where hostility has become increasingly normalized.

Join HR Canada Charitable Organization for a timely conversation with acclaimed British journalist, author, and commentator Melanie Phillips, hosted by Canadian journalist and columnist Barbara Kay.

Drawing on Phillips’ new book, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege, the conversation will examine the forces driving contemporary antisemitism, the response of Western institutions to contemporary antisemitism, and what Jewish communities can do in response.

The conversation will explore:

• Why has antisemitism intensified so dramatically across Western societies, particularly here in Canada?
• What role have institutions, media, and political culture played in its normalization?
• What can the experiences of Jewish communities in Britain, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere teach us?
• How should Jews respond if the institutions meant to protect liberal democratic values fail to do so?
• And what does it mean to resist antisemitism without allowing it to define Jewish life?

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author who has written about politics, religion, culture, and the defense of traditional Western values for more than three decades. She writes weekly columns for The Times of London and the Jewish News Syndicate, appears regularly on radio and television, and speaks to audiences across the English-speaking world.

Her new book, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege, confronts the resurgence of antisemitism and asks how Jewish communities should understand and respond to an increasingly hostile cultural and political environment.

Phillips has long examined many of the forces now shaping this moment. Her 2006 bestseller Londonistanexplored the British establishment’s response to Islamist extremism, while The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power examined deeper conflicts over truth, religion, and Western culture. In 2025, she published The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West — And Why Only They Can Save It, examining the Jewish and Christian foundations of Western civilization and their contemporary erosion.

Moderating the discussion is Barbara Kay, a renowned Canadian journalist, author, and longtime columnist whose work addresses culture, politics, antisemitism, and Jewish life in Canada.

We hope you’ll join us for this important discussion. 

Please note: This is a free, virtual event. No RSVP is required.