Côte Saint-Luc, August 10, 2025- The assault on a Jewish father in front of his three young children in Parc-Extension on Friday was appalling. It reflects something deeply wrong in our society. Hatred of Jewish people is not a Jewish problem. It is a societal problem.
Too often, antisemitism is explained away by shifting blame from the perpetrators of hatred to the victims. I’ve heard too many comments from people saying something along the lines of, “Well what do you expect when Israel is in a war against Hamas?” These same people never think to say, “Well what do you expect when the City of Montreal administration and police force say that ‘Globalize the Intifada’ is not dangerous hate speech.”
The kind of derangement needed to attack a father beside his young daughter grows from long-standing prejudice against Jewish people. It is supercharged by a news media that too often parrots propaganda by Hamas without due diligence and a social media environment that pushes conspiracies and lies. This toxic mix leads to marches where extremist rhetoric is spread and otherwise decent people learn to hate.
Politicians must not retreat into platitudes or empty condolences. They must act. Visibly Jewish Quebecers, like the man attacked, have stalkers. Unlike the mayors of big cities or government ministers, they don’t have bodyguards. Their safety is connected to the level of ambient hate in the society.
The City of Côte Saint-Luc has repeatedly called on Mayor Valérie Plante and the SPVM to better police protests by cracking down on hateful incitement as well as giving police the tools they need like body cameras and creating buffer zones around sensitive places like synagogues.
Attacks like the one on Friday are making Jewish Quebecers question whether they have a future here. The people calling to Globalize the Intifada are no doubt thrilled by this. But I’m convinced that everyday Quebecers from across this beautiful province are horrified because of what this says about their future, too. I encourage my fellow Quebec mayors and all elected officials on the island of Montreal to speak out against this attack not just on a man, and a community, but on Quebec values.