Yesterday I wrote about the upswing in anti-Semitic attacks around the world. One of the incidents I mentioned was a Molotov cocktail attack on a synagogue in Montreal, Canada. Actually there were two separate attacks involving firebombs in the same neighborhood.

A synagogue and a Jewish community center in Montreal were targeted by attempted firebomb attacks this week, community groups said, as tensions rise across North America in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a group that represents Jewish groups across Canada, said in a post on X that it was aware of an attempted firebombing at a center in West Island and at Congregation Beth Tikvah overnight Monday.

No one was hurt in either attack, which both took place in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a mostly English-speaking suburb of Montreal.

Here’s an image of the synagogue in question.

Molotov cocktail thrown at a synagogue in Montreal.

Never Again is Now. pic.twitter.com/7dWKmjDq5p

— The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome (@TheMossadIL) November 7, 2023

Today, there are reports of an even more disturbing crime. Someone fired shots at two Jewish schools in Montreal.

…the first incident was brought to the attention of Montreal police around 8:20 a.m. after employees at the Talmud Torah Elementary School on St-Kevin Ave. noticed a bullet impact on the school’s door.

The second event was reported to police at 8:50 a.m., when a bullet impact was found on the door of the Yeshiva Gedola-Merkaz Hatorah school on Deacon Rd.

Police perimeters have been set up at both schools, canine units deployed and police intend to examine local surveillance cameras in an effort to determine how and when the shootings occurred.

The shots were apparently fired overnight and the buildings were both empty at the time. Still, the Quebec education minister stated the obvious:

“Honestly, I am very worried,” [Education Minister Bernard] Drainville said. “When people start to shoot at schools, it’s serious. This is not Quebec.

“When you start shooting at schools, it’s a form of terrorism,” he said. “We cannot cave into this.”

He’s exactly right. Shooting at a school like this is intended to terrorize Jewish kids and their parents.

There were other signs of brewing conflict yesterday at Concordia University yesterday starting with an argument between a pro-Palestinian student group and a pro-Israel group which turned into shouting and then escalated to punches being thrown.

Sarah Wolman, a second-year Concordia student who is a part of a group called Jews on Campus, said the organization was trying to hold a peaceful demonstration inside the university’s Hall building in support of the hostages taken by Hamas.

But by the time she arrived at the demonstration — a Shabbat table set to honour the hostages — she heard yelling and saw a crowd chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, surrounding the table. A few tables down, there had been a table set up to sell keffiyehs, a traditional Arab headdress, she said…

“People were calling us all murderers,” she said. “Some of us noticed our classmates there.”

The altercation deteriorated, with punches thrown and more shouting until police and campus security succeeded in separating the groups. The pro-Palestinian crowd continued to demonstrate outside the university and Wolman and the other students were escorted out off campus by security guards, she said.

A pro-Palestinian student claimed the Jewish students came in shouting and that’s what started the confrontation. This video was posted yesterday of a pro-Palestinian Concordia student giving the finger to a Jewish student.

Today at @Concordia in Montréal Jewish and Israeli students set up a table to call for the release of hostages currently held by HAMAS.

They were attacked, berated and harassed, and this lovely young lady in particular decided to call a Jew a k*ke.

Welcome to Canada in 2023. pic.twitter.com/Oo1Sn4ywlK

— Anthony Koch (@Anthony__Koch) November 8, 2023

The person in the video denied using a slur for Jewish people and claimed to have used a different four-letter word.

FACT CHECK: pic.twitter.com/smhETrEP6q

— Talia Jane ❤️‍🔥 (@taliaotg) November 9, 2023

This was from the same scene. Is this guy really a professor?

Montreal – November 8 – University of Montreal (UdeM) Professor Yanise Arab yells at a Jewish student in Concordia to “go back to Poland, sharmouta (wh*re)”. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/zYys9AtESf

— Documenting Antisemitism (@AntisemitismCA) November 9, 2023

It’s pretty clear which side is being more aggressive in this clip:

🚨HAPPENING NOW AT @Concordia

Pro-Palestinian 'activists' try and intimidate #Jewish students on campus, who set up an installation calling on ALL the hostages kidnapped by #Hamas to be returned home.

We commend these #Jewish students for not backing down to these thugs! pic.twitter.com/tGLT6bLGib

— HonestReporting Canada (@HonestRepCanada) November 8, 2023

And the same is true here:

🚨 WATCH the new angle video of Concordia University.

In the footage, a pro-Palestinian activist can be seen ripping off the Israeli flag.
pic.twitter.com/Z99WU3lMcZ

— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) November 9, 2023

This clip shows a closer view of students fighting over another Israeli flag.

Violently attacking Jewish students on campus is not progressive but it’s what happens when we allow for hateful rhetoric to go unchecked- that includes calling Jews colonizers. Enough @Concordia pic.twitter.com/CmPieOBPUK

— YsabellaHazan (@ysabellahazan) November 8, 2023

Ultimately one student was arrested for assaulting a security guard. A second guard and another student were both injured in the fighting but no one was seriously hurt. This was just one of three incidents at the school. In addition someone tried to incite violence on social media (the school didn’t say who) and a swastika was discovered in a university building.

So to sum all of this up, in one week we’ve had a brawl on campus, two Molotov attacks aimed at places where Jews congregate and two shots fired at Jewish schools. Things seem to be spiraling out of control.

Finally, one more sign of what things are like in Montreal. There was a large pro-Palestinian march just over a week ago during which a local Imam addressed the crowd.

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.”

A video of the speech circulated on social media. It has been the subject of media reports, drawing broad condemnation from Jewish advocacy groups and politicians, including Premier François Legault.

Eta Yudin, the vice-president of the Quebec branch of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), questions how Charkaoui received a platform to address protesters in Montreal.

“We know that words lead to actions,” she said. “A declaration like that could inspire actions and that’s not what we want in the streets of Montreal and we’re counting on the authorities to investigate.”

Here’s video of the speech.

Radical Islamic cleric Adil Charkaoui called for the murder of Jews in front of large crowds in Montreal

This speech was given in late October during a pro-Palestine demonstration.

It's shocking that so many people living in our country support such Jew-hating rhetoric.

Public… pic.twitter.com/vsr4t18sok

— Proud to be Canadian (@PTBCanadian) November 7, 2023

There are terroristic threats and violence being directed at Jews in Montreal. Hopefully this doesn’t escalate any further.