Assez c’est Assez

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Thousands of Montrealers braved the onset of this week’s heat wave Monday and gathered at Montreal City Hall to demand strong action from Mayor Valérie Plante against antisemitism. The crowd shouted in English and French, “Enough is Enough!” and “Assez c’est Assez!” The Federation CJA-CIJA demonstration took place following the firebombing and shooting of Jewish institutions, and the same day as a scheduled anti-Israel “revolutionary youth summer program” started at the McGill encampment.

In the large crowd were former PQ Minister André Boulerice, members of the Latino community, the Iranian Youth Council, members of the Judeo-Christian Dialogue, and members of the Japanese, Rwandan and Filipino communities. Others on hand included CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and Councillors Andee Shuster and Dida Berku, CDN-NDG councillor Sonny Moroz, former D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman, forner CSL councillor Glenn Nashen and many more.

Raihaana Adira, a member of the Ismaili Muslim community, a McGill Islamic Studies and International Development student and an ally of the Jewish community through Allied Voices for Israel on campus, told the crowd that she was raised with the Islamic values of co-existence and pluralism. Adira said Oct. 7 was the day she began becoming vocal about her alliance with the Jewish community. “While my classmates at McGill were celebrating in the streets and posting how heroic the attack was, I was contacting professors, mentors, friends — every Jewish person I knew in Canada and Israel to make sure their families were okay.” Adira said she has also been a collateral victim of antisemitism and bullying, including through doxxing, “for believing that terrorism is wrong and that Jewish people should not be killed for being Jewish or for living in their ancestral homeland!” She condemned the lack of action against the McGill encampment, “despite it violating both city and McGill bylaws. There have been no steps from the city to dismantle it!Since Day 1, the situation on campus and in Montreal is getting progressively worse and escalating at a high speed! Enough is enough! This is not about Muslim versus Jewish, this is about right versus wrong!”Steven Sebag of Federation CJA said, “stop Jewish hate now!” he added. “Stop antisemitism on our streets and on our campuses today! Enough is enough! We cannot tolerate one more day of hate in the city we love! You, our elected officials, bear the responsibility to protect the Jewish community and restore law and order on our streets and campuses! History has taught us the heavy price of inaction! Do not let history repeat itself! Please act now! Please act today!… It is time to step away from the sidelines and impose tougher measures!”

Martin Rosenthal of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) pointed out that Jewish Montrealers are “experiencing a wave of antisemitism unprecedented in our city. Montreal, which our Mayor has called a city of peace, is today a place of reprehensible actions that place into peril the peace and security of its inhabitants. For too long, our community has been under attack!…Mayor Plante, it is within your power and it is your duty to act!”

The Honourable Jacques Saada,a former MP and current President of the Montreal Holocaust Museum, relayed a message to Mayor Plante that “we do not have the strength to remain silent!” While Saada thanked Plante for her support of the new MHM under construction, he said Montrealers are hearing too often, “yes to antisemitism, yes to racism.” He also pointed out that the MHM’s construction site on St. Laurent Blvd. was vandalized Sunday with slogans inciting violence, including ‘f–k Israel.”