Montrealers share their thoughts on the anti-Israel protest

Since October 7, following the Hamas-led terror attack against Israel, which resulted in over 1,200 deaths and more than 230 hostages taken, the situation in Canada has become tense.

Huge protests take place almost every weekend in Montreal, Quebec. During and after those protests, vandalism has occurred, critical infrastructure was blocked, and attacks against Jewish institutions were reported.

In Toronto, a bomb threat was made towards a Jewish school, forcing it to be evacuated. In terms of the number of arrests and charges given by the police, this is incomparable to the freedom convoy charges and the deployment of the Emergencies Act.

Anti-Israel protesters are also spreading highly antisemitic messages, and the crowd continues chanting the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," which calls for the destruction of the state of Israel along with the people who live there.

But how are citizens responding to the chaos that has invaded Montreal since the beginning of the conflict?

On November 22, questions were asked to citizens on Saint-Catherine Street in Montreal.

The first man we spoke to said:

It makes sense that some people will fight back. Hamas is more than fighting back. It's a terrorist organization but the word terrorism has been manipulated a lot over the last 20 years. So there's no excuse for the attack of October 7th and there's no excuse for trying to wipe out everyone that lives in Gaza.

A woman who seemed to be a university student mentioned that, "The protests are kept as a kind of expression for solidarity with all the civilian casualties that are going on in Gaza."

Another man, who advocates for freedom of expression said:

But I think the freedom of speech is still a part of our Constitution so people should have the right to protest, talk about whatever issues that they feel about. So the moment the government starts restricting protests, I don't think that would be a good day for Canadians.

Another person added, "I don't support all those kind of things in the matter of, I mean, the government needs to do what they need to do in the matter of protest and vandalism. I think they shouldn't do it. But also I think that probably if they don't do it they won't be heard."

Don’t forget to sign our petition to show your support to Israel at CanadaStandsWithIsrael.com.