An effigy of what appears to be a hanging Jew was hoisted up by demonstrators at a rally in Montreal in a display branded “disgusting” and “antisemitic” by Canadian politicians.
A video posted online by a group named Montreal4Palestine shows the effigy of a kippah-wearing figure with a noose around its neck being raised off the ground.
Effigies on which masks of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been placed can also be seen hanging and being paraded in public.
The footage appears to have been taken at a demonstration on Sunday.
Commenting on the video, one local official, Leslie Roberts, said: “This is unacceptable. As the city councillor for the district where this occurred, I have asked the SPVM [the Montreal police service] to investigate.”
Anthony Housefather, the Liberal MP for the riding of Mount Royal in Quebec, said: “Hanging an image of a Jew with a kippah in effigy is disgusting, antisemitic and clear incitement to hatred.” He added that he had also reported the display to the police.
SPVM have not yet responded publicly to the reports.
Elsewhere, posters put up in Toronto in an effort to help locate a missing Jewish teenager were torn down in what a spokeswoman for the girl’s family described as a “deeply disturbing” act.
The posters, stuck on trees and lampposts, featured pictures of 14-year-old Esther, who went missing on May 16, but many were ripped off. They were later seen discarded in the ground.
The motive behind the removal of the posters remains unclear, but Maureen Leshem, speaking on behalf of Esther’s family, told local media outlets: “Helping bring a missing child home safely should never be political or controversial. Tearing down posters of a missing girl goes against the compassion, decency, and humanity Canadians pride themselves on,”
Pointing to the tense climate that Jewish communities across Canada are living in, Leshem said there was a “growing fear” that there may have been an antisemitic motive involved.
“Whether or not that is the intent, the impact is the same: it interferes with efforts to spread awareness and could ultimately hinder the search for Esti,” she said.
There were a record-breaking 6,800 antisemitic incidents recorded in Canada in 2025, according to B’nai Brith Canada. That figure marked a jump of nine per cent from the previous year and a 146 per cent surge since 2022
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