Opinion: When hate strikes, a tweet isn't enough

Montreal Gazette

a day ago

There was a time when mayors showed up in a crisis. Now, too many hide behind social media.
Montreal's surge in antisemitic acts should have triggered an urgent, visible response from City Hall. Instead, Mayor Valérie Plante offered only online concerns after last Friday's assault on a Jewish father — with a note that police will investigate. In her tweet, she wrote: 'I am disturbed by the violent and unacceptable attack against a father of the Jewish community that occurred yesterday in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. My thoughts are with the victim and his loved ones. The SPVM will shed full light on this disturbing event.'
Kind words? Yes. Leadership? No.
Many in the Jewish community were already asking: What's it going to take for action? Someone getting hurt? And here we are. This must not escalate further. It's time for the mayor and police chief to be front and centre — to face the cameras, to answer reporters' questions about their plan of action, to right this wrong, to catch the perpetrator, and to make the Jewish community feel safe again.
No matter the motivation behind the attack, the climate that has been allowed to fester is making such attacks more likely. Hate crimes flourish when they are downplayed, dismissed or met with little action.
Last Friday crossed a line. A father out with his children was attacked in broad daylight. The video is chilling — his young daughter screams in fear as he tries to defend himself from the punches. The assault ends with the suspect throwing whatappears to be the father's kippah into a puddle before fleeing.
The man who posted the video alleges took police an hour to respond. The mayor took hours to react — and then only on social media.
This is happening against the backdrop of more protests in our streets, with some even using Nazi terminology. And while peaceful protest is part of any healthy democracy, those who use hateful slogans or violence to make their point must be told — from the very top — it's unacceptable.
Standing where this father was attacked, with the police chief at her side, Plante could have declared that this form of violence will not be tolerated.
Canada's rise in antisemitic and violent acts began after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, according to B'nai Brith. In November 2023, two Jewish schools in Montreal were hit by gunfire. In May 2024, the Belz school at the Young Israel of Montreal synagogue was struck by bullets. In the West Island, a Jewish community institution has been firebombed twice. On West Park Blvd. in Dollard-des-Ormeaux — home to the Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue and near the Hebrew Foundation School and the West Island offices of Federation CJA — families and children have had to walk past scorch marks.
These are not random acts. They are part of a disturbing escalation that demands a visible, decisive response. Optics matter. It deters copycats and reassures a community living in fear that the city has their back.
When I was a television reporter in '90s New York, Mayor Rudy Giuliani showed up at most major crime scenes. It sent a message: the mayor was leading from the front. Tweets wouldn't have cut it then, and they shouldn't now.
It's time to make this an issue in the upcoming municipal election this fall. Fighting hatred — specifically, in this case, antisemitism — should be part of every candidate's platform. It is unacceptable in any city for a segment of the community to feel unprotected, unwanted and unsafe. Only action can address those fears — and that's what a mayor should do, in person, not just on her social media account.