Roddick Gates

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Large numbers of Montrealers turned up last Thursday, May 2 at the Roddick Gates of McGill University to rally against anti-Israel hate emanating from the encampment inside the campus that was established on April 27. The crowd was so large Sherbrooke St. was closed for three hours. While the pro-Israel crowd chanted “Bring them home” about the hostages still held by Hamas since its terrorist attack on Israel Oct. 7, and “Am Yisrael Chai,” the anti-Israel demonstrators chanted slogans such as “all Zionists are racists.” Some 50 of the latter group formed a chain and faced off against the SPVM, some of whom were on horseback.

The pro-Israel rally was organized by the student group StartUp Nation, Chabad at McGill and Chabad at Concordia, Bring Them Home Now Montreal and many other organizations. On hand were Yair Szlak and Steven Sebag of Federation CJA, former CSL councillor Glenn Nashen and many others, including Cantors Adam Stotland, Gideon Zelermyer and Daniel Benlolo, who sang together.

Anastasia Zorchinsky, founder and president of the StartUp Nation group, said “we’re here to stand for peace, we’re here to stand for unity! We’re also here to call out the vile hate that has been infesting our universities!….We’re experiencing the worst cases of antisemitism our generation has ever seen because of universities like McGill and Concordia, which are not enforcing their policies when Jewish students are targeted!”

Just before the rally began, Premier Legault called on the SPVM to dismantle the “illegal” encampment.

Michael Eshayek, also of StartUp Nation, called on universities to “stand up against Jewish hatred and to be on the right side of history! Today, it’s the Jewish community, tomorrow it will be someone else!”

McGill law student Jamie Fabian said when the anti-Israel mobs call for intifada, “we don’t call for violence. We use the law, and as law students, as Jews, we stay peaceful. We use the law to defend what’s right, and what’s right is not antisemitism!”

McGill graduate Sydney Rouah, who was in Israel Oct. 7, said Jewish life is “bigger and stronger, and certainly more important, than ever! I woke up Oct. 7 thinking it was a regular Saturday morning, I soon realized how wrong I was. I saw many sights that still shocked me. I see people younger than me changing into uniform, running in to war to save their people with no regard what could happen to them.”

McGill alumni Dr. Samantha Balass said the university “has become the breeding ground for antisemitism and what is McGill’s response? Underwhelming! They shuffle their feet and dodge responsibility, leading to the rampant antisemitism festering within their walls! McGill, we demand better and we will settle for nothing less!”

Szlak, president and CEO of Federation CJA, said, “we are here in support of students who celebrate and sanctify life, and we stand in stark contrast to the pro-Hamas campers who celebrate the deaths of Jews and Israelis and are calling for a global Intifada.”

Rabbi Reuben Poupko, who thanked Premier François Legault for his support of Israel and calling for the dismantling of the encampment, said the anti-Israel activists “think they’re reliving the 1960s, singing John Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance.

“Peace rallies don’t have slogans like ‘long live Oct. 7’, “long live Hamas’, ‘glory to our martyrs’, ‘globalize the Intifada’! Those aren’t peace slogans! Those are battle cries! We know how this movie ends — with the Jewish people strong and secure! I wish everyone here the strength, the resilience, the courage and the wisdom to keep up the fight and to make sure your voices are heard every day!” n