Montreal for Palestine stopped by the city’s downtown Christmas market on Sunday to harass and intimidate its patrons — on the same day that an antisemitic terrorist attack took place in Australia.
Worse, these protesters appear to be escalating their behaviour, testing our laws, the limits of our police forces and the patience of Montrealers.
On this day of all days, they parked themselves outside a Christmas market located at Place des Arts, where citizens were gathered with their children to shop, eat and enjoy the atmosphere.
Since Sunday, two Islamist Christmas market attacks have been foiled — one in Germany and another in Poland.
Montreal for Palestine was fully aware of the message its presence at the Christmas market was sending, following a spate of Islamist attacks on Christmas markets in Germany in previous years, including a 2016 Berlin attack that killed 12 and injured 56, and the 2018 Strasbourg attack, in which five were killed and 11 injured as the extremist shot and stabbed them, yelling, “Allahu akbar!” — an expression the Montreal group regularly screams in the streets, knowing full well the horror it conjures.
This is part of a larger campaign of harassment and intimidation by Montreal for Palestine. Despite its weekly protests and street prayers, it has not been featured prominently in the local news.
At first, it wasn’t clear to me why the media wasn’t covering these weekly occupations of Montreal’s streets. I started to get a sense of why the first time I covered one of the protests, when I was surrounded by activists who began draping flags over me from all angles while I stood there recording.
Montreal police officers stood by and watched, then told me I had to leave. I explained I was with National Post. This didn’t matter to them. They told me I would have to leave, otherwise I would be arrested for obstruction of justice.
Perhaps costly past litigation is behind the SPVM’s demure tactics with this group. In 2024, a court ordered the city to pay $171 million to the Black Coalition of Quebec due to racial profiling. Are cops now afraid to arrest minorities for fear of being called racist?
Montreal for Palestine’s latest stunt makes it clear that the SPVM can no longer stand idly by while this group intimidates and harasses Montreal citizens.
At the same time, pro-Palestinian activists have directly targeted the media with violence and intimidation. Last summer, the offices for TVA and Le journal de Montreal were broken into and vandalized by a group accusing their parent company of “siding with Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.”
The protesters’ intimidation tactics, and the lack of interest on the part of police in protecting innocent bystanders, appears to have scared much of the media away, allowing this story to go largely unreported. Yet this isn’t a reason for the press to shy away. If anything, it’s a reason for reporters to be out there every weekend.
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Every outlet that ignores these protests is derelict in its duty to inform citizens and politicians of the increasing Islamist extremism in our streets. I wonder what Amira Elghawaby as Canada's first representative to combat Islamophobia would have to say about this?
Elghawaby’s office has not disputed that the victims were Jewish. However, the framing of her response emphasized potential Islamophobic backlash rather than the antisemitic nature of the crime itself. Observers say this approach mirrors a broader pattern in which antisemitic violence is acknowledged indirectly or subsumed into broader discussions that avoid naming Jews as victims. Oh well.
Worse, these protesters appear to be escalating their behaviour, testing our laws, the limits of our police forces and the patience of Montrealers.
On this day of all days, they parked themselves outside a Christmas market located at Place des Arts, where citizens were gathered with their children to shop, eat and enjoy the atmosphere.
Since Sunday, two Islamist Christmas market attacks have been foiled — one in Germany and another in Poland.
Montreal for Palestine was fully aware of the message its presence at the Christmas market was sending, following a spate of Islamist attacks on Christmas markets in Germany in previous years, including a 2016 Berlin attack that killed 12 and injured 56, and the 2018 Strasbourg attack, in which five were killed and 11 injured as the extremist shot and stabbed them, yelling, “Allahu akbar!” — an expression the Montreal group regularly screams in the streets, knowing full well the horror it conjures.
This is part of a larger campaign of harassment and intimidation by Montreal for Palestine. Despite its weekly protests and street prayers, it has not been featured prominently in the local news.
At first, it wasn’t clear to me why the media wasn’t covering these weekly occupations of Montreal’s streets. I started to get a sense of why the first time I covered one of the protests, when I was surrounded by activists who began draping flags over me from all angles while I stood there recording.
Montreal police officers stood by and watched, then told me I had to leave. I explained I was with National Post. This didn’t matter to them. They told me I would have to leave, otherwise I would be arrested for obstruction of justice.
Perhaps costly past litigation is behind the SPVM’s demure tactics with this group. In 2024, a court ordered the city to pay $171 million to the Black Coalition of Quebec due to racial profiling. Are cops now afraid to arrest minorities for fear of being called racist?
Montreal for Palestine’s latest stunt makes it clear that the SPVM can no longer stand idly by while this group intimidates and harasses Montreal citizens.
At the same time, pro-Palestinian activists have directly targeted the media with violence and intimidation. Last summer, the offices for TVA and Le journal de Montreal were broken into and vandalized by a group accusing their parent company of “siding with Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.”
The protesters’ intimidation tactics, and the lack of interest on the part of police in protecting innocent bystanders, appears to have scared much of the media away, allowing this story to go largely unreported. Yet this isn’t a reason for the press to shy away. If anything, it’s a reason for reporters to be out there every weekend.
Terry Newman: In Montreal, the 'pro-Palestinian' crowd wages a war on Christmas — National Post
Christmas markets aren't for terrorist supporters
Elghawaby’s office has not disputed that the victims were Jewish. However, the framing of her response emphasized potential Islamophobic backlash rather than the antisemitic nature of the crime itself. Observers say this approach mirrors a broader pattern in which antisemitic violence is acknowledged indirectly or subsumed into broader discussions that avoid naming Jews as victims. Oh well.
