By Joseph Marshall
Montreal woke up to another reminder that the Israel and Gaza war is now erupting on local walls, in local schools and across local neighbourhoods. At Montreal West’s Royal West Academy, the message was delivered in smashed door glass and white spray paint. Suspension?? Fight BACK appeared beside the Ainslie Street entrance around half past midnight on Wednesday, turning a school discipline case into a public rupture.
Police confirmed they have the incident on video and are reviewing footage from the school and surrounding streets. No arrests have been made. The English Montreal School Board condemned the vandalism and called the acts unacceptable. Extra security has been requested. Counsellors were put on call for students shaken by the scene.
The vandalism did not happen in a vacuum. Royal West recently suspended a student for posting messages on her private Instagram account that condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and repeated the claim that Israel allowed the Oct. 7 attacks to happen. Several students reported the posts. The school treated them as a conduct issue. The family says it was political speech and has begun filing a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission.
Police say they are aware of the suspension dispute and will question people as needed but insist they are not assigning motive. They say all possibilities remain open.
The student’s mother, Tina Vibert, says the graffiti may appear supportive but it is harmful. She said her daughter was home sick, asleep well before midnight, and frightened when she heard what happened. Vibert says the vandalism damages their effort to challenge what she believes was an unfair punishment. She says her daughter expressed outrage about a war, not hatred toward any student or group.
Inside the school, the atmosphere has been strained. The suspension has divided students and staff. The girl has received messages of support and also hateful comments. Vibert says her daughter feels betrayed by the administration and is struggling to maintain her dedication to a school where she was an honour student active in music and extracurriculars. She also says no counsellor support was offered to her daughter at any point, even while the school mobilized services for those upset by the graffiti.
The Royal West incident comes as Montreal sees a surge of anti-Israel activism and a rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes. Local synagogues have been vandalized, Jewish homes and community buildings have been defaced with political slogans. Rallies linked to the war have produced frightening scenes where Jewish bystanders have been harassed or told to leave public spaces. Online, students across Montreal have reported coordinated harassment campaigns on platforms where pro-Israel content triggers backlash and pro-Jewish users are swarmed by anonymous accounts.
Montreal police have said they are dealing with an unprecedented number of hate-crime files connected to the war. Jewish students at multiple English and French schools have reported harassment. University campuses have been roiled by aggressive slogans and confrontations. Some institutions have started adding extra patrols around Jewish buildings and Hillel offices. Several Jewish parents’ groups say they no longer feel safe sending their children to school on days when online calls for “actions” circulate.
In that wider context, the message on the wall at Royal West lands with more weight. A disciplinary decision over Instagram posts about Israel and Gaza has now exploded into property damage, school-wide anxiety and a new police investigation. Royal West says it acted promptly to secure the building and reassure families. Police say they will determine motive once suspects are identified.
For now, the school sits with boarded doors and a reminder that the conflict thousands of kilometres away is no longer distant. It is shaping conversations, behaviours and safety concerns in Montreal, and Royal West has become its newest symbol.
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