Ayellet Tzur couldn’t hold back her tears during a rally in front of the Israeli consulate in the Westmount suburb of Montreal to remember Jewish victims of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which began Saturday.
“I just lost my cousin in the battle in Israel,” she sobbed, “on Shabbat.”
Her cousin, she said, was in the Israeli military.
A number of other people at the event also told Global News about family and friends they say were killed or who are missing. Yael Abramov doesn’t know where her nephew Laor Abramov is.
“He was at the music festival with his friend,” she said fighting back tears. “They were running from the gunfire.”
It’s the same music festival near the Gaza border where the militant group Hamas opened fire onto the crowd. Two Canadians, including a Montrealer, have been killed so far.
“We’re hurting,” said Rabbi Adam Scheier of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. “Our hearts are broken, and we’re coming together because that’s what you have to do.”
The rally, organized by the Montreal Board of Rabbis, is the latest event in Montreal in reaction to the conflict. On Sunday in the city, there was a rally in support of Palestinians.
That march prompted some politicians to denounce what they saw as support for Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group in Canada, pointing to its attack on civilians.
“I didn’t like to see some people in the streets in Montreal last weekend trying to justify,” Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters Tuesday. “It’s impossible to justify this type of actions.”
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plantes told reporters Tuesday that not all of the protesters Sunday support Hamas and urged residents to be careful.
“I’m really calling on Montrealers at this point to keep in mind that there was a terrorist attack,” she said. “Some people were killed coldly by Hamas.”
The tension in the city was also evident during Tuesday’s rally in Westmount as pro-Palestinian supporters tried to disrupt the event. There was at least one arrest.
“We wanted to protest here in front of the consulate to let Israel know that their international war crimes will be called out,” said a protester who refused to give his name, citing fear of reprisals from Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile both Jewish and Palestinian Montrealers with family in the area worry for their loved ones and want an end to the fighting.