The city of Montreal is so broke that the mayor quipped recently that the “city’s credit card is maxxed out.”
Meanwhile, the crises are proliferating, from a rise in poverty, crime and homelessness to decaying infrastructure, a lack of affordable housing and interminable waits for medical care.
So, naturally, on Monday the city council will vote on a motion to cut ties with Israel.
That’s not a typo.
They will look at the city’s multiple crises and fix their gaze…on Israel.
They won’t vote to cut ties with Nigeria, Somalia or Sudan, where genocidal efforts have led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands.
They won’t vote to cut ties with Russia, the invaders of Ukraine responsible for the deaths of more than a million.
Nor will they discuss Jordan and Lebanon, where nearly three million Palestinian refugees have been living for decades in misery, but no one talks about them because Jews are not involved.
And they will ignore China, a ruthless regime that has put a million Muslim Uyghurs in veritable concentration camps.
No, the city council will vote to cut ties with only one country– the Jewish one. No other city has gone this far, which means that if the motion passes, other cities are sure to get ideas.
This is Israel Derangement Syndrome par excellence.
The motion is coming from an opposition group called Projet Montreal. The fact that they’ve managed to bring the motion to an official vote is yet another sign of the growing animosity toward Jews and Israel today.
In 2025, Jews were the targets of 70 per cent of all police-reported hate crimes in Canada. It’s no secret that, as I read in a recent report, “Jewish schools in Montréal have been shot at, Jewish people have been assaulted, synagogues have been attacked, and antisemitism has entered academic and professional spaces through intimidation, threats, and exclusion.”
How much more can Jews take?
When I came here this week to visit family, I had no idea I would encounter such folly. I grew up in Montreal. I love this town. Jews have contributed so much to this city. Up until recently, loving Israel came safely and naturally.
Now, an opposition group is forcing an ignominious motion that is putting an official target and mark of shame on Israel supporters. It’s bad enough when the hostility comes from a random Jew-hater on the street, but from a party in the municipal government? Isn’t City Hall supposed to protect us?
The mark of shame belongs on Projet Montreal.
Its motion asks the council to essentially demonize Israel– to recognize and denounce an “apartheid regime” and declare that a “genocide” is being perpetrated, and to suspend ties with the Israeli government, “its institutions” and “its municipalities.”
Never mind that the “genocide” accusation is being exposed by experts as the lie of the century; or the fact that Arabs have more rights in Israel than in any Arab country, making an “apartheid” claim absurd.
Like any country, Israel gets plenty of criticism (much of it inside Israel). But this initiative has nothing to do with criticism. It’s about singling out one country for radical sanctions.
From what I understand, the mayor, reading the political winds, has been negotiating to “soften” the language. But there’s no softening the breaking of “institutional ties” with one and only one country.
The community, as expected, is doing what it can to fight back.
Among the protests, an open letter from almost 50 Montreal lawyers questioned “whether the proposed measure falls within the powers conferred on the city by the provincial legislature,” noting that “city councils do not determine international law.” Of course they don’t.
A council is there to fix potholes, not the world’s most intractable conflict.
A local Jewish official told me the community needs to do a better job of mobilizing allies and make the case that this motion is bad for the city. Would it make a difference? We don’t know.
Here’s what I know: Projet Montreal needs to hear that its pathological obsession with Israel is not just hateful, dangerous and discriminatory.
It’s creepy.
It’s shameful.
It’s morally bankrupt.
And, however the vote goes on Monday, it’s already a stain on the city.
Update: A watered-down version of the motion passed that expressed solidarity with Palestinians but removed calls to sever ties with Israel.
