Montreal police (SPVM) have arrested a 24-year-old male in connection with the filmed beating of a Jewish man in front of his three children in a park last Friday afternoon.
The investigation is still ongoing, “and the suspect is currently being met by investigators and then a charge file will be submitted to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions,” reads the SPVM statement, issued Aug. 11, adding the department spared no effort to find the suspect.
According to haredi community spokesperson Mayer Feig, a relative of the 32-year-old victim spotted a man he believed was the suspect and quickly informed the Chaverim community organization, who secured more information about the suspect’s whereabouts before informing police.
Officers from local Station 31 then reportedly visited the man’s residence and left after questioning him.
“There was a lot of questioning from our community about how that could happen,” Feig told The CJN Monday afternoon, “then police returned and just arrested him a short time ago.”
Confusion reigned for a few hours Monday, as police would not confirm any arrest had been made, despite widespread reporting by individuals and community organizations that it had. SPVM spokesperson Agent Jean-Pierre Brabant explained to The CJN earlier Monday that, while police are aware of multiple statements made online, “some final details had to be confirmed” before police could make an official announcement, noting police are concerned with bringing the case correctly to the court system before making announcements.
It not yet clear what charges the suspect will face.
The SPVM also thanked citizens who contributed by sending information to police that facilitated the location of the suspect.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and Federation CJA issued a statement on X a couple of hours earlier Monday afternoon that the SPVM made an arrest. “CIJA, Federation CJA, and the Community Security Network (CSN) have been in close contact with law enforcement. The perpetrator of this horrific attack must be held accountable for their actions. We will continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate action to ensure justice is served and our community remains safe.”
Déclaration conjointe du CIJA et de la @FederationCJA :
— Le CIJA (@CIJAQC) August 11, 2025
La police de Montréal (SPVM) a procédé à une arrestation en lien avec l'agression violente d'un homme juif qui s'est produite vendredi dernier dans l'après-midi à Montréal.
Le CIJA, la Fédération CJA et le Réseau de…
Feig says he was told that the SPVM’s hate crimes unit was actively investigating the incident that went viral and horrified hundreds of thousands of people from around the world who commented online, offering messages of support and of outrage, in addition to those denouncing Jews for supporting Israel. Feig said the victim is “very, very relieved” that a suspect was identified and arrested.
A photo circulating online, that cannot be confirmed by The CJN, reportedly showed the suspect being questioned by police in the borough of Villeray-St. Michel-Parc Extension.
The incident also attracted the attention of much of Montreal and Quebec’s political class, who released statements following the violent attack, while criticism was directed at the SPVM who reportedly took up to an hour to respond to the scene.
In the short video clip recorded by someone observers say was a Muslim woman, who stayed with the victim and sent him the video, the suspect is seen punching the man repeatedly while he lays on the ground trying to kick back. His young children, aged three, six and nine, cling to him and scream out in Yiddish.
The attacker is then seen backing up to retrieve items from the ground to put in his grocery bag, before walking over to the victim’s kippah lying on the ground, picking it up and throwing it into the water of the nearby splash pad at Parc Dickie-Moore in the Villeray-St. Michel-Parc Extension borough.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was equally repulsed and, along with Federation CJA president Yair Szlak, called the victim on Monday to offer strength and comfort to the victim. “We saw the horrific attack, and I want to send you, and your family, your beautiful children strength and comfort,” reads a transcript released by Herzog’s office to The CJN. “May you have a swift recovery in body and soul from this terrible ordeal. We are with you and we are here for you. The whole Jewish people stands with you.” Herzog also invited the man to visit the President’s Residence in Jerusalem in the near future.
Above: Hear community reactions to the viral attack on The CJN’s news podcast, North Star.
On Monday morning, CIJA Quebec vice-president Eta Yudin said “it was quite shocking that someone felt free to attack another person on our streets, in our city. The man was obviously Jewish.”
Yudin told QUB radio about the worrying rise in antisemitism, especially after Oct. 7, adding that Statistics Canada numbers show Canadian Jews are 25 times more likely to be targeted by an act of hate than other groups. “We’re worried but we’re not going to hide our identities. We will stand strong as Quebecers and do what we can to protect our society.”
She also agreed that, apart from indignation being voiced by politicians, that it’s about time to see concrete actions, “precisely to send a strong message that actions like this will have consequences. And it’s been too long that we’ve seen hatred in our streets; incitement to hatred; calls for the death of Jews; the glorification of terrorism, and without consequence.”
Montreal Rabbi Reuben Poupko said the victim is back home, “but the children are certainly traumatized, and are afraid to go outside, and afraid to go out with their father specifically. It’s a very sad story,” he told The CJN, “but part of an increasing pattern of hate directed against the Jewish community in Montreal, a phenomenon in no way limited to Montreal.”
He says the Jewish community generally feels that Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante hasn’t done enough “or reacted strongly enough, while the police have acted professionally and with great skill in the main. They act well after a crime has been committed in terms of investigation and apprehension of perpetrators, but controlling demonstrations? Not as much as we would want. But when it comes to prosecutions of people the police arrest, the prosecutors have failed us and failed us miserably.”
He says that goes back to the case of Montreal imam Adil Charkaoui’s infamous speech at a demonstration in downtown Montreal three weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel. In front of thousands of supporters, he called on God to “kill the enemies of the people of Gaza and to spare none of them” and “take care” of “Zionist aggressors.”
“The prime minister at the time even called for his prosecution, but in the end the prosecutor declined to prosecute after the imam claimed he was praying and therefore there’s an exemption to hate speech. A bizarre claim, a bizarre end to a case.”
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet tabled Bill C-367, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (promotion of hatred or antisemitism), which would repeal the clauses that provide religious exemptions for hate speech (sec. 319, 3b and 3.1b.) The bill passed first reading and received a lot of support from across the aisle but died with the last parliament’s agenda when former prime minister Justin Trudeau prorogued parliament.
“The persistent anti-Israel demonstrations that are taking place in Toronto and in Montreal, their purpose was never to sway public opinion and public opinion hasn’t shifted because of any demonstration, but the real purpose of the demonstrations is to intimidate. In that regard, they have been successful. They succeeded in intimidating the politicians, intimidating prosecutors, and even intimidating media about what they will cover, what they won’t cover and how they describe certain events,” Rabbi Poupko said.
Meanwhile, some community members are planning to organize a rally in the coming days to denounce the violent attack, hoping to hold it in the park where the violent assault took place
