Montreal council rejects bid to cut city’s ties with Israel

The amended motion instead affirmed the council’s “solidarity with the Palestinian people” and civilian victims of Middle Eastern conflicts, as well as its commitment to international law, and called on both the national and Quebec provincial governments to show “greater leadership” towards peace through diplomacy and sanctions against those responsible for violations of international human rights law.

The amendments, adopted along party lines and supported by the Ensemble Montréal majority, also added extra focus on diversity and inclusion in Montreal.

The motion was proposed in June by Projet Montréal, a progressive political party which forms the official opposition on the council.

That version called on the city council to “recognise and denounce the apartheid regime in Palestine and the genocide being perpetrated there, and affirm solidarity with Palestinians and other civilian victims of hostilities in the Middle East”.

It also called for the council to suspend all institutional ties with Israel’s government, primarily by not inviting representatives of the state to official events held at City Hall “until Israel returns to its internationally recognised borders, ceases its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, and ends its violations of international law”.

Projet Montréal referenced apartheid-era South Africa as justification for the motion.

But the motion also recognised the international condemnation which followed the October 7 attacks and emphasised that Jewish and Israeli people in Montreal must not be held responsible for the actions of the state of Israel and pointed out the troubling rise in antisemitism.

It explicitly denounced antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and all forms of hate.

As they arrived for the debate, councillors were met by protesters at City Hall, carrying Palestinian flags and chanting “free Palestine.”

And the Quebec Artists’ Anti-Apartheid Club, made up of over 700 artists, cultural figures and culture-focused organisations, expressed their “full support for the motion of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” and urged Montreal’s elected officials to vote in favour of the motion.

Their appeal referenced the actions of former Mayor Jean Doré, who, in 1987, refused to award municipal contracts to companies that benefited from the apartheid regime in South Africa.

On the other hand, B’nai Brith Canada called on Montreal City Council to reject the motion, calling it “divisive”, “dishonest” and “one-sided”; said the terms “apartheid: and “genocide” were “explosive falsehoods”, “calculated lies” and “extreme characterisations”; and criticised the comparison of Israel to apartheid South Africa, calling it “deceitful and inflammatory”.

Likewise, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) criticised Projet Montréal for focusing on Israel rather than “local issues that matter” such as the economy, homelessness, rent prices, infrastructure and safety, and accused the party of “sowing division” and “importing a foreign conflict into municipal politics”.

CIJA noted recent attacks - both verbal and physical - on Jewish Montrealers, arson attacks on synagogues, and the mock-hanging of effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at a pro-Palestinian rally, calling Montreal’s current climate “toxic” and claiming the proposed motion “only adds fuel to the fire.”

Nathalie Goulet, the Projet Montréal councillor who originally proposed the motion, said after the debate: “We are extremely disappointed with the amendments.

“[The motion] is very watered down, which is typical. But we didn’t want to withdraw our motion. We left a mark, in essence. That was important.”