http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/923034--jews-fear-orchestrated-campaign-of-hate-after-attacks-in-montrealMONTREAL — A group of elderly Jewish ladies calmly played bridge in the basement of a synagogue Monday — just below the cracked window.
Over the weekend, someone tossed a rock through that front window in an apparent campaign of hate crimes targeting six of Montreal’s Jewish institutions.
The cheerful buzz during the card game was interrupted, and the women became animated, when asked about the attacks.
Four synagogues, a Jewish school and a daycare had their windows smashed in the city’s west end. Meanwhile, in the east end, controversy raged over a local shoe store that is being boycotted by some Montrealers because it sells shoes made in Israel.
For some community members, the weekend incidents brought back painful memories. One woman at the card game expressed sadness that the hate spree barely made a ripple locally and was relegated to one newspaper’s back pages.
Another woman, Clara Mercer, said she couldn’t accept that such incidents would occur in this country.
“I came as a young child to Canada after the Second World War and I worship the ground that I’m walking on,” Mercer said during the card game at Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Synagogue.
“I feel that somebody invaded my life around here and I’m very annoyed with it.”
B’nai Brith’s local chapter issued a press release Monday asking that, in light of the attacks, police re-examine other acts previously considered isolated incidents of vandalism and view them as hate crimes. The group said it fears an “orchestrated campaign” of hate.
Rabbi Reuben Poupko, who sits on the community’s security committee, says some people are clearly targeting Jews in the city and that members of the community feel “extraordinarily distressed.”
“(Some people) are committed to disrupting the communal harmony of the city of Montreal, are so driven by hatred that they, in a very systematic and organized way, target Jewish institutions,” he said.
“For the older members of the community who experienced terrifying moments in history, these recall terrible, terrible memories and open wounds.”
The weekend incidents brought condemnation from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.
“The attacks . . . represent a series of hateful and systematic acts not just on institutions but on a religious community itself,” Ignatieff said in a statement.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jewish communities across Canada that once again have been made to feel that their congregations and the children in their schools have cause to fear for their safety.”
Ignatieff said government efforts to help provide security for such institutions haven’t gone far enough. One of his MPs, Irwin Cotler, noted that Jan. 17 was Raoul Wallenberg Day and he suggested people should honour the late humanitarian by standing up against this “clear anti-Semitic hate crime.”
The attacks came at the same time as some Montrealers, including Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, headed out to buy shoes in support of a store that sells footwear made in Israel.
The store is being boycotted by some Montrealers for selling the Israeli shoes — and the boycott has received support from the leader of a small left-wing party with one seat in the Quebec legislature. Boycott organizers describe their campaign as a reaction to human-rights abuses against Palestinians by the Israeli state.
As for the synagogue attacks, B’nai Brith said they brought back “painful memories” of the firebombing of the city’s United Talmud Torah School.
The school was torched just before Passover in 2004.
Local men Sleiman El-Merhebi and Simon Zogheib were charged in the case, which made international headlines and drew donations to help rebuild the school’s library.
The Quebec Jewish Congress said Monday it had met with police and felt reassured that authorities were taking the incidents seriously.
“This violence has sparked an emotional reaction in the Jewish community,” said the group’s president, Adam Atlas.
“Attacking places of worship and teaching is not only completely disgraceful, but it threatens our society’s values of liberty and tolerance.”
Topic: Jews fear ‘orchestrated campaign’ of hate after attacks in Montreal (Read 373 times)