{"id":717385,"date":"2026-06-05T19:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/717385\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:03:18","slug":"montreal-rabbi-says-temple-service-will-continue-despite-attempted-arson-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/717385\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal rabbi says temple service will continue despite attempted arson – Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

One man has been arrested following an attempted arson at a Montreal synagogue, police say.<\/p>\n

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Officers responded to a place of worship at Sherbrooke Street and Wood Avenue shortly after midnight on Friday following reports of a fire.<\/p>\n

No suspect was found at the scene, but police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant told Global News there was a broken window and that an \u201cincendiary object\u201d was found inside.<\/p>\n

Brabant said firefighters responded quickly and the building sustained minor damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith some information that was provided by witnesses, we were able to arrest a man who is 38-years-old in link with the arson,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The suspect has met with investigators and Brabant said an accusation will be filed with the Crown prosecutor later Friday.<\/p>\n

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No one was hurt, said Lisa Grushcow, the rabbi at the targeted temple, in a message to her congregation and the broader community.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs I write, our building is fully open and functional. We are grateful for the dedication and courage of our community and our team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But Grushcow said there is concern with the rise in antisemitism across Montreal and Canada.<\/p>\n

In 2025, more than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes targeted the Jewish community, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in his address on combating antisemitism on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government will always protect the inalienable right of the Jewish people to live openly in freedom, safety and dignity,\u201d he said. \u201cProtection is fundamental, but not sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Carney announced the launch and membership of Canada\u2019s new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion, with a mandate to reassess the drivers of antisemitism, develop a whole-of-government approach to target hate, improve the collection and data on hate incidents and measure the impact of government efforts.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Bill C-9 passed third reading in the Senate. The bill directly addresses antisemitism and hate-motivated violence by amending the Criminal Code to create a hate crime offence as well as an offence for restricting access to places of religious worship.<\/p>\n

Grushcow said actions from the government are needed, noting the arson attempt is the second time her synagogue was targeted. Last spring, a swastika was spray-painted on the temple, but Grushcow said these acts will not stop the community from gathering.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTemple will do what we do best: live a thriving, inclusive, joyous Jewish life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Friday Shabbat services will continue as scheduled, she added.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One man has been arrested following an attempted arson at a Montreal synagogue, police say. Officers responded to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[4288,49,48,2169,189200,2338,38248,38249],"class_list":["post-717385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-antisemitism","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-hate-crime","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-crime","tag-montreal-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}