Montreal synagogue firebombed for the 2nd time in just over a year

Assailants firebombed a synagogue in a Montreal suburb for the second time in just over a year, the latest in a series of attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.

As in the other recent attacks on Canadian Jewish sites, no one was injured in the incident.

Mordecai Zeitz, the emeritus rabbi at Congregation Beth Tikvah, a modern Orthodox synagogue in the suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, said the congregants met for morning prayers on Wednesday morning outside the synagogue.

“We were able to recite the morning prayers in an abbreviated way,” he said.”We did not close even if we had to go outside to avoid the fires on the inside, but we had the fires of Jewish identity and Jewish pride very much front and center, in front of the charred doors of the synagogue,” Zeitz told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Police told the Montreal Gazette there were no injuries and that witnesses reported seeing a suspect at the site prior to the arrival of police. The building suffered minor smoke damage in addition to its front glass shattering.

Assailants tossed a firebomb at the same synagogue in November 2023 just weeks after Hamas’ invasion, which launched Israel’s multi-front war. There have been a number of similar attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions since then, including shots fired at Jewish schools. In August, bomb threats were sent to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada.

This week’s attack also comes after a violent pro-Palestinian demonstration in Montreal in late November where protesters burned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in effigy. And it comes roughly two weeks after an Australian synagogue was firebombed.

Zeitz said the damage was limited to the shattered glass and to the vestibule, and that he expected services to be held inside on Wednesday evening. The synagogue was inviting non-congregants to attend a solidarity Shabbat service on Saturday morning, he said, noting that the day school attached to the building had stayed open and functioning.

“We are never out of business,” he said.

B’nai B’rith Canada called on the authorities to do more to stem the violence.

“This is a terrifying reminder that Montreal is increasingly unsafe for Jewish people,” the synagogue’s cantor, Henry Topas, said in a statement.

“This is the result of the failure of leaders at all levels to hold accountable those responsible for the hate and violence that is infesting Canadian society,” said Topas, who is  also B’nai Brith Canada’s regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada. “Specifically, Mayor Valerie Plante must act now to stop the exponential rise in hate and antisemitism which she has permitted to get out of control in Montreal.”

Plante and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned Wednesday’s attack and vowed to track down the perpetrators.

“This vile antisemitic attack against Montreal’s Jewish community is cowardly and criminal,” Trudeau tweeted. “I trust the perpetrators behind this hateful act will be quickly brought to justice.”

Plante wrote on social media that “antisemitic actions are criminal actions,” adding, “It is intolerable that citizens of Montreal should live in insecurity because of their faith.”