Molotov cocktail starts fire at Montreal Jewish Community Center

The incendiary object was thrown through a window, landed inside the building, and caused the carpet to catch fire.

By World Israel News Staff

Montreal police are investigating damage at a Jewish community center in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the building at 1 am on Monday.

The incendiary object was thrown through a window, landed inside the building, and caused the carpet to catch fire.

There were no injuries, although there is significant fire damage at the center which is located on Décarie Boulevard near Vézina Street.

Although no one was in the building at the time of the attack, just a few hours earlier Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Rachel Bendayan were there to discuss a federal program that would include the center because of its high risk as a target of antisemitic hate crimes.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante vowed that authorities would do their utmost to identify and track down those responsible for the incident.

Plante declared on X, “Montreal is a city of peace and inclusion,” she wrote on X. “It must remain so and we’ll make sure of it.”

Henry Topas, B’nai Brith Canada’s Quebec Regional Director was on the scene at the same time as investigators, and posted on X:

“We condemn the cowardly act of throwing a Molotov Cocktail at the entrance of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal. We trust that the SPVM [Montreal Police] will soon make arrests in these cases.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attack along with the rise in antisemitism in Montreal and worldwide:

“I strongly condemn the attack on the Jewish Community Council of Montreal building yesterday. These continued acts of antisemitic violence are deplorable and unacceptable – and must stop immediately. We must all stand united against such vile, hateful acts.”

Amid  the dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents worldwide, Montreal’s Jewish community has been hit particularly hard.

In addition to the incident at the Jewish Community center, in Montreal, shots have been fired at a yeshivah and several weeks ago, a Montreal synagogue was firebombed.