Emmy Rubin
Editor-in-chief
Via Emmy Rubin
October 7th, 2024 marked exactly one year since Hamas invaded the southern borders of Israel and perpetuated the most brutal massacre of Jews since the days of the Holocaust. In the global Jewish community, however, October 7th has never ceased, as there are still 101 hostages held in captivity in Gaza.
On this day of commemoration, the Montreal Jewish community surrounded itself with the faces of the kidnapped. On the fence encircling the downtown entrance of McGill University, posters of the hostages have been put up in an impossibly long line. Across the street, more of the faces in captivity look back at the crowd in a tribute to the display at the Nova festival site. On a screen placed in the middle of the street next to the stage, slide after slide displayed images of those murdered a year ago. But how can a community properly honor and grieve the lives lost on October 7th when faced with the reality that there are still more lives at stake?
Blocked off from regular traffic by the SPVM, Sherbrooke street was awash with Israeli flags and those Jewish community members and allies waving them. Current Jewish students in university and Cegep took to the stage, calling for community unity and demanding accountability on the educational institutions that have allowed for antisemitism to fester on their campuses over the past year.
However many students and community leaders addressed the crowd that day, one individual’s speech struck the community more than any other. A young Israeli reservist soldier who has been called to reserve duty seven times this year spoke of the realities of those around her in Israel who have lived through October 7th. Moreover, how everyone, including herself, is still living through the aftermath. Through overwhelming emotion and tears, she recounted the story of her friend, Daniel Weiss, who was living with his girlfriend in Kibbutz Be’eri during October 7th.
“When everything began, they were hiding in his room, clutching on to a piece of wood from their bed frame that they never got to finish. He lost contact with his parents who were declared missing by the end of the day. Not long after, his father’s body was found and his mother was identified as one of the hostages. Daniel and his siblings sat shiva for his father. Exactly thirty days later, during the shloshim for his father, his mother’s body was found, naked, in a refrigerator, riddled with bullet holes…during his mother’s funeral, while holding a guitar, Daniel smiled and consoled everyone around him. Despite everything, he kept his strength and courage. I’m telling you this because we must keep ours.”
Looking through the crowd, the tears onstage were mirrored in every face turned towards the soldier in shared grief. The lived experiences and devastation unearthed in the five minutes the Israeli soldier spoke on stage punctuated her initial statement: “We have to do everything we can to ensure that this never happens again.”
After a moment of silence, the mourner’s kaddish, and prayers for the soldiers in the IDF fighting to protect the land of Israel, wreaths were laid on stage by Jewish students in commemoration of all the lives taken on October 7th, and all of those we are hoping to see brought home.
It was during these moments of solemnity and grief, however, in which the anti-Israel protestors across the street from the ceremony were most ardent in their chanting and protest. Instead of creating a space in time for the remembrance, the moment of silence for the victims of October 7th was made useful to the protestors by allowing for their chants of “Free Palestine” to be all the more audible. Waving around red triangles and disturbing the commemoration of the Jewish people’s suffering, this display of hate was only the preliminary stage of what is now known as the ‘week of rage’.
Not even two hours after the Jewish community had dispersed after the end of the October 7th vigil, hundreds of masked anti-Israel agitators stormed the downtown McGill campus. Running through McTavish and the library where students were studying for midterms, Jewish students were barred from leaving the library by the police. During this time, the SPVM swarmed the area, making several arrests. As the mob of keffiyeh-clad protestors made their way to Fieldhouse and the gym, the police set off smoke bombs and ultimately succeeded in dispersing the crowd.
Unfortunately, by the time the SPVM had decided to fight back, the damage was already done. Throughout their march through campus, the anti Israel mob vandalized countless buildings by spraying antisemitic graffiti, shattering dozens of windows, and breaking doors.
Most concerning through all of these events is the fact that prior to the ‘week of rage’, McGill had sent out communications to the McGill community stating that campus would be closed on October 7th in order to prevent dangerous activity of this nature. The communication professed that, “During this period of heightened tensions and of mourning, events are being organized that call for significant numbers of people from outside the McGill community to gather on or around campus. In recent months, the University has seen many peaceful protests and commemorations. We’ve unfortunately also seen incidents on campus that have crossed the bounds of the law and McGill’s policies, upsetting people, disrupting access to our learning and work spaces, and damaging property.”
After the violence enacted by the anti-Israel agitators on October 7th, the McGill administration filed for and received an injunction against SPHR McGill, barring them from engaging in activities of protest such as “blocking or otherwise obstructing or hindering, in whole or in part, any entrances or exits to buildings and streets or walkways directly connected to entrances or exits of building, setting up tents or other structures, and making excessive noises.”
The very night that this injunction was filed and approved, individuals masked with keffiyehs waving Palestinian flags gathered not five feet away from Roddick Gates, blasting music, writing antisemitic phrases on the ground and the gates in chalk, and chanting the same phrases that punctuated their destructive march through campus.
At the most critical moment on campus this year, the McGill administration has failed in protecting its Jewish students. At the very least, it has failed in protecting itself and its property. What confidence can students hold in an administration that is willing to succumb to terror? If McGill cannot protect itself and its own interests, there is a serious concern as to how they will ever protect Jewish students.
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