By Meir Wochyniak
Monday’s attack in Côte-des-Neiges highlighted a problem the Jewish community is facing. While it is true that a Jewish man was killed during the mêlée, that fact does not automatically make the event an attack on the Jewish community.
Almost immediately after the shelter-in-place alert was pushed out through emergency cell phone alerts, the online misinformation began. Post after post claiming the shooting was taking place in a “Jewish neighbourhood” started appearing, promoted by organizations that trade in fear. Pretty soon, major news outlets, taking their cues from sources within those organizations, were reporting an attack on a “Jewish neighbourhood.” Somewhere around midday, even Al Jazeera was calling Côte-des-Neiges Jewish.
Granted, there are many Jewish institutions in Côte-des-Neiges. Around the complex where the shooting happened, there are three Jewish schools and two or three Chabad centres. The complex itself has two kosher restaurants and a supermarket with a substantial kosher department. The hotel where the shooting began has a kosher catering kitchen.
None of that explains the shooter’s motives, nor does it make Côte-des-Neiges a “Jewish neighbourhood.” In fact, Côte-des-Neiges is one of the most densely populated multicultural neighbourhoods in Canada. It is full of Jews, but it is also full of everyone else.
Later in the day, news began spreading that Michel Mizrahi, a member of the Jewish community, had been killed during the event. The online rhetoric ramped up. There were two camps, the cautious identified Mizrahi, even before officials released his name, while urging people to wait before jumping to conclusions and the brash, who doubled down; This was an attack on Jews, they said, the perfect example of the globalization of the Intifada. Some posts even demanded that Jews take up arms to defend the community.
Then the shooter’s manifesto surfaced. Of course, the organizations that benefit from dealing in fear pointed out that, in an over-100-page rant, he mentioned Zionists and repeated old conspiracies about Jews running the world. What they left out was that he spent most of his time ranting about women, pornography and police.
So let me get this straight. A guy who spent more than 100 pages railing against women, pornography and police, who railed against capitalism and forwarded conspiracy theories about Zionist Jews, showed up at a corporate-branded hotel located a block away from the head office of a major porn site, then started shooting when police arrived, killing an officer. And somehow this became an attack on a Jewish neighbourhood?
Yes, it’s true, Jews were affected. The kosher restaurants had to close for a few days. A Jewish man was killed in the fog of the attack. The shooting took place near Jewish institutions, but all that hardly makes it an attack on a “Jewish neighbourhood,” or an attack on Jews.
There are enough attacks on our community that we do not need to adopt attacks that were not directed at us. In the future, maybe it would be smarter to wait until the facts come out before ramping up community fear, but that won’t happen, some of these organizations earn their living through fear, they will always push the story to the limit to maximize profits.
And that is a major and quite sad problem the Jewish community faces; instant communication, organizations that profit on community fear and events that take place around the community in a big city like Montreal, whose facts can be spun to drive clicks and donations. I hope that after Monday’s events, the community has opened their eyes and see these organizations for what they are.
My heart goes out to the family of the slain police officer, and of course to the family and friends of Michel Mizrahi, who are mourning his loss. May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion.
