Montreal Police Increase Presence Around Synagogues

By Joseph Marshall

Since, obviously, it is all about Israel and not about Jews, Montreal police will increase their presence around synagogues and Jewish institutions as Jews gather to pray during the High Holidays. The sentence is sarcastic, but the situation is not.

The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal will deploy an increased police presence around Jewish institutions ahead of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Federation CJA said the additional measures will remain in place through the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.

Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on September 11 and continues through September 13. Yom Kippur begins at sundown on September 20. These are not Israeli national holidays or political events, and Montreal synagogues are not offices of the Israeli government. They are places where Montreal Jews gather to pray, yet they now require increased police protection while doing so.

For nearly three years, Montrealers have repeatedly been told that the hostility filling the city’s streets is about Israel, Zionism, Benjamin Netanyahu or the war in Gaza. Every demonstration outside a Jewish building is carefully explained away, every slogan is placed in its preferred political context and every new incident is treated as though it appeared on its own, disconnected from everything that came before it.

Jewish schools in Montreal have been struck by gunfire, synagogues and Jewish community buildings have been hit with incendiary devices, and demonstrators have gathered outside Federation CJA, the Montreal Holocaust Museum and the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. In November 2024, masked protesters stood outside Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, where threats against Jews were allegedly shouted while police failed to enforce a court ordered buffer zone, according to a resolution adopted by Côte Saint Luc City Council.

None of those buildings determines Israeli military policy, nor do they have a vote in the Knesset. They were chosen because they are Jewish buildings filled with Jewish people.

The need for increased security during the High Holidays is hardly new, but the circumstances in Montreal have changed. Federation CJA’s Community Security Network now works with synagogues, schools and other institutions on security procedures while remaining in contact with police. Cameras, locked doors, security guards and volunteers have become a regular part of Jewish communal life.

The increased police presence is welcome and necessary. Police Chief Fady Dagher and the officers of the SPVM deserve credit for taking the security of the community seriously and making themselves visible at a time when synagogues will be filled. Police patrols, however, can only deal with the immediate danger. They cannot repair a civic climate in which Jews are expected to accept intimidation as the price of being publicly Jewish.

Montreal Jews will go to shul, the shofar will be sounded, and the prayers of Yom Kippur will be recited. Outside, police officers will be watching buildings that are in Montreal, filled with Montrealers, observing Jewish holidays.

The next time someone insists that all of this is only about Israel and has nothing to do with Jews, the police cars outside the synagogue will provide the answer.

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