Several hundred demonstrators loudly demonstrated their support for Palestine on Tuesday evening near the Spanish and Portuguese Shearith Israel Synagogue in the Côte-des-Neiges district, surrounded by a large police presence.
Updated yesterday at 10:09 p.m.
The demonstration was organized by the Independent Jewish Voices of Canada organization to denounce the holding of a real estate fair at the synagogue earlier in the day, where Israeli developers sought Canadian buyers for condominiums in Israel.
Bruce Breman, a Jewish Montrealer, said he attended the real estate event and was offered to buy a property in the Israeli West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the occupied territory. “When I saw that the synagogue was organizing this event, I thought it was a prank,” he said. “It was explained to me that I would not pay taxes if I bought a property in a colony,” Mr Breman added.
David Taub, an ultra-Orthodox Jew who was among the pro-Palestinian protesters, complains that Israel is selling real estate “on land they stole from the Palestinian people.” “The money they collect from these sales is then used to buy bombs to kill innocent people,” he believes.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
A few hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators demonstrated loudly on Tuesday evening near the Spanish and Portuguese Shearith Israel Synagogue in the Côte-des-Neiges district.
A similar real estate fair was organized Monday at a synagogue in a Toronto suburb, where a demonstration also sparked tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters.
The pro-Palestinian demonstration organized this Tuesday in the Côte-des-Neiges district to denounce the real estate fair at the Montreal synagogue was led by a group of pro-Israel counter-demonstrators on Saint-Kevin Avenue, directly opposite the square, welcomes the worship.
The two groups were less than ten meters apart for several minutes, shouting slogans and some insults at each other over loudspeakers, separated by about twenty police officers and agents equipped with gas.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The pro-Palestinian demonstration was met by a group of pro-Israel counter-demonstrators.
The group of pro-Israel counter-protesters suddenly left the scene when the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began chanting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is the greatest” in Arabic), which in this context was seen as a threat to the Jews.
“We prefer to leave so as not to escalate the situation,” explained Rabbi Daniel Benlolo.
According to Mr Benlolo, the real estate fair had been planned for a long time but was canceled for the first time after the conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out in October. Despite the war and ongoing tensions between Palestinians and Jews, the synagogue decided to postpone the event “because we don't want to be constantly intimidated by people who are dissatisfied.”
The rabbi confirmed that none of the announced properties were in the occupied territory. “They are mainly condominiums for sale in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv,” he assured, “but these protesters consider these cities to be occupied territories.” »
The demonstration ended peacefully at around 8 p.m. According to the SPVM, a 23-year-old man was arrested for making threats very close to where the two groups of protesters were located. Police also intervened at the synagogue to expel one person, but they were not arrested.