A new ordinance is being passed in a Montreal suburb that will impose a $1,000 fine on anyone caught tearing up posters of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas as tensions rise following two shootings at Jewish schools in the city.
Jeremy Levi, mayor of Hampstead, a Canadian city with a significant Jewish population, announced the news on social media, the proceeds of which would be sent to Israel.
“Hampstead will pass an ordinance imposing a $1,000 fine on anyone found to have removed the Israeli hostage posters from public property,” he tweeted on X.
“In addition, 100 percent of the funds collected from this violation will be donated to Israel.”
The resolution is expected to be adopted at the next council meeting, scheduled for November 14.
Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi announced the bylaws Thursday
The new regulation will impose a $1,000 fine on anyone caught tearing up posters of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
The resolution is expected to be adopted at the next council meeting, scheduled for November 14
Although Levi admitted to CTV News that he was not aware of reports of posters being removed in Hampstead, he said it was important to stay ahead of the curve.
“We plan to keep these posters posted throughout the city indefinitely and are taking proactive measures to ensure no issues arise,” he said in an email to CTV.
The proposed new regulation comes as two Jewish schools in Montreal were hit with bullets on Wednesday evening.
The shootings took place at Talmud Torah Elementary School and Yeshiva Gedola in Montreal.
School staff discovered bullet holes near the entrance to the schools on Thursday morning.
Police said no one was injured in the shooting.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “shocked” by news of the shootings.
“I want to be very clear: we condemn this anti-Semitic violence in the strongest possible terms,” Trudeau said Thursday morning at a news conference at the Longueuil housing market.
“This hatred has no place in Montreal, Quebec or Canada,” Trudeau added.
‘We have to remember who we are. I know emotions are running high – people are scared, grieving. But attacking each other as Canadians is not what we do.”
The incidents occurred just days after two Jewish institutions in Massachusetts were targeted by firebombs.
Two 18-year-old New York teenagers have been arrested in New York City for allegedly tearing down posters of hostages kidnapped last night in the Israel-Hamas war.
There were reports Monday that firebombs had been left at the Beth Tikvah synagogue and a nearby Jewish community center.
‘Last night an incendiary object was thrown through the front door. There is minor damage. The investigation is ongoing,” said Sabrina Gauthier, a spokesperson for Montreal police.
She added that the door of another nearby building that houses the Canadian Jewish organization CJA was also targeted.
Police say no arrests have been made.
In New York City, tTwo 18-year-old teenagers from New York have been arrested for allegedly tearing down posters of hostages kidnapped last night in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Charlotte Wimer and Gray Segal were arrested last night for allegedly tearing down posters outside a private property in Gramercy Park.
The posters were of 240 Israeli children and adults kidnapped by the terrorist group. Officials have charged both suspects with criminal mischief.
The wall of the private building was covered with red and white signs with the word “KIDNAPPED” written above photos of the missing hostages, as well as posters with the Israeli flag.
The incident comes a week after two young women were also caught on camera tearing off posters of Israeli child hostages while shouting ‘f***k Israel’.
Sisters Aya and Dana were seen tearing up notices posted around Broadway and 79th Street on the Upper West Side, New York.
The University of Southern California student looks at the camera when asked why she committed such a heinous act
The student then responds in the form of a childish giggle as he continues to tear down the posters
They were confronted by passerby Marilyn Adler, who was walking down the street with her two daughters. When Adler urged them to stop tearing up the posters, the duo launched a barrage of abuse against them.
Footage shows one of the sisters shouting: ‘f***k you, f***k Israel’. The other woman said: ‘f***k you, b***h’
Since the October 7 Hamas attack, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 people taken hostage, posters of those abducted have been put up in major cities.
A giggling University of Southern California student was recorded tearing apart posters depicting the faces of those kidnapped by Hamas following the terror group’s barbaric attack on Israel on October 7.
It is the latest incident of blatant anti-Semitism to occur on the campus of a major American university.
Universities have faced increasing criticism over their response to the war and its resonance in American schools.
Protests have sometimes turned violent, including at a recent demonstration at Tulane University, while threats of violence have rocked campuses including Cornell University.