Montreal City Weblog

Kate 12:59 on 2023-11-09 Permalink Reply  

• Meezly 16:06 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  Is it me, or does it seem like there are higher incidences of attacks on Jewish buildings in Montreal/QC? Jews make up a higher % of the Ontario population and Quebec has a similar % as Manitoba. Are there similar attacks in other provinces, or is our fair province generally less tolerant?

  Could it also be that Montreal has the largest population of Orthodox Jews? There have been reoccurring cycles in the city’s history, ie. in the 90’s there were heightened occurrences of firebombings of synagogues. It would be depressing if there was something about our province that foments these kinds of incidences.

• bob 16:08 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  “In a speech to protesters on Oct. 28, Adil Charkaoui, speaking Arabic, denounced ‘Zionist aggressors’ and called on Allah to ‘kill the enemies of the people of Gaza and to spare none of them.’ ” – CBC news

• MarcG 16:23 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  There’s some overlap between Quebec’s “de souche” nationalism and Nazism.

• JaneyB 17:13 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  I’ve lived in 3 provinces including QC. Anti-semitism is much worse here than in Ontario. It’s not just the larger Arabic population (with sometimes current political tensions back home) but historically, the Catholic church was strongly anti-semitic. Catholic culture lingers here despite the empty churches.

• bob 18:06 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  A take:
  In the last few decades Quebecois anti-Semitism has somewhat changed into being annoyed at identifiable Jews, like Hassids, or the usual background hum of conspiracy theory nonsense. Since the Church has lost so much authority, the anti-Semitism of right wing Catholic groups and figures has lost its appeal. What lingers is a kind of inherited conspiratorial view, and not only of Jews – of any “other” – there is an assumption of criminality and secret society among whoever – Italians, Haitians, Irish, those inscrutable Chinese, etc.
  But the violence against Jewish targets is due almost entirely to Israel/Palestine and the increasingly anti-Semitic tropes and rhetoric from allegedly “progressive”, allegedly left-wing activists. It is a kind of mix of refurbished elements of old-fashioned propaganda like the Protocols, often repurposed by Arab activists, psychotic anti-communists, and other right-wingers over the last century or so, expressed with an incoherent, histrionic “anti-colonial” (anti- a lot of things) revolutionary rhetoric (in its moralizing it seems akin to a religious fervour) – arson and shootings are ok because they are “resistance”. The old school anti-Semites, a guy like Parizeau when he lost, may say and do bitter things, but they are somewhat shocked at actual violence, and find it unseemly.

• Meezly 19:02 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  @bob – I would beg to differ that the last few decades were comprised of merely “being annoyed” at Jews. Over the past few decades, there have been occasional yet steady reports of vandalism and property damage. I’d say that spray painting swastikas at a synagogue is a violent act. It’s possible the synagogue firebombings in the 90’s were also a direct result of the referendum loss. Parizeau may find such violence distasteful, but did he publicly condemn these acts? And there was a surge of racially motivated hate crimes, including anti-Semitism, during the pandemic. Like that break-in at a synagogue where sacred objects were stuffed into a toilet. There’s a kind of brazen thuggishness here that is not found elsewhere in the country.

  I brought this up because folks I know outside of Quebec expressed shock and disgust at the recent molotov cocktail thrown at the Beth Tikvah synagogue, as if this kind of thing rarely ever happens where they live. I was a bit taken aback because I realize that over the years, I’ve become somewhat inured to reports of anti-Semitic vandalism. In light of recent events, these acts have intensified. I realize the unique mix of cultures, historic and new, in the Greater Montreal area, can be wonderful in more harmonious times, but can contribute to “mounting tensions” during times of discord, as the media keeps reporting.

• Chris 19:14 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  MarcG, Meezly, JaneyB: is there any evidence or announcement that the perpetrators are Quebecois de souche or Catholic? Because it seems to me there’s a fair chance the perpetrators could be Arab or Muslim too. Perhaps we should not jump to conclusions too fast about lingering Catholicism or Quebec nationalism. Quebec has the highest percentage of Arabs of any province, and the second highest percentage of Muslims. Maybe that’s why. Shall we start hypothesizing that letting in too many immigrants is the problem? No, we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion either.

• Chris 19:19 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  >Like that break-in at a synagogue where sacred objects were stuffed into a toilet.

  A great example! Because everyone jumped to conclusions back then too. And ultimately,
  it wasn’t motivated by anti-Semitism.

• Anton 20:14 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  I doubt many white bds/decolonize-style lefties would resort to acts of arson or even more serious crime, it sounds distasteful, when u could just as well vandalize with messages and paint (not swasticas tho, that would be nazis). Perhaps throwing shoes? Then again, some lefties can get pretty extreme.

  I’d say there’s plenty of possible candidates: nazis, Arabs, white supremacists, other religions, crazy kids… I guess leftist terrorists sometimes do exist too.

  Then again, throwing in decolonize-lefties with nazi-tropes and calling it all antisemitism and histrionics is perhaps some attempt to whitewash Israel’s history, which is getting more and more difficult these days. In Germany, Theres also a lot of hysterical shouting down of people questioning the unquestionable loyalty to Israel, and calling them antisemitic. Perhaps as the mainstream is shaking their head more and more in silence, all the fringes feel like there’s a free-for-all on Jewish institutions.

  Its not good.

• H. John 23:16 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

  Police-reported hate crime in Canada – by Jing Hui Wang and Greg Moreau, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics:

  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2022001/article/00005-eng.htm

• MarcG 11:47 on 2023-11-10 Permalink

  It’s too bad that report doesn’t include information about perpetrators.