Montrealers gathered at McGill University’s Roddick gates downtown on Monday afternoon.
Waving Israeli flags, they came together in song and prayer, and held a moment of silence to mourn the lives lost during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
The ceremony, which lasted about one hour, was student led and featured pictures of those kidnapped and being held by Hamas – as a show of solidarity.
Dalia Puterman, former McGill student: “We are here today to show that everything that they’ve tried to break over the past year is just rising stronger and that we’re more united than we were before.
“It’s events like this that we see that no one’s broken. We’re together. Our hearts are broken, but our spirits are stronger and even better than we were yesterday.”
Nicole Nashen, vice-president of the Jewish Law Students Association: “October 7 is the worst tragedy, the largest loss of life in the Jewish community in a single day since the Holocaust. It’s a devastating day for us. It holds a lot of emotional weight. A lot of Jews in the diaspora have family in Israel that were murdered, that were taken hostage, that their houses were massacred, that their neighbours were raped. And it’s a really, really hard day for us. And we just want other people, other Canadians, other Montrealers to stand with us in solidarity and comfort us on this really difficult day to help us mourn.”
Chanah Leah Natanblut, president of Chabad Concordia (organizer): “We didn’t really get that time to breathe. With so many protests, with so many people calling our names on the streets, yelling at us, the disruptions that happened at school, Molotov cocktails being thrown at synagogues, we didn’t have that time to mourn. So now, a year later, we are really gathering ourselves, gathering our thoughts, and it’s one big group hug.”
Zev Wood, McGill student: “It’s important to show that as a community, a Jewish community, and we have non-Jewish allies here as well, that we are unified. We’re not going anywhere. There’s a lot of intimidation happening on campus. We’re here to stay, and we’re showing that we’re proud of who we are.”
Between 10 and 20 protesters stood at the corner of McGill College Avenue and Sherbrooke Street waving Palestinian flags.
