Jewish Community

Judge expands injunction against anti-Israel protests protecting 27 institutions

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / April 27, 2024 / anti-Israel protests, injunction, Jewish Community, Neil Oberman

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Superior Court Justice Louis Charette has broadly expanded a provisional interlocutory injunction against pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests so that demonstrators cannot protest within 50 metres of numerous Jewish community institutions throughout Montreal.The defendants are Independent Jewish Voices, Montreal4Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement Montreal (PYMMontreal), Alliance4Palestine.QC and Bara Iyad Abuhamed, the latter of whom faces charges of assaulting a police officer during a trespassing protest by an anti-Israel mob inside Carrefour Laval.

The judge wrote that in his view, “there is the existence of urgency, an appearance of right, a serious and/or irreparable prejudice suffered by lntervenors (the added institutions) and the balance of inconvenience lies in lntervenors’ favour, thereby satisfying the requirements for the issuance of a provisional injunction.” The judgment also authorizes the added Jewish institutions and their representatives to “call upon any policing authority to enforce the order to intervene.”

The original injunction was brought by Neil Oberman, Spiegel Sohmer senior partner, on behalf of Federation CJA and the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, following a March 4 hours-long blockade of the former’s building on Côte Ste. Catherine Road and a March 5 hours-long protest near the synagogue.Federation CJA and CIJA said the injunctions were brought because the anti-Israel protests in Montreal and across Canada “have grown increasingly aggressive, specifically targeting synagogues, community centres and even hospitals, stoking fear in the hearts of Canadian Jews across the country.”

The expanded injunction now prohibits protests within 50 metres of the sidewalk in front of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, the Federation CJA building, the YM-YWHA building on Westbury Ave., Herzliah High School on Mountain Sights Ave. and United Talmud Torahs of Montreal on St. Kevin, all in what is called the Jewish community campus in Snowdon. It also prohibits protests within 50 metres of the sidewalk outside Beth Israel Beth Aaron Synagogue, Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem and Beth Zion Synagogue in Côte St. Luc: Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Overoff Synagogue and Bais Menchem Chabad Lubavitch in Hampstead; Congregation Shaar Hashomayim and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Westmount; Congregation Shaare Zedek in NDG; Yeshiva Gedolah in Côte des Neiges, which was fired upon twice late last year; Congregation Beth Ora in St. Laurent; Hebrew Academy in Côte St. Luc; Solomon Schechter Academy in NDG, Jewish People’s School and Peretz School in CSL and École Maimonide in St. Laurent and CSL.

The pro-Palestinian group Independent Jewish Voices, reacting to the injunctions, claims their protests targeted the events, such as IDF reservists speaking at Federation CJA and the Israel real estate event at the Spanish and Portuguese, and not the venues. “Federation CJA’s claims are dangerous and misleading,” the group contends. “Despite claims in their lawsuit, synagogues and Jewish community buildings are not being protested for being Jewish cultural or religious spaces. Events glamorizing genocide and ethnic cleansing are not welcome in our cities, cultural centres and houses of worship. We are disappointed but not surprised to see CJA and CIJA…using legal tools to vilify the protests as ‘antisemitic.’ We have seen these organizations consistently intimidate and demonize grassroots and student organizers over the last six months. We are not the ones stoking fear in the hearts of Jewish community members; our community leaders are telling our fellow Jews to be afraid.”

B’nai Brith Canada, reacting to IJV, stated, “The actions of members of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) have made it abundantly clear, IJV does not represent the views of Canada’s grassroots Jewish community. It also appears as if they have no regard for the rules and laws of this country.”

The Suburban also contacted the Palestinian Youth Movement and await a reply. The other defendants had no contact information. n

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SPVM responds to The Suburban on hate crimes after Rotrand letter

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / March 23, 2024 / B’nai Brith Canada, Fady Dagher, Jewish Community, Marvin Rotrand

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Marvin Rotrand, formerly head of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, and now interim director of the new United Against Hate organization, is calling for clarity from the SPVM on hate crimes committed against the Montreal Jewish community.

Rotrand, whose new organization’s goal is to “promote dialogue and understanding within our diverse population to strengthen anti-hate efforts,” wrote to Montreal police chief Fady Dagher, pointing out that there has been a major increase in hate crime incidents in Canada in general, especially against Jewish communities since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

“Montreal was not spared from the wave of hatred targeting Jews,” Rotrand wrote. “Jewish schools were shot at and arson attempts were perpetrated against Jewish community buildings. Hateful gatherings openly incited violence against the Jewish community, Jewish students were attacked at Concordia University and calls for boycotts of businesses were launched simply because their owners are Jewish.”

Rotrand wrote that even after all of these incidents and the concerns expressed by the Jewish community, “there have been very few arrests.

“The lack of application of our laws gives the feeling that the authorities have not allocated the necessary resources to solve the major crimes we have witnessed in our city.”

Rotrand asked Dagher:

• “How many hate crimes and incidents have been recorded by the SPVM since Oct. 7, 2023? Of these, how many specifically targeted the Jewish community?”

• “With regard to incidents occurring since Oct. 7, 2023, when shots were fired at Jewish schools, and there were arson attempts against Jewish community buildings and acts of vandalism, are these incidents being investigated as probable hate crimes?”

• “What is the role of the SPVM’s Hate Crimes unit in these investigations? Does the unit lead the investigations? If not, what is its role?

• “On Nov. 24, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said that his department’s hate crimes unit had increased from a team from six people to 32. He said that since Oct. 7, the expanded unit made 22 arrests and laid 58 charges. What is the current number of police officers assigned to the hate crimes unit of the SPVM?

• Are there plans to increase the unit’s capacity to deal with the current epidemic of antisemitic incidents?

Rotrand wrote Dagher that the Montreal Jewish community “appreciates the statements you have made in recent months that anti-Semitism is unacceptable, and the increased visibility near Jewish institutions last October and November.

“However, the fact that there have been no arrests for these major crimes fuels a strong feeling that the SPVM must allocate many more resources so that investigations result in arrests and indictments of criminals.”

Contacted by The Suburban, the SPVM’s media representative said Dagher will respond to Rotrand in due course. They also provided the most recent statistics regarding hate crimes and incidents against members of the Jewish and Arab-Muslim communities from Oct. 7 to Feb. 24 — 42 hate crimes against Jewish individuals, 19 against Arab-Muslims; 32 hate crimes against Jewish properties, seven against Arab-Muslim properties; 56 antisemitic hate incidents, and 17 anti-Arab-Muslim incidents, for a total of 173 incidents — 130 against the Jewish community and 43 against the Arab-Muslim community.

The SPVM added that “there is no offence identified as a ‘hate crime’ in the Criminal Code.

“The hateful character is in fact a constitutive and aggravating factor of a given criminal act, a factor which must be nuanced depending on the context. For example, if a person is the victim of an assault motivated by hatred towards their religion, the suspect will be charged with assault and the hateful nature will be taken into consideration when determining the sentence, if convicted.”

The police added that although the SPVM’s hate crimes unit (MICH) processes them, hate incidents “do not lead to arrests or charges, because they are not criminal offences. The MICH takes care of this in order to prevent these incidents from potentially becoming hate crimes.” n

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Montrealers march for Israeli hostages

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / February 28, 2024 / Gaza, Hampstead Park, Jewish Community, Joel Goldenberg, march

By Joel Goldenberg

Numerous Montrealers marched from Hampstead Park to the Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre in Snowdon, demanding the immediate release of hostages held since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas in which 1,400 people were murdered.The walk was part of the global effort Run For Their Lives to help the 136 hostages still being held in Gaza.

The New York Times reported Feb. 6 that Israeli intelligence concluded 32 of the 136 have died, but to Jews, a body is sacrosanct and requires a proper burial, and thus those who died are still considered hostages.

One of those participating was Eric Hazan, second cousin of hostage Omer Shem Tov, who turned 21 during his captivity. “It’s really important that people don’t forget that we still have hostages being held in Gaza and these are innocent people who need to come back home,” Hazan told The Suburban. “The families are anxious to have them come back, they are devastated. The whole nation is devastated. Millions of Jews around the world are devastated by all this.”

At the Y, the names of the remaining hostages were read, and songs were sung. Ysabella Hazan, who spoke at pro-Israel rallies at Concordia late last year and in Washington, D.C., told attendees at Kellert Hall at the Y that she saw the 43-minute film of the Oct. 7 massacre that journalists have been invited to see. After seeing that, “I don’t even want to think about the condition of the hostages. I don’t want to know what Hamas is doing on their own territory. This [conflict] is as much an ideological war as a physical war waged against us.We have to keep our spirits very high in honour of the hostages, and we have to be united.”

Hazan added that we have to, “encourage students to go on campus and to have rallies like this one! It’s amazing that we have this rally in the community centre, as we should, but where’s the youth? We need to be empowered also!”

She also said those rallying in Canada “are here to show the world that we are one collective soul. As long as they are held hostage, we are held hostage! Our souls are held hostage! Our hearts are in Gaza until they are free! We are going to fight for Jewish rights! We are not going to allow people to call our hostages colonizers! We are Jews! We are not colonizers from the land that we are from!”

Also on hand were Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz, Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather and CSL councillor Dida Berku, amongst many others.

“I’ve heard from relatives, I’ve heard from Montrealers and from my residents, not just from the Jewish community, who are in solidarity with those who were taken from their homes and want them returned,” Moroz told The Suburban. “For me, it’s a moral clarity issue. We need to resolve this open wound, not just impacting local Jews in Montreal, but Jews around the world.”

Housefather told The Suburban that with the hostages being held for more than 100 days, “it’s really important for our local community to show our support for them.

“I do my own part by being here too and joining my fellow citizens.” n

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