Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
Montreal police are investigating after a Jewish-owned business in the city’s Mile End neighborhood was hit by bullets.
Falafel Yoni owner Yoni Amir said his staff noticed the damaged windows Wednesday morning and called 911. He believes his restaurant was targeted because he is Jewish.
We were recently included in several boycott lists that were circulated on the Internet, on Instagram, on TikTok, which called for boycotting businesses that ‘support Israel’. In fact, very deliberately, we have never submitted any political commentary. I don’t feel that a restaurant should be a platform for politics, so we very deliberately didn’t want to polarize anyone or put anyone down and therefore never made any political commentary. Amir said in an interview.
“I’m Jewish. I happened to be born in Israel and even though we didn’t write a political commentary, we got on this boycott list and it seems like it led to a focus on this business.”
Police spokeswoman Sabrina Gauthier confirmed that the force is investigating after three bullets were found in the shop windows. According to her, the investigators are not sure what weapon was used in the attack.
Amir said it could have been an airsoft gun. “It doesn’t appear to have been a firearm,” he said.
In the months after the Israel-Hamas war, he said people put “Free Palestine” stickers on his windows and other stickers referring to “genocide,” but this is the first time someone has fired a missile at his business.
“The message is the same and the intent is pretty clear. I think the idea is to send a message to cause some fear and lack of better. [word] Spread some terror to the business owners or other businesses similar to ours. and by that [I mean] A business that is owned by Jews or in this case Israeli,” he said.
“I think it’s disturbing, it’s disturbing. I’m angry that it creates this feeling for the staff and the people who really have to come to work here every day to have this kind of hatred or violence or tension brought to their workplace, it’s really unfortunate. , disturbing, it’s wrong .”
Political leaders were quick to condemn the shooting.
City councilor Sonny Moroz described it as “a reminder of humanity’s worst moments.”
“I call on all governments and civil society to stop this hatred. As a Montreal City Councillor, let’s condemn these attacks!” he wrote in a post on social media.
The mayor of Montreal, Valerie Plante, also condemned the violence, saying in a post on X that she believes the incident was intended to “intimidate the Jewish community of Montreal.”
“Anti-Semitism and violence, whether expressed in images, words or actions, do not represent us and have no place in Montreal. I have every confidence that the [Montreal police] You will use all resources necessary to find and arrest this criminal,” her post read.
This is not the first time that a building with ties to the Jewish community in the city has been caught up in similar acts of violence.
At the end of May, a Jewish school was hit by gunfire. Police said at the time they found at least one bullet hole in the front of Blaze School on Hillsdale Street, near Van Horn Avenue, in the Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grasse district.
Two other Jewish schools were the targets of gunfire last November.
Last week, a Quebec man was also arrested on charges of 3D printing weapons and spreading hatred against Jews on the Telegram social media platform.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-restaurant-hit-with-projectiles-owner-says-it-s-because-he-is-jewish-1.6933290
