B’nai Brith Canada on Saturday night blasted Concordia University in Montreal, after the words “Kill all Jews” along with “Allahu Akbar” were found scrawled on the wall of a bathroom on campus a day earlier.
“That is a direct threat to Jewish students. It is the clearest picture yet of the campus environment they are being asked to live and learn in,” said B’nai Brith Canada in a statement.
“Jewish students at Concordia are entering buildings where open hostility is now routine. They hear assurances of safety while the reality around them shows the opposite. Concordia’s leadership has allowed this problem to escalate and has not taken the action required to protect its own students,” the organization added.
B’nai Brith Canada further noted, “Concordia has created an environment where hate has become normalized. Therefore, we are stepping in. We have established a coordinated response that focuses on accountability, consequences, and concrete protection for Jewish students.”
It announced the launch of “the Campus Accountability Roundtable to confront the failure of universities to protect Jewish students. Empty assurances are no longer acceptable. Our community will set the standards and direct its support toward institutions that uphold them.”
In January of this year, a Jewish student from Concordia University was forced to abandon his studies and return to the United States after receiving threats in a student WhatsApp group.
According to a conversation obtained by a news outlet, one student in the group directly threatened the Jewish student: ''I'll smash your skull on the floor...I can kill you - try me.''
In November of 2023, about a month after the start of the war in Gaza, an altercation on campus related to the war turned violent, leading to the arrest of one person and causing injuries to at least three people.
Montreal, in general, has seen a sharp rise in incidents of antisemitism since October 7, 2023. Congregation Beth Tikvah in the city was firebombed in November of 2023 and again in December of 2024. The suspect was arrested by Montreal police in early April of 2025.
In November of 2024, a man described as Arab entered a Jewish-owned business in Montreal and threatened to kill the business's owners as he went on an expletive-laden tirade against Jews and Israel.
In July of 2024, a Jewish cemetery in the city was vandalized, with the vandals arranging stones over the graves into the shape of a swastika.
This past August, a Jewish Canadian man who was brutally assaulted in an antisemitic attack on the streets of Montreal, in full view of his children.