Police are investigating after a Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire—the third school to be targeted in the city’s Jewish community since October. Jewish advocacy groups are warning the community to “maintain vigilance.”
Montreal police responded to the Belz school at the Young Israel of Montreal synagogue May 29 after receiving a call that projectile impacts were visible on the building, police spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier said.
Officers arrived at the school at 6 p.m. and found at least one bullet at the front of the school. Police are hoping to find some video footage of the shooting, which happened overnight May 28, Ms. Gauthier said.
A police car will be present near the school and investigators and crime scene technicians are on the scene, police said, adding that the ongoing investigation has yet to identify any suspects.
The Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Quebec, in a joint statement, said no one was inside the building when the shooting occurred.
Montreal police “has assured us that, as a precaution, there will be increased police presence at all Montreal Jewish schools,” the groups said. “While we do not have any knowledge of a specific threat against the Jewish community, we remind everyone to maintain vigilance.”
Ms. Gauthier confirmed police plans to increase patrols “at and around Jewish community buildings and schools.”
Shooting Condemned
The gunfire at the Belz school comes just days after shots were fired on a Jewish girls school in Toronto. The latest attack is the fourth shooting incident at a Jewish school in Montreal since last October.The incident has drawn condemnation from political and Jewish leaders alike with officials denouncing the shooting as an act of anti-Semitism.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre reacted to the incident on social platform X.
“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,” the prime minister wrote in a late night post May 29. “This is anti-Semitism, plain and simple — and we will not let it win.”
Mr. Poilievre called the shooting a “terrifying escalation of anti-Semitism in this country” and called on the Liberal government to “step up and finally do something to protect Jewish people in Canada against this violence.”
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center President-CEO Michael Levitt challenged the country’s leaders to address the violence.
“Where’s the urgent action to protect Jewish kids and all Canadian Jews?” he asked in a May 30 social media post. “We don’t need thoughts and prayers, we need our political leaders to do their jobs and act before someone gets hurt or killed by this rampant and escalating violent anti-Semitism.”
The Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Quebec also called for action, saying Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante needs to do more to address ongoing anti-Semitic incidents in the city.
“Decisive action must be taken by Mayor Plante and leadership at the municipal level to finally put an end to the atmosphere of permissiveness towards anti-Semitism that is now rampant in our city,” the groups said in their statement. “Mayor Plante referred to Montreal as this ‘peaceful town,’ but this is not the Montreal anyone wants to live in.”
Ms. Plante called the shooting “completely unacceptable” in a May 29 X post, adding that “anti-Semitism has no place in Montreal.”
She said she had confidence in the city’s police force to “once again find the guilty person.”
The gunfire incident is the latest in a number of Jewish schools being targeted in Montreal since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
