Montreal police advise Jewish community to suspend prayers after threats
A Jewish community group in Montreal is sounding the alarm after it received a threat to a Jewish school and synagogue on Ekers Avenue.
A Jewish community group in Montreal is sounding the alarm after it received a threat to a Jewish school and synagogue on Ekers Avenue. Police reportedly told the school to suspend rather than increase security.
The Jewish Community Council of Montreal announced that not only was the city’s Jewish community threatened again, but the police allegedly opted to tell them to cancel scheduled events.
“Police advised that Talmud study and evening prayers be suspended or moved. Let that sink in: children told to go home, congregants forced to pray elsewhere, because of hate,” the council said in a post to X. “We will not allow antisemites to dictate when or where we pray. We will not let them intimidate our children, our educators, or our community.”
The group added an all-too-common plea from the Jewish community in Canada over the last few years: the call for every level of government to get serious about the rise of antisemitism in Canada.
“No more platitudes. No more delays. Jewish Canadians deserve the full protection of the law,” the JCC of Montreal added. “This is not normal. This is not acceptable. This must stop.”
Kalman Emanuel, a spokesperson for the council, told True North the phone call originated from a payphone from an international number, warning that the caller would arrive at the school in 15 minutes to shoot up the school and synagogue.
“On the one hand, we appreciate that they came quickly to do their job and to protect,” Emanuel said. “On the other hand, the main thing we should be figuring out is how to keep the boys and their Jewish studies alive in the same building.”
Emanuel said the caller intended to terrorize the community, but the students moved to another location and were able to continue their studies and prayer.
“We didn’t see a reason for everyone to have to leave, unless there’s something on an intelligence level that police have that we don’t,” he said. “I don’t think any other group would be asked to move or delay their prayers because of a threat.”
He said Jew-hatred has become normalized and called on the federal government to strengthen the bail system to enforce consequences against those terrorizing the Jewish community and to deter future acts of violence.
Henry Topas, the regional director of Quebec and Atlantic Canada at B’nai Brith told True North police asked the community to leave the school “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Perhaps that phone number might have been a European or international number, but perhaps in some fashion, they were able to determine that there was something of a local content to it,” Topas said. “I think that it is premature for us to say that the police did or did not act appropriately.”
The Montreal police did not respond to requests for comment.
Topas said there’s often a disconnect between the intentions of lawmakers and the ability of police to do their jobs. He called on governments around the world to exercise caution in the way they approach geopolitics, noting that the connection between widespread condemnation of Israel’s democracy emboldens antisemitic violence in Canada.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre echoed the JCC’s outrage, saying antisemitism is not acceptable and the Jewish community should be protected rather than forced not to practice their faith due to safety concerns.
“This is unacceptable. All governments need to protect Jewish communities against the growing threats and dangers,” he said in a post to X. “Enough is enough. Every child must feel safe going to school.”
Anti-Israel protesters gathered in Montreal on the same day, calling on the Islamic Regime in Iran to “hit, hit Tel Aviv.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Jewish advocacy group, said the protest was just another example of incitement to violence on Canadian streets, which CIJA said is increasingly dangerous for the Jewish diaspora and community.
A month after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, two Montreal Jewish private schools were shot at, and True North has reported on similar events across Canada since.
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Why is CSIS apparently not a player when foreign muftis or whatever come to this country to preach hatred or worse against Jews here? The definition of a Jew to these simpletons is anyone who looks like a Jew. How many of us look like Jews to these hate-filled (if local Imams have been doing their job well) nincompoops? We only find out the hard way.
This advice from the local authorities to this Jewish Meeting is atrocious, tell me this the same advice they would give other religious or other cultural entities for example Islamic, Aboriginal, etc.. . No way that would happen, now get out and protect the public, which includes our Jewish population.