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Man Arrested Following Antisemitic Assault in Montreal Park
Montreal, Quebec. Photo: Taxiarchos228/ Wikimedia Commons.
Canadian Jewish leaders have leveled criticism at law enforcement for the response to an attack against a Jewish man on Friday which resulted in the arrest of a 24-year-old suspect on Monday.
The Jewish Community Council of Montreal released a statement by its executive director, Rabbi Saul Emanuel, about the apparent hate crime in a Montreal park.
“The arrest of the man who brutally attacked a Jewish father in front of his children last Friday afternoon is welcome, but it is far from enough. The disgraceful reality is that it took SPVM [the Montreal Police Service] nearly an hour to respond to the initial call for help,” Emanuel stated. “An hour — after a violent hate crime committed in broad daylight against a man whose only ‘offense’ was being visibly Jewish. That delay is not a minor lapse. It is a dereliction of duty.”
Emanuel called this delay “a signal, intentional or not, that when Jews are targeted, urgency is optional.” He asked “if this attack had been against another community, would police have taken nearly sixty minutes to arrive? The question answers itself, and the truth is as infuriating as it is dangerous.”
The SPVM said it had “spared no effort to locate the suspect” and that it continued an investigation “to shed full light on the circumstances of this criminal act.” The SPVM thanked citizens “who contributed to this outcome by sending us information that facilitated the suspect’s location.”
B’nai Brith Canada also released a statement about the arrest in which it further critiqued law enforcement’s response to the crime.
“During the assault, which occurred in the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension area, the suspect is alleged to have beaten a visibly Jewish man in front of his children, tossing the victim’s kippah into a nearby fountain,” the organization noted. “The Montreal police did not mention the victim’s Jewish identity in its announcement of Monday’s arrest, nor the fact that his kippah was thrown into a fountain.”
Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy, said that “omitting such critical facts does a disservice to the public and gives the impression that the authorities are tone-deaf to the crisis Jews in Montreal are facing on a daily basis. With the situation continuing to devolve, Jewish Canadians need leaders to pay more than mere lip service to antisemitism. We need all levels of government to take clear and unequivocal positions on combating this scourge of hate.”
Emanuel emphasized the broad impact of the crime.
“This was not just an assault. It was a public act of antisemitic humiliation designed to terrorize an entire community. Every minute the attacker remained at large was another minute in which he could have harmed someone else,” Emanuel said. “Montreal police failed to treat this for what it was: a violent hate crime that demanded an immediate, overwhelming response. Now the justice system has one job: to ensure this man pays the maximum legal price for his actions. No plea bargains. No soft sentencing. No excuses about ‘first offenses’ or ‘mitigating circumstances.’ He should have the book thrown at him with both hands. Anything less will embolden every coward who thinks they can lay hands on a Jew in this city without consequence.”
Emanuel warned that “our community will not forget this failure. We will not accept it. And we will not stop demanding answers until Montreal police explain why a father could be beaten in front of his children, have his kippah ripped from his head and thrown into a fountain, and still wait nearly an hour for the protection he is owed as a citizen of this city.”
Canada has experienced a steep surge in antisemitic hate crimes following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.