Antisemitic graffiti shocks Montreal restaurant owner

So far, no arrests have been made, and it is unclear if the police have any suspects.

By Dinah Bucholz, Jewish Breaking News

Ilene Polansky was dismayed last week when she arrived at work to find the words “You f*ing Jew” inked next to a Star of David on the glass front of her seafood restaurant in Montreal, Canada.

After 34 years of running the restaurant and with plans to retire in March, this was the first time she had ever encountered antisemitic graffiti at her restaurant or any antisemitic incident at all.

“I looked at it and was horrified by what was written,” she said. “And the first instinct was a shock. It’s the first time since I’ve been here that something of that nature, an antisemitic writing, has happened.”

Polansky owns Maestro SVP, a restaurant located at Saint Laurent Boulevard and Prince Arthur Street. The restaurant is neither kosher nor Jewish-style, so it is not obvious that the owner is Jewish, she said.

“It’s not obvious at all that I’m Jewish except for my mezuzah on the front door, but you’d have to come in and know that and have a conversation with me to know where I’m from and my background,” Polansky said.

“I really want to know who this person is to have a sit-down talk with him and why they wrote that—why that writing, why those words; that’s what I hope, that I could sit down with that person and have a chat.”

So far, no arrests have been made, and it is unclear if the police have any suspects.

A rash of antisemitic incidents has plagued Montreal in recent weeks.

At Concordia University in Montreal, “Kill the Jews” and “Allahu Akbar” were written on a bathroom wall. Demonstrations in downtown Montreal turned violent as anti-Israel rioters clashed with police.

Toronto has also seen a surge of antisemitic attacks, with its Jewish schools and synagogues shot at, firebombed, and vandalized.