WEAK POLITICAL WILL ALLOWING ANTI-SEMITISM TO RISE IN MONTREAL
What the hell is happening here?
In a city previously known for arts, cuisine and a decided European flair, things have gone from bad to worse.
Consider:
- A Jewish school for boys has been shot up twice.
- Another Jewish school for children as young as Grade 1, has also been hit with bullets.
- A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue.
- A Jewish community centre was firebombed.
- Another Jewish community centre and another synagogue were firebombed.
- A Muslim cleric spoke at an anti-Israel rally and called for God to kill Jews “and spare none of them.”
- Scores of Jewish businesses have been targeted for boycotts, threats and graffiti – including Nazi swastikas.
In none of the most serious cases, all crimes, has an arrest been made. And Jews who spoke to reporters declined to give their names or report to police other anti-Semitic crimes because they fear retribution.
That is Montreal since Oct. 7th, 2023.
This city has experienced more hate crimes against Jews than any other North American city. No other city seems to have it as bad.
What the hell is happening here? Why is it happening in Montreal of all places?
“The reason that Montreal is the only city in North America that has had multiple violent, targeted attacks against Jewish institutions and people – from gunshots to Molotov cocktails – is because there is no condemnation of jihadist behaviour taking place on the streets of Montreal. None. We need a political voice to say “Enough!”
“But we don’t have it.”
Beryl Wajsman, the articulate and passionate editor of Montreal’s award winning newspaper The Suburban, pauses. He looks more angry than sad.
“That’s the reason Montreal’s pro-Hamas crowd feels they have a license to do what they’re doing. There’s a lack of political will here. We have not heard the right words from our mayor. Nor will we.”
Montreal’s mayor is Valerie Plante.
Wajsman says Plante is much more preoccupied with greening the city and “the war on the car” than she is with the safety of Montreal’s Jews. That has sent a message to Montreal’s pro-Hamas fanatics, he says. “They know they’re not going to be taken in by police. They know they can trespass, block traffic, and more.”
And they’re paid to do so, he says. Pro-Hamas protesters can get up to $50 for each protest they attend, he claims, and they’ve divided the city up into grids, with leaders responsible for each grid. Most of the protesters, according to Wajsman, are non-residents and students from Arab countries.
In France, Germany, Austria and other European countries, Wajsman says, anyone who now promotes anti-Semitic messages – whether it be “intifada” or “from the river to the sea” – is to be swiftly deported. “Radical deportation,” French President Emmanuel Macron calls it, and Wajsman says it will work here, too.
Another writer and political observer shakes his head and speaks in hushed tones. Unlike Wajsman, whose courage is legendary around Montreal, this man is more cautious.
He has children, he says, and the police have warned him that he can become a target of pro-Hamas violence – even for displaying an Israeli flag.
“Things aren’t balanced here,” says this man, in accented English.
“People expect Israel to fight with two hands tied behind its back. But they have a right to self-defence.”
He looks away. “I’m afraid,” he finally says. “What kind of a society are we creating here?”
Another longtime Quebecois and Montrealer, the daughter of holocaust survivors, agrees.
She also asks that her name not be used, for fear of retribution.
“The barbaric massacre of Oct. 7th literally paralyzed me with shock, horror and fear for a number of weeks. It still consumes my thoughts and drowns me in anxiety.”
Growing up as the child of Holocaust survivors, she says, she wasn’t as surprised to see anti-Semitism manifest itself in the city where she lives.
But for many Montreal Jews, she notes, it has been a shock.
“Recent events in our city have been a long overdue wake up call,” she says. “I’m just thankful my parents aren’t around to relive it.”
So, what must be done?
How can Montreal be rid of the vile Jew hatred that has infected it for weeks?
How can it get back to what it was?
Wajsman considers, then speaks.
“The other side wants Islamic radicalization to become seen as normal. But Canadians will never accept that,” he says. “We will never surrender our country.”
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