Antisemites Spray Montreal Jewish Schools with Bullets, Hurl Molotov Cocktail at Synagogue as Anti-Jewish Hate Surges in Canada

Two Jewish schools in Montreal were shot at overnight on Wednesday, three days after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Jewish community center in the city.

No one was injured in the shootings, which left bullet holes in the front doors of a Jewish elementary school and a yeshiva, police said. The shooting came days after a molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux. Investigations into both incidents are ongoing, police said. It remains unclear whether the attacks are related.

“I’m going to keep wearing my kippah proud and not be afraid to live in my home, where I was born,” a student at the yeshiva targeted in the shooting told the CBC following the attack.

The shooting was condemned by Anthony Housefather, a Liberal Party member of Parliament representing the Mont-Royal district, the former seat of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Today a bullet was fired into a Jewish school in my riding. I have been in constant touch with Jewish community leadership & met local police this morning. Enhanced security measures were in place & even more now added. No parent or student should ever be put through this,” the legislator wrote on X.

The escalation in antisemitic attacks in recent weeks in the province drew the attention of Trudeau during a press conference on Thursday. “I understand that people are so profoundly disturbed by what they see happening there,” the prime minister told reporters during a press conference in the city, referring to the ongoing war in the Middle East.

The Liberal Party leader also commented on an incident at a local school, Concordia University, where protesters on Tuesday clashed as hostilities between Hamas and Israel continued into its fifth week. “Violence, hate, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and scenes such as the ones we saw in Concordia University or shots fired at Jewish schools overnight – all of that is unacceptable,” Trudeau added.

During a tense demonstration on campus, Yanise Arab, a history professor specializing in “decolonization” and “Palestine,” screamed at Jewish students to “go back to Poland.”

https://twitter.com/AntisemitismCA/status/1722589750572228766

The same day, a Concordia student allegedly called a Jewish student a “kike” before being pulled away from the altercation.

Gad Saad, a prominent public intellectual and Concordia professor, poked fun at the student after she accused him of spreading “misinformation,” claiming she actually said “cu**” instead.

“I’d like to also apologize for feeling unsafe to come to @concordia’s campus recently (as have many Jewish students). Many of us are wrongly presuming that there is a lot of violent hostility when in reality it was simply Middle Eastern passionate affection. I should have known better because I’m Lebanese. Your interaction in retrospect was restrained, polite, and elegant,” the bestselling author wrote on X.

The school has since brought in dozens of law enforcement officers as demonstrations continue.

On Wednesday, at a pro-Palestinian rally at nearby McGill University, a speaker boasted, “We terrified them!” as supporters waved flags and placards accusing Israel of committing “genocide.”

The escalation of recent events and antisemitic incidents has led the Jewish leaders to plead with local authorities in Quebec to do more to protect the community. “Schools are a place where we send our most treasured possessions — our children,” a provincial representative of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), a Jewish organization, said at a news conference on Thursday. “No child in Montreal should see their place of learning targeted by a weapon created to kill. It’s odious and evil.”

“Our community has 250 years of history in Quebec. We are proud, we are Quebecers, we’re not going anywhere. This attempted campaign of terror against us will not succeed.”