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Jewish students on alert as Montreal campuses brace for volatile Oct. 7 anniversary
As the week marking the second anniversary of Oct. 7 arrives, Jewish students and community groups at McGill and Concordia are sounding alarm bells over what they fear may be a volatile day of protests, disruptions, and threats to campus safety.
While anti-Israel student groups have called for a general strike and campus actions, Jewish activists are demanding clarity from university leadership on how they plan to protect students and enforce rules.
Concordia student Anastasia Zorchinsky, founder and co-president of the school’s Startup Nation chapter, says her chief concern is simple and urgent: safety.
“My biggest concern is the safety, security, and just the well-being of students on campuses. Students are definitely feeling very intimidated and unsafe for the second year,” she told The Canadian Jewish News.
She recalls last Oct. 7 as a day when legal protections proved hollow.
“The police stopped (Jewish students), told us no, it’s too unsafe for you to go there. We had our bailiffs there … but they said, ‘We can’t guarantee your safety.’”
Zorchinsky blames what she calls “signal without substance”—public statements by universities that fail to articulate enforcement.
“They don’t say what consequences are going to be imposed. If somebody sees that there’s a consequence, these (threats) could definitely slow down. But if you’re not taking any sides … you just embolden them.”
Drew Sylver, another Jewish undergrad at Concordia, frames this moment as a test of institutional resolve more than a matter of free speech.
“Statements are great, but action is what is the only way to actually get through to the people who are harassing, intimidating and threatening students,” he told The CJN.
He warns that without visible consequences, the scene may echo last year’s unrest.
“We weren’t allowed on our own campus,” he recalls. “There was no leadership. It’s hard to imagine what it’s going to be like this year. (Demonstrators) were emboldened in every way. Concordia is the most antisemitic university in North America.”
At McGill, on Oct. 7, 2024, protesters barged through a metal fence erected by Montreal police, after the university announced that access to campus would be restricted to students, faculty and essential visitors.
Protesters targeted the construction site of the Sylvan Adams’ Sports Science Institute, which Canadian-Israeli entrepreneur Adams has said is intended to establish a partnership with Tel Aviv University.
In the lead-up to Oct. 7 this year, student groups SPHR (Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance) Concordia and SPHR McGill have issued mobilization calls. SPHR Concordia is urging faculties to strike and demanding that Concordia divest from defence and technology firms including Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Boeing, Spirit Systems, Triumph Group, and Booz Allen Hamilton. SPHR McGill, in turn, seeks to rally tens of thousands, posting that “27,000 McGill students on strike to demand divestment. Join us to rally … at 1 PM.”
Zorchinsky and Sylver warn that planned tactics may go beyond pickets and speeches. They claim the protest aims to block buildings, disrupt classrooms, and pressure faculty to move courses online.
They also criticize recent materials circulated by organizers as radicalizing tools.
One flashpoint is a new student handbook produced by the Concordia Student Union (CSU)—the body representing roughly 35,000 undergraduates. The handbook was intended as a cultural and political guide for the school year, but critics say it goes beyond offering guidance, instead serving as a political statement that reflects an increasingly ideological climate within student governance.
Zorchinsky, who publicly criticized the publication, argued that the handbook “reads less like a student resource and more like propaganda,” suggesting it promotes a narrow worldview that alienates Jewish students and demonizes Israel.
University communications reflect a balancing act between openness and precaution.
Last week, Quebec Superior Court judge Patrick Ferland refused McGill’s request for an interlocutory injunction to limit protests near campus and curb harassment. The court found that while McGill and intervening Jewish student groups had presented evidence of antisemitic incidents on campus — including vandalism, harassment and derogatory comments — the university failed to show that the injunction would prevent future harm. Moreover, the judge raised concerns about the injunction’s effects on free expression. Though acknowledging the evidence as “extremely troubling,” he concluded that the proposed order would not materially change the campus climate or deter future misconduct.
The denial restricts McGill’s ability to preemptively curtail protest tactics like noise, obstruction or intimidation, placing greater pressure on internal campus security, policing, and university response protocols.
In a statement to The CJN, McGill University acknowledged the Quebec Superior Court’s denial of its injunctive request and reasserted its commitment to free expression and peaceful assembly. It added that “academic activities will proceed as planned” and that it has “enhanced campus security measures,” with room for further assessment.
“Tomorrow, academic activities will proceed as planned,” McGill’s communications office wrote on Oct. 6. “The University has taken concrete steps to support the safety and well-being of students, faculty, and visitors, and more recently has enhanced campus security measures. The University also regularly reassesses whether additional steps are needed to reinforce its efforts to maintain a safe, inclusive and welcoming campus, while remaining true to its values of openness and inclusion.”
Concordia University says it is actively monitoring demonstrations and liaising with Montreal police. The university notes that it offers accompaniment through its Campus Safety and Prevention Services for those who feel unsafe and that it has reminded the community that violence will not be tolerated. The school’s communications office emphasized that students should expect to attend classes “without disruption or harassment.”
“We carefully monitor events and demonstrations and add personnel as needed, for example for potential large demonstrations,” Concordia’s communications office wrote in an email to The CJN.
“Given misinformation recently circulated, we also reminded our community last week of behaviours that are prohibited under the Code of Rights and Responsibilities and that violence will not be tolerated. We underlined that students who want to attend classes must be able to do so without disruption or harassment.”
What remains uncertain, however, is how either Montreal school will act if protesters attempt to occupy or block buildings or interfere with classroom operations—precisely the scenarios students warn may unfold.
Jewish communal bodies in Montreal are already deploying countermeasures. Federation CJA, in partnership with the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, has launched a community alert urging members to monitor developments, demand concrete university commitments, and support student safety. Federation CJA says it is working with Hillel Montreal to expand safe spaces, coordinating with local police and its own Community Security Network, and soliciting reports of harassment or violations.
Federation CJA’s public messaging paints the upcoming protests as orchestrated by “pro-Hamas radicals … glorifying this horrific day,” and calls for Jewish students to demand that universities enforce codes of conduct. In a joint post on X last month, CIJA and Federation CJA condemned the strike as an attempt “to intimidate and harass Jews” and affirmed that Jewish students “have the right to feel safe on campus.”
Hillel Montreal is preparing for increased demand, expanding its capacity and readiness to support students who may feel vulnerable on Oct. 7, according to an email statement from Federation CJA. A post from Hillel Montreal asks students to message them if they need someone to walk them to class on Oct. 7 or if they are willing to be an escort.
In the coming days, Jewish students in Montreal will test whether their campuses are safe spaces or battlegrounds. Zorchinsky says she does not seek confrontation—she wants guarantees.
“We’re expecting it to be very unsafe … we encourage people to stand up and speak up … This is about Canada, about students having the same rights as everybody else.”
The post Jewish students on alert as Montreal campuses brace for volatile Oct. 7 anniversary appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Bari Weiss, Free Press founder who started as antisemitism crusader, named editor-in-chief of CBS
(JTA) — Bari Weiss, the journalist who first rose to prominence for her campus campaign alleging antisemitism two decades ago, has been named editor-in-chief of CBS News, a stunning ascent that marks one of the most consequential appointments in American media in recent years.
The appointment came as Paramount Skydance, led by David Ellison, announced its $150 million purchase of The Free Press, the publication Weiss founded in 2022. Weiss will oversee both outlets as editor-in-chief, reporting directly to Ellison. The move marks a major shakeup for a legacy news division long associated with mainstream liberalism and a bet on Weiss’s brand of provocative centrism.
Ellison’s involvement adds another layer of intrigue. The son of Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder known for his pro-Israel philanthropy, David has in recent months gained attention as his father helped spearhead a bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. The forced sale, mandated by a new U.S. law aimed at separating the platform from its Chinese ownership, has drawn political scrutiny and elevated the Ellisons’ influence at the intersection of media, tech, and geopolitics.
For Jewish observers, Weiss’s trajectory carries special resonance. Her public identity has long intertwined with Jewish causes, Israel advocacy and debates over antisemitism and free speech. Under her leadership, The Free Press has become a prominent voice on the American Jewish experience, particularly its coverage and commentary supporting Israel and condemning rising anti-Israel activism after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Born in Pittsburgh and educated at Columbia University, Weiss first emerged as a student activist in the early 2000s when she campaigned against professors she accused of anti-Israel bias, a battle that foreshadowed later campus wars over Zionism and academic freedom. A film she co-produced called “Columbia Unbecoming” documents her account.
Raised in a Reform Jewish household in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, her connection to the community became national news with the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, the congregation where she had her bat mitzvah. The massacre, she wrote, was an “alarm bell” that shook her out of a “holiday from history.” She channeled the tragedy into a book, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” in 2019.
Now 41, Weiss has positioned herself as a defender of open inquiry within liberal institutions and a critic of what she saw as left-wing intolerance. She rose through the editorial ranks at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, where she became known for her critiques of “cancel culture.” Her 2020 resignation letter from the Times, alleging bullying and ideological conformity, went viral and turned her into a hero for many self-described centrists.
When she launched The Free Press, Weiss promised to create a home for “free thought and fearless reporting.” The site quickly grew into a digital media powerhouse, attracting major investors and millions of readers, but also attracting criticism from those who say Weiss’s project is a polished rebranding of right-wing media.
Now she will have the chance to bring her brand of journalism to a much broader audience, as the top editor overseeing coverage at a legacy news organization whose properties include “60 Minutes” and “Sunday Morning.”
“As proud as we are of the 1.5 million subscribers who have joined under the banner of The Free Press — and we are astonished at that number — this is a country with 340 million people. We want our work to reach more of them, as quickly as possible,” Weiss wrote in a letter to readers on Monday. “This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity allows us to do that.”
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On Paramount+, Apple TV, HBO and more, Oct. 7 emerges as a cinematic subgenre
(JTA) — Two years after the Hamas attacks on Israel, the tragedy of Oct. 7 has become its own cinematic sub-genre. Filmmakers have rushed to bear witness, survivors have taken up cameras, and streaming platforms are now filled with documentaries and dramatizations that revisit, reimagine, and attempt to process the day’s horrors.
From raw documentaries of the Nova music festival to scripted miniseries debuting this month, these works show how Israelis, and Jews around the world, are still grappling with a single day that reshaped their lives.
The desert rave that became the site of mass murder has inspired a cluster of films, each offering a different register of witness.
“We Will Dance Again” is a documentary that offers a chronological, minute-by-minute account of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on the Supernova Music Festival in Israel. The film is constructed primarily through the first-hand testimonies of over a dozen survivors, interweaving their accounts with footage they recorded on their cell phones and video recovered from the cameras of the attackers. The documentary is available to stream Paramount+.
“#Nova,” now on Prime Video, adds new layers of forensic detail by synchronizing video captured by the victims on their personal cell phones with footage recovered from Hamas body-worn cameras. “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre,” on Apple TV and YouTube, stitches together real-time footage and interviews to convey the disorienting chaos of the first hours.
A more intimate companion piece, “Tattooed for Life,” which played across many film festivals but is not currently streaming, follows tattoo artist and survivor Liraz Uliel as she memorializes fellow festival-goers through a shared fractal tattoo design, an act of mourning turned into community ritual.
Other filmmakers have turned their attention to what happened in the homes, fields and kibbutzim of southern Israel.
The PBS documentary “After October 7: A Personal Journey to Kfar Aza” offers a close look at one of the hardest-hit communities, combining news footage with deeply personal reflections on grief, displacement and rebuilding.
Currently in theaters, “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” chronicles retired general Noam Tibon’s desperate drive south to save his son, journalist Amir Tibon, and his family. Blending firsthand testimony with security footage of real-time chaos, the film recounts the former general’s 10-hour, high-stakes mission across a country under siege to rescue his loved ones from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The film won the People’s Choice Award when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival after some turmoil.
Two scripted productions expand these same themes. “Red Alert” (known in Hebrew as “First Light”) is a four-part miniseries that dramatizes five intertwined true stories of civilians, police, and first responders, and is executive-produced by Lawrence Bender, of “Pulp Fiction” fame. The series weaves these chaotic narratives together in a race-against-time format and premieres on Paramount+ on Oct. 7, making it one of two major scripted series to debut on the second anniversary of the attack.
The second series, “One Day in October,” an anthology series based on seven distinct personal stories, will debut on HBO Max on Oct. 7, with all seven episodes available for the U.S. audience.
Many documentaries are meant as a bulwark against denial.
“Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre,” a 47-minute film, compiled by the Israeli military, compiles raw footage from multiple sources, including Hamas body-cam recordings, dash cams, CCTV, and victims’ phone videos, to create a chronological record of the atrocities. Due to its graphic nature, the film has not been released to the general public and is only shown in private, invitation-only screenings for policymakers, journalists, diplomats, and community leaders around the world.
A documentary created by Sheryl Sandberg, “Screams before Silence,” address the sexual violence and gender-based atrocities perpetrated by Hamas during the attacks. It is intended to break what critics have described as a moral silence on these war crimes and is streaming on YouTube.
“The Killing Roads” does narrow its focus to the attacks on Route 232 and Highway 34, which were the main arteries where Hamas gunmen ambushed and killed approximately 250 people fleeing the Nova festival and surrounding communities. The film has been released for free viewing on platforms like YouTube and a dedicated website to combat denial of the massacre.
The PBS documentary “October 7th: Through Their Eyes” is focused on a network of Israeli volunteer archivists who immediately set out to preserve the large volume of digital evidence, including social media posts, videos, and messages, from survivors and victims before the content could be deleted or lost. The goal of their project, October7.org, is to create a widely accessible, permanent database of first-hand testimonies.
Several recent works focus on the ordeal of captivity and survival.
“The Children of October 7,” streaming on Paramount+ and hosted by activist Montana Tucker, profiles eight young survivors (ages 11-17) who share harrowing, unscripted testimonies of narrowly escaping death, witnessing the murder of family members, or enduring captivity, and highlights their resilience in the face of unspeakable loss.
Meanwhile, the short documentary “A Letter to David” sees the filmmaker revisit his onetime actor and friend, David Cunio, who remains held in Gaza along with his brother, Ariel Cunio, after being kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The film is a collage of family footage and archival material that functions as a cinematic plea for his return.
As the shockwaves of Oct. 7 spread around the world, another crop of films has examined how the attacks reverberated across the Jewish Diaspora and within movements for and against Israel’s war.
The documentary “October 8” (previously titled “October H8te”) captures the anti-Israel protests that erupted across U.S. cities and college campuses in the days and weeks following the attack. It is streaming on Apple TV and Amazon. “The New Jew: Days of War” follows Israeli comedian Guri Alfi as he travels across North America to explore Jewish identity and division in the aftermath.
“Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets” documents the dueling “Kidnapped” and “Free Gaza” posters that turned city lampposts into symbolic battlefields. And “There Is Another Way” portrays the Israeli–Palestinian group Combatants for Peace, whose members struggle to uphold their belief in nonviolence even as both societies harden in grief.
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Poll: 40% of American Jews believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
(JTA) — Multiple polls have found that about 60% of Americans believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a biting charge that Israel and the United States reject.
Now, for the first time, a poll has taken the pulse of U.S. Jews specifically — and found that 39% of them hold the opinion.
The new poll by the Washington Post, conducted in early September prior to President Donald Trump’s latest breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, also found that 61% of American Jews said that Israel has committed war crimes against Palestinians.
While allegations that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza have been lodged against the country by international bodies, human rights groups and pro-Palestinian activists, the poll suggests that charge is now resonating more widely among even U.S. Jews — those who are most likely to have a personal connection to Israel.
The poll found that many American Jews still hold strong ties to Israel. Three-quarters of American Jews surveyed said that Israel’s existence is vital for the long-term future of the Jewish people, while over half said that they were “very” or “somewhat” emotionally attached to Israel.
But emotional ties to Israel were far weaker among younger respondents. While 68% of American Jews over 65 said they were emotionally connection to Israel, among those aged between 18 to 34, that share dropped to 36%. Younger Jews were also more likely to call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, with half of Jews aged 18 to 34 using the term.
The poll found that Jews were almost evenly split over Israel’s actions in Gaza, with 46% approving and 48% opposing. That divide was also split sharply on partisan lines, with 85% of Jewish Republicans approving compared to 31% of Jewish Democrats.
The majority of American Jews also blame Hamas more than Israel for the civilian death toll in Gaza, with two-thirds of American Jews blaming Hamas for starting the war and operating in civilian areas of Gaza, according to the poll.
The poll also found that criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had significantly increased among American Jews in recent years. It found that 68% expressed a negative opinion of the Israeli leader, with 48% rating his leadership as “poor,” compared to 54% disapproving of him in a 2020 Pew Research Center poll.
On the continuation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, vast majorities of the American Jewish community assigned blame to both Hamas and Netanyahu, with 91% saying Hamas bears responsibility and 86% saying Netanyahu bears responsibility.
As several European countries recognized Palestinian statehood last month, the poll also found that over half of American Jews believe that Israel and an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully with each other.
Looking to the relationship between the United States and Israel, about half of respondents said that U.S. support for Israel is at about the right level. A third of respondents said that the United States is too supportive of Israel, a share that jumped 10 percentage points since the 2020 Pew poll, and 20% said it is not supportive enough.
The Washington Post poll surveyed 815 American Jews from Sept. 2 to 9 and had a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.
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