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Montreal Jewish-Owned Restaurant Included on Boycott List Attacked Amid Antisemitic Crime Wave in Canada

Shots were fired at Falafel Yoni, a Jewish-owned restaurant in Montreal, on June 18, 2024. Photo: Screenshot

A Jewish-owned restaurant in Montreal has been attacked after being included on a boycott list created by anti-Israel activists, adding to a long list of Jewish institutions that have been targeted in Canada since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

Falafel Yoni said one of its locations had been targeted, and photos of bullet-sized holes in the windows went viral on social media. Police are reportedly investigating the incident but haven’t yet determined whether the holes were caused by bullets or some kind of projectile. No casualties were reported.

“Thanks so much for the overwhelming amount of support we’ve received in light of our St. Viateur location being targeted last night,” the restaurant said in an Instagram post.

Restaurant owner Yoni Amir said he believes his business was targeted on Tuesday night because he is Jewish and was born in Israel, according to local media.

“It’s very unfortunate, not just for me, but anyone that shares my heritage,” he said.

According to Amir, staff members found the damage on Wednesday morning, and he called the authorities once he was notified.

“Thanks so much for the overwhelming amount of support we’ve received,” said Falafel Yoni. “We’ll be back to business as usual tomorrow.”

The eatery added that, in light of the news of it being attacked, it had received many one-star reviews from politically motivated people who had not eaten at the restaurant.

A specific motive for the attack has not yet been established. It’s “still too early to determine if this is a hate crime,” said Montreal police spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier.

However, the restaurant was included on at least two lists of restaurants to boycott that were created by a number of anti-Israel activist groups in Montreal, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Falafel Yoni was the first business on one of the lists and the third on the other. It was included because the owner allegedly “support[s] a military regime responsible for the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians” and visited “occupied Palestine as he wanted to bring ‘Israeli’ cuisine back to Montreal.”

Valerie Plante, the Mayor of Montreal, wrote on X/Twitter that she was “shocked to learn that new acts of violence appear to have been committed with the aim of intimidating the Jewish community of Montreal.”

“Antisemitism and violence, whether expressed in images, words, or gestures, do not represent us and have no place in Montreal,” she said.

Meanwhile, Arif Virani, Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, confirmed that the restaurant was attacked and added, “Jewish people in Canada are being bombarded with violence and hatred. We can’t be complacent. We tabled stricter penalties for violent acts of hate because enough is enough. Hate must stop.”

The incident at Falafel Yoni was just the latest of a long string of attacks on Jewish institutions in Canada that have occurred since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists massacred 1,200 people in southern Israel, took more than 250 hostages, and began the ongoing war in Gaza.

In November, a man shot at a Montreal Jewish school, Yeshiva Gedola, and was subsequently charged.

Then in mid-May, two masked people showed up at a Toronto Chabad girl’s school, Bais Chaya Mushka, and shot a number of rounds at it in the early hours of the morning. Later in the month, gunfire hit the Belz Yeshiva Ketana at the Young Israel of Montreal synagogue.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the attack, writing that he was “disgusted that another Jewish school has been the target of a shooting. Relieved that no one was hurt, but I’m thinking of the parents and community members in Montreal who must be incredibly shaken.”

“This is antisemitism, plain and simple — and we will not let it win,” he said.

Beyond shootings, antisemitism has rocketed in Canada since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, with massive increases in hate crimes targeting the country’s 335,000-strong Jewish community in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, and several other cities.

In December, newly released police data revealed that, since Oct. 7, Jews had been the victims of 57 percent of all hate crimes in Toronto despite being just 3.6 percent of the Canadian city’s population.

That same month, Canadian officials charged a youth in Ottawa with terrorism offenses over alleged targeting of the Jewish community.

Concerns over antisemitism have also impacted Canadian lawmakers. In March, a Jewish politician who was forced to resign from her cabinet post in the government of British Columbia over remarks she made that were deemed offensive to Palestinians announced her decision to quit the caucus of the ruling left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) in the Canadian province.

Selina Robinson, who had served as minister of post-secondary education, told local news outlets that she could no longer support the government, citing its indifference to antisemitism.

“That’s been my experience,” Robinson told CTV when asked about antisemitism in the NDP caucus. “There’s been history of that. I’m aware of people who have said or done antisemitic things over time. They’ve apologized or not.”

The post Montreal Jewish-Owned Restaurant Included on Boycott List Attacked Amid Antisemitic Crime Wave in Canada first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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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.

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