Montreal synagogue firebombed for second time since Hamas onslaught against Israel
Emeritus rabbi at Congregation Beth Tikvah says damage limited to shattered glass and the vestibule, invites non-congregants to attend Shabbat solidarity service on Saturday
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’s October 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.
Flames were seen rising from the building at around 3 a.m. local time. Police later said they found an “incendiary device” near the scene.
“The damage is minor, we are talking about smashed windows and damage caused by smoke from the fire,” Montreal police spokeswoman Veronique Dubuc told AFP.
There were no injuries, she said.
Witnesses saw a “suspicious man” leave the area right after the fire broke out, she said, and a another building belonging to a Jewish community group was also damaged nearby.
A criminal investigation was underway, but Dubuc said it was too early to attribute a motive.
Another synagogue in Canada has been firebombed.
Here in Montreal, Congregation Beth Tikvah was targeted with an “incendiary device” in a suspected hate crime.
Attacks on the Jewish community have skyrocketed in the city, yet Mayor Plante has failed to take action against the… pic.twitter.com/SdFwhC0A38
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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 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.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) posted on X that it was “once again outraged” by these “cowardly acts” aimed at “intimidating and harassing” the Jewish community, urging “justice and swift action” from authorities. The organization noted that this marked the seventh time overall that a Jewish institution had been targeted in Montreal since the Hamas terror onslaught last year.
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.”
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, called the attack “yet another example of the vile wave of violence, hatred, and intimidation to which Jews in Canada — and all over the world — have been subjected in recent weeks and months.”
He urged the Canadian government to “act decisively, and show that such hatred will not be tolerated.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
