More than 40 masked people hoisting Palestinian flags and chanting ‘Intifada! Intifada!’, among other slogans gathered outside Congregation Shaar Hashomayim synagogue on Tuesday night—while an event featuring former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy and honouring student leaders was transpiring inside.
Demonstrators arrived early and carried on for a couple of hours before leaving. Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SVPM) officers kept them from the building and from residences across the road, but the group was clearly within the buffer zone ordered by repeated court injunctions.
Multiple videos circulating on social media show demonstrators gathering within a few steps from the curb, despite the fact that on Oct. 16, Quebec Superior Court renewed the most recent six-month safeguard order demanded by Federation CJA and others, which was designed to protect more than two dozen institutions—including the Shaar—by restricting groups from protesting within 50 metres of the curb fronting each property.
A joint declaration by Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said “radicals came to desecrate the tranquility of one of (our) community’s residential neighborhoods and houses of worship by calling for ‘intifada’ in front of the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in Montreal. (That) they do so in violation of the injunction protecting our community’s premises from this kind of antisemitic demonstration, and all that in front of the SPVM, is revolting.
“We will raise concerns directly with SPVM as to why protestors were allowed so close despite the injunction.”
One event attendee, who requested anonymity, told The CJN “they were not respecting the injunction because they were much closer to the doors than the injunction allows them. The police were just standing there making sure they don’t do anything violent, but not pushing them back or anything.”
With private security and police on scene, there was no violence or vandalism, and no arrests were made—but there were clear denunciations from community groups and politicians.
While the original injunction applied against specific groups like Montreal4Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement Montreal and others, it also applies to any person having knowledge of the court order or proceedings and prevents them from “participating in any protest or action related to protesting within 50 meters of the sidewalks bordering” the buildings until April 16, 2025.
“It is open season on the Jews of Montreal,” Shaar Rabbi Adam Scheier and Beth Israel Beth Aaron Rabbi Reuben Poupko said in a joint statement Wednesday.
“Last night, a mob of 40 or so masked individuals attempted to block access to a synagogue and harassed members of the Jewish community. Despite the fact that there is an injunction in place ordering demonstrators to maintain a distance of 50 meters from houses of worship, the police allowed the harassment to continue, uninterrupted, for over three hours. Members of the Jewish community were told to use the rear exits of the building, as the police could not guarantee their safety.”
SPVM spokesperson Mariane Allaire Morin told The CJN that officers explained to demonstrators that they would be arrested immediately for any criminal activities, adding that around 7 p.m. a bailiff arrived to read out the court order.
“We were with the bailiff as he explained the injunction and told them they had to respect it, and they did. But unfortunately, they remained on-site and did not leave until about 10 p.m.” she said, when the conference was done and all people inside the synagogue left without incident.
Allaire Morin would not disclose how many officers were deployed to the scene as it is an operational matter.
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller called the protest in front of a Jewish place of worship “a disgusting display of vitriol and beyond the pale (of) any form of acceptable protest.”
Mount Royal MP and federal antisemitism advisor Anthony Housefather, also said on social media that he “called on police to enforce the law. The Shaar was founded in 1846. It is disgusting that it is facing hatred in 2024. The location of this protest is meant to intimidate. It is appalling.”
Westmount-NDG MP Anna Gainey said the protest not only violated the current injunction but violated the peace and safety of residents, “and of our Jewish community members in particular. The hate speech and antisemitic chants filling the quiet residential street are obscene. It’s unacceptable and has to stop.”
CIJA further commented that “it once again shows that these so-called ‘peaceful’ protesters are driven solely by hatred of Jews.”
By the time she left, said Tali Juran, who attended the event, “they were everywhere. Faces covered, only slots for their eyes, yelling ‘shame’ at us. Meanwhile, they’re the ones with their faces covered.”
Israel’s antisemitism envoy, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, denounced the protest at the synagogue, “where Jews have prayed since 1846. At my old synagogue. Where my Rabbi and friends gather daily. In which my kids learned about their Jewish identity. That I frequent every time I visit Montreal, including days ago. Because anti-Zionism = antisemitism.”
One neighbourhood resident told The CJN on Wednesday that she got “a sick feeling” when she watched them from her window. “This has become normal. How do we allow this against my neighbours in 2024? The police have become delicate flowers, so afraid of this gang.”
Inside the mood was much more serene, according to one person who attended. “No one was freaking out inside. (But) it’s a residential neighborhood and they were there yelling with the bullhorns and, you know, doing their usual spiel and being their obnoxious selves.”
Rabbis Scheier and Poupko recalled that on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, several individuals in possession of incendiary materials were arrested near a Cote St. Luc synagogue. “Nine hours later, two unexploded Molotov cocktails were discovered nearby. Still later that day, two other individuals were arrested under similar circumstances.”
The perpetrators appeared in court and were released with a promise to appear they say, and “at this moment, there are three adults in Montreal who demonstrated intent to firebomb a synagogue during the New Year services. They have suffered no sanctions and roam our streets freely.”
They also said Imam Adil Charkaoui, “an individual who has spent time in prison in Canada as a terror suspect, openly and publicly called for violence against the Jewish community,” and that the past year has seen “violent harassment on university campuses and unrestrained demonstrations disrupting normal life of Montrealers.
“The Jewish community has one simple expectation: that the laws of our city and of our province be equally and fairly enforced. The anti-Jewish mob has successfully intimidated the police, the prosecutors, and the mayor. Their passivity in the face of violence and threats has sent a clear message to the mob: Carry on, as long as you harass, intimidate, and threaten Jews, there will be no repercussions or criminal charges.
“It is open season on the Jewish community of Montreal. We await a clear statement and commitment to action from Mayor (Valerie) Plante and a commitment from the SPVM to more effectively protect our community.”
