Jewish community responds to alleged hate speech

Leaders of Montreal’s Jewish community are keeping a close eye on the trial of a Montreal man who allegedly threatened to kill girls at a Jewish girls’ school. Robert Gosselin, 55, has been charged with inciting hatred toward Jewish people and threatening to cause death and bodily harm to Jews after anti-Semitic posts were written on the Facebook page of Le Journal de Montréal. The social media posts said: “A good Jew is only good for firewood” and “What matters is I will eliminate some Jews by killing an entire school full of Jewish girls. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise!” The posts generated angry comments from people who said he was racist and anti-Semitic. Gosselin’s court date on Tuesday was postponed for three weeks because he is changing lawyers. Jewish community leaders turned up at the Montreal courthouse to send a message to the prosecutor that they take the threats very seriously. “The parents of kids in school are very concerned,” said Rabbi Reuben Poupko, co-chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish AffairsQuebec, an advocacy agent for the Jewish Federations of Canada. “In Pittsburgh, we saw all too well that threats of violence and anti-Semitism made online can turn into murderous violence offline. While there is presently no increased threat level, as a precaution, the SPVM has increased its presence around our institutions and schools.” Poupko said the Montreal police “acted with a great sense of urgency” after learning about the disturbing posts and arrested Gosselin almost immediately. Gosselin, who lives in the Rosemont-La-PetitePatrie borough, has also been charged with uttering threats toward the family of Quebec singer Céline Dion. Poupko said the internet is an incubator of anti-Semitism, radicalization and hate, adding that social media providers must enforce their codes of conduct more rigorously. He said he was disturbed by a decision to allow Gosselin out on bail pending his trial. Statistics from the Montreal police show an increase in hate crimes against Jews and the Jewish community reported to police over the past year. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, there were 36 incidents that the SPVM categorized as hate crimes against Jews. During the same period in 2017, 21 such incidents were reported. But Insp. Caroline Cournoyer of the SPVM’s hate-crimes unit advised caution in drawing conclusions from those statistics. “These are reports,” she told The Montreal Gazette last week. “It doesn’t necessarily mean more incidents are occurring. It can be that there are more people who are willing to denounce.” Most of the incidents involve hate speech on social media, but they also include vandalism, graffiti and violent acts against people or property. Gosselin returns to court on Nov. 29.