One minute before noon on Saturday, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, acknowledged an antisemitic riot the night before. “What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling. Acts of antisemitism, intimidation and violence must be condemned wherever we see them,” he stated.

“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are in communication with local police,” he added. “There must be consequences, and rioters held accountable.”

Critics, including the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who heads the Conservative Party of Canada, had noted that Trudeau was attending a Taylor Swift concert while the riot occurred. 

“Justin Trudeau refuses to condemn the antisemitic riots in Montreal,” Poilievre wrote minutes before Trudeau posted his comment. 

“He has time to dance and do selfies. But he’s too busy to condemn a violent Hamas takeover of our streets.”

“Violent mobs riot and rampage through beautiful Montreal, typifying the chaos that is engulfing our once-peaceful country after nine years of Trudeau’s radical, divisive agenda,” Poilievre wrote on Friday night. “Trudeau fiddles while Montreal burns.”

The opposition leader told the prime minister that he shouldn’t be surprised that Jew-hatred was on such public display. “You send out your MPs to say one thing in a mosque and the opposite in a synagogue, one thing in a mandir and the opposite in a gurdwara,” he wrote. “You have made Canada a playground for foreign interference. You allowed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps terrorists to legally operate here for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens in a major unprovoked attack.”

The Israeli embassy in Ottawa referred to a mob that rampaged Montreal streets. “The violent intentions of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protesters have never been clearer,” it stated. “Freedom of protest is a cornerstone of democracies like Canada and Israel, but democracies must ensure these freedoms are not exploited to incite violence.”

“The slogan ‘globalize the intifada’ is not just rhetoric—it is a call for violence against Jews, Israelis and anyone who upholds Western values,” the Israeli embassy added. “We urge the Canadian government to act decisively to curb this dangerous and antisemitic incitement before tragedy strikes.”

‘Never again is now’

Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the Israeli special envoy for combating antisemitism, wrote to Trudeau that “you can’t fuel antisemitism—then condemn it.”

She noted that Trudeau had said on Thursday that Canada would abide by an International Criminal Court warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest.

“You can’t embolden antisemites—then be surprised when they attack Jews,” she added. “Your false moral equivalence, most recently in response to the heinous ICC decision—mainstreamed and unleashed an ever-mutating lethal hate—that endangers freedom, humanity and the dignity of difference. In Canada too, never again is now.”

Melissa Lantsman, one of the Conservative Party’s deputy opposition leaders, wrote that “it wasn’t a protest. It was an antisemitic riot.”

The Jewish parliamentarian also directed criticism at Trudeau. “Complete lawlessness in Montreal as the pro-Hamas terror mobs emboldened by the Trudeau Liberals destroy the prime minister’s own hometown,” she wrote. “Rioters on a violent rampage and not a single word from our government. They only act when you disagree with them.

“Bring back law and order, safe streets and communities in the Canada we once knew and loved,” she added. “Hope the concert was good.”

Mélanie Joly, the Canadian foreign affairs minister, wrote that “those who spread hate and antisemitism, use violence, loot and destroy property must be condemned and held accountable. Rioting is not peaceful protest and has no place in Montreal or anywhere in Canada.”

Her post drew criticism from Arsen Ostrovsky, a human-rights attorney and CEO of the International Legal Forum, who was in Canada at the time.

“Your words are entirely meaningless. Your government has long ago abandoned the Jewish community,” Ostrovsky wrote. “Not only that, when you stand up and unconscionably say you would arrest the Israeli prime minister, you only pour fuel on the antisemitic fire and embolden these pro-Hamas thugs.”

“Yesterday, the streets of Montreal were burning, while pro-Hamas thugs were rampaging,” Ostrovsky added in a post on Saturday night. “At least in Israel, we have the Iron Dome. Canada, you have Justin Trudeau.”

Michael Levitt, president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote that “for over a year, the pro-Hamas mob has been consistently spreading hate and antisemitism on the streets of Montreal and other Canadian cities with impunity.”

“Our leaders in government have repeatedly turned away or tried to play both sides,” he added, responding to Joly. “This condemnation seems remarkably disingenuous.”

B’nai B’rith Canada stated that “rallies, which masquerade as calls for peace, have frequently devolved into platforms for rhetoric that is deeply incompatible with Canadian values of inclusivity, mutual respect and unity.”

“Calls for the annihilation of nations, the glorification of terrorist organizations and blatant expressions of antisemitism are not expressions of free speech—they are incitements to hatred and violence,” the nonprofit stated.

Warren Kinsella, a Postmedia columnist, wrote that “I still can’t get over how Trudeau stayed at Taylor Swift—and/or his staff didn’t pull him out of there, because of the jaw-droppingly bad optics—when the city he represents was on fire.”

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