Small Town News

Canadian Jewish leaders refute anti-Semitic crime stats

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MONTREAL--A May 5 article in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz depicting Montreal's Orthodox community as living in fear in the wake of a supposedly rising number of anti-Semitic incidents and increased gang activity in the Cote des Neiges and Outremont districts bears little resemblance to the reality on the ground, Jewish community officials say.

Quebec Jewish Congress president Adam Atlas and Rabbi Reuben Poupko, co-chair of the Jewish community's security co-ordinating committee, earlier this month strongly refuted suggestions made in the article that Jews are being singled out for targeting, that members of the community "are afraid to leave their homes," or that the Chabad community has recently seen a spike in violent incidents against it.

The Ha'aretz article appeared to be based on a frontpage story in the April 28 issue of the Jewish Tribune, B'nai Brith Canada's Toronto-based weekly house organ newspaper.

The Tribune headline read: "Crime wave targeting Jews in Montreal strikes fear in community."

Poupko said Ha'aretz should have used better sources for its story.

"I would have preferred if Ha'aretz had consulted with organizations thatare actually based in Quebec, that have credibility in Quebec and know the scene well," Poupko said.

He added that B'nai Brith has "limited knowledge" of Montreal and "limited credibility" there.

Even Rabbi Mendel Marasow, the executive director of Chabad's Beth Rivkah Academy, who was quoted in the Tribune story as saying that "Jews make good targets," told The CJN May 7 that the Tribune article was "a non-story."

Poupko termed the Ha'aretz story "a complete and total fabrication of reality," the idea that Jews in the areas were afraid to leave their homes.

"All you need to do is talk to members of the Chabad community," he said. "I see them all the time, and they seem perfectly happy and perfectly comfortable walking down the streets.

"I would have preferred if Ha'aretz had actually spoken to people actually engaged in security, and with the police and with all the communities."

Atlas, in an interview from Israel, indicated he might seek a meeting with Ha'aretz journalists "to have a conversation with them" about the May 5 article.

"Our perspective is that the article doesn't portray the reality for our community, this alarm that the article describes," Atlas said.

Atlas noted that while there was a spike in vandalism and anti-Semitic incidents in Outremont during Quebec's "reasonable accommodation" hearings close to three years ago, and there have been "some disturbing events," such as last March's vandalism at the Vis-nitz synagogue in Outremont, "in relative terms, the atmosphere is not one of alarm."

Sensational headlines in the Tribune and Ha'aretz notwithstanding, a closer look at those quoted in the Tribune story seems to belie the headlines: Simonetta Barth of the area's police station 26 says that a robbery involving a Jewish victim didn't appear to be anti-Semitic, and relations between the police and Jewish community are depicted as excellent.

According to one highly placed source whom would speak only on background, the so-called "crime wave" depicted in the Tribune article amounted to "one kid with spray paint who daubed several places.

"As far as we are aware, there have been no acts of violence on anyone," the source said. "There was one guy who threw rocks through four institutions and broke some glass.

"If this is a crime wave, it's the smallest crime wave in the history of mankind."

The source also suggested that the article "illustrates the danger of having an advocacy body needing to raise money."

Poupko said what angered him was "that by [the story] getting into Ha'aretz, it has begun to have an impact on how people perceive the Montreal community."

He said even if there had been a rise in street or gang crime in the areas where Orthodox Jews live, "what does that have to do with rocks thrown through windows and graffiti? They're lumping things together that don't belong.

"Let's remember something about Montreal," he said. "There have been incidents in Montreal. There are anti-Semites in Montreal just like there are anti-Semites everywhere.

"The reality, is, however, that what distinguishes Quebec from the rest of Canada in this regard is that those who perpetrated acts of violence against our buildings have all been imprisoned and prosecuted, unlike Ontario or anywhere else in Canada."



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© 2010 Heritage Florida Jewish News Fern Park, Florida. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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