THIS WEEK'S TRIBUNE  THIS WEEK'S TRIBUNE Swastikas found on public, private property in Montreal
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Swastikas found on public, private property in Montreal |
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Written by Mike Cohen
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Tuesday, 11 August 2009 |
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MONTREAL – The recent appearance of swastikas on public and private properties in the predominantly Jewish Montreal suburbs of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead is definitely cause for concern, says the Quebec chairman of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
MONTREAL – The recent appearance of swastikas on public and private properties in the predominantly Jewish Montreal suburbs of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead is definitely cause for concern, says the Quebec chairman of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
“There have been eight cases of this nature in the last two weeks alone and all in a heavily Jewish area,” Moise Moghrabi said last week. “Last year at this same time there were swastikas etched on stop signs in Côte Saint-Luc. Besides the timing and the increase, what is even more disturbing is that one of the incidents happened very close to the police station, which indicates the perpetrators have an increased disregard for the authorities and are continuing to commit their acts completely unabated by any deterrent factor.
“It seems clear that these acts are becoming more brazen and historically this progression in the behaviour of the perpetrators only leads to more serious antisemitic acts. B’nai Brith is collaborating with the police by giving them all the information in our files to past similar incidents in the area and we are hoping they can, through their investigation, establish a link between them that will help identify the perpetrators and lead to their arrest.”
Four incidents of swastikas were reported on one single day alone in late July. They were spotted on public signage, as well as on the sides of commercial buildings.
Sharon Bitensky, regional director of B’nai Brith Canada in Quebec, notes that her office is working directly with local Police Station 9 and Commander Sylvain Bissonnette.
“We are also offering our help and support to the victims,” she said. “We contacted some tenants of a building that reported swastikas and a business owner.”
“This was a despicable act of criminal and hate-filled vandalism that shocks the sensibilities of all decent Quebecers,” said Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko of Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron. “Canada went to war and expended enormous blood and treasure to destroy the ideology represented by that symbol. The vandals have perpetrated an assault on all Canadians.”
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Congregation in Côte Saint-Luc said, “Isolated vandalism, like painting swastikas, do not matter on their own because at most, the swastika is merely a symptom of antisemitism. The real question I have is whether antisemitism is rising in Canada? I think the answer is, yes and no. In the general Canadian population, in the ranks of Canadian government, things are quite good for the Jews and certainly a great deal better than 50 years ago. However, as we learned from the Herzliah High School firebombing here several years ago, there are individuals and groups who would like to import the Arab-Israeli conflict into Canada. Here, there is some cause for concern.”
“We need the cooperation of people,” Commander Bissonnette said. “If they see a bunch of kids writing graffiti or painting things, we need people to report it. We’re gathering all the information, we’re taking pictures. In the investigation, you try to figure out if the [swastika] is the same as the old one.” |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 August 2009 )
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