Shots fired overnight at two Montreal yeshivas

Shots were fired overnight at at least two Montreal yeshivas, Jewish religious schools, adding to a list of violent antisemitic incidents that have been taking place across Canada. 

Multiple Shootings overnight at Jewish school buildings in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

This comes after earlier this week a synagogue was fire bombed in the city. pic.twitter.com/r52i8nPlrS

— Yanky (@Yanky_Pollak) November 9, 2023

As first reported by Yeshiva World News, police were on the scene at Yeshiva Gedola and Talmud Torah Elementary School investigating the incidents. According to a community security update by Yair Szlak, CEO of the Montreal-based Federation CJA, a single bullet was fired through the doors of each school. No one was in either building at the time, estimated to be around 4:30 a.m. 

Wtf is going on in Montréal man?! pic.twitter.com/ZVkVs6G2Lr

— Anthony Koch (@Anthony__Koch) November 9, 2023

An email from Rabbi Menachem M. Karmel of Yeshiva Gedola to parents insisted there was no need to panic. “Due to the specifics of this incident, we have been assured there is no reason for panic or the like,” he wrote. 

The shootings came on the heels of another violent antisemitic event in Montreal, which has the second largest community of Canadian Jews outside of Toronto. 

On the night between Monday and Tuesday, Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue and the back door of the nearby Federation CJA office were firebombed in an attempted arson. No one was hurt as no one was in either building at the time. 

Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise all over the world following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, when Hamas committed a surprise attack and killed 1,400 people in southern Israel. 

“If you’re asking how the Jewish community is feeling, they’re not feeling so safe,” said Szlak then. “And I think there is a lot to be done by our politicians, by our leaders, by leaders of every community to say that this is not acceptable behaviour.”