Mock Hangings at Anti-Israel Protest Being Investigated as Potential Hate Crime: Montreal Police

MONTREAL—Effigies of hanged politicians, including one wearing a mock Jewish kippah, are being investigated by the Montreal police hate crime unit.

A video capturing the display during an anti-Israel protest in downtown Montreal this week was condemned by politicians at various levels and by foreign diplomats.

Montreal City Councillor Leslie Roberts, who represents the borough where the protest took place, said he asked police to investigate.

“Violent representation and antisemitism are not an acceptable way to protest in a democracy,” Roberts told The Epoch Times in an email.

Montreal police told The Epoch Times that an investigation is underway.

“We confirm that an investigation was opened by the hate crimes unit of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal [SPVM],” spokeswoman Samantha Velandia said in a statement. She added that an extensive analysis of the situation is taking place and that no other information can be shared so as to not impact the investigation.

The video that sparked reaction from politicians was posted on X on May 25 by a Rebel News videographer. It shows hanged puppets, including one appearing to wear a Jewish kippah, as a masked individual bangs on a drum beside flags of Palestine and the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.

“The pro-Hamas group Mtl4Palestine displays the Canadiens flag next to what appears to be an effigy of a Jew wearing a kippah, hanged with a rope,” says a caption accompanying the video post.

Another video posted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement appears to show the same puppets with what looks like the faces of Israeli and U.S. politicians attached to them. The depictions appear to be of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Reactions

Montreal’s Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada did not repost any of the videos but issued an apparently related statement.

“The incitement to violence, hate symbols, and displays of intimidation that we see in our streets are unacceptable,” she said in a May 26 X post. “Images of hangings or effigies have no place in Montreal, nor anywhere else.”

Federal politicians, including some of Martinez Ferrada’s former colleagues in the Liberal caucus, condemned the events.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree called it a “vile act of hate” and said anti-Semitism will “never have a place in Canada.”

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who represents a Montreal riding, said that “hanging an image of a Jew with a kippah in effigy is disgusting, antisemitic and clear incitement to hatred.” He noted in his X post that he also contacted police.

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon also commented as he reposted the video from Rebel News.

“The display of a Jewish person in effigy is vile, deeply disturbing, and a clear act of hate,” he said, adding that his government is defending the safety of every community in Canada.

Deputy Conservative Leader Melissa Lantsman blamed Liberal government policies for the rise of such incidents. “Congratulations guys, you’ve fuelled this fire, you’ve funded it, you’ve cheered it on,” she said in an X post.

Diplomats also weighed in on the affair, with the head of the German consulate in Montreal, Christian Wagner, calling the protest “disgusting and abject.”

“The rise of antisemitism, in Germany as in Canada, is deeply alarming and we will not remain silent,” said Wagner on X.

Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar also commented: “The antisemitic display by the pro-Hamas group Mtl4Palestine in Montreal is horrific – hanging dolls representing Jews wearing kippahs, President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Ben Gvir,” he said. “Antisemitic incitement on the streets of Canada is out of control.”

Israel-Canada Tensions

The Canadian and Israeli governments have sparred in recent days over a Gaza flotilla that attempted to breach the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Twelve Canadians were detained by the Israeli authorities last week after the boats were intercepted. Some of those detained have said they have been mistreated.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on May 25 she spoke with Sa’ar about the incident and that Canada is providing Israel with evidence of the mistreatment. Anand summoned the Israeli ambassador to Canada over the issue last week.

Sa’ar, in his own readout of the conversation, said he told Anand that the only aim of the flotilla was to provoke Israel on behalf of Hamas.

Sa’ar and Netanyahu both condemned the role played by Ben-Gvir in these events after the minister posted a video of himself taunting the detained flotilla activists.

The issue was also raised during a May 25 call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

A readout from the Prime Minister’s Office says Carney criticized the treatment of civilians as “appalling” and “unacceptable” and called for an independent investigation. Carney also discussed the “devastating resurgence of antisemitism around the world” and what his government is doing to address the issue.

A readout from Herzog said he condemned the “pro-Hamas flotilla” as an attempt to directly undermine U.N. Security Council Resolution 2803. The resolution endorses the Gaza peace plan agreed upon by Israel and Hamas in fall 2025. Herzog also expressed “deep alarm” over rising anti-Semitism in Canada and asked Carney to take action.

Since Hamas carried out attacks inside Israel in 2023, followed by Israeli retaliation, hate-related incidents against Jews have spiked in Canada and elsewhere. Multiple Jewish institutions and businesses have been targeted by arsons and gunshots.

The Israeli readout says Carney and Herzog also discussed “current challenges” in the Canada-Israel bilateral relationship.

Carney has not spoken directly to Netanyahu since he took office last year. The two have openly criticized each other’s stances on Palestine.