MONTREAL — Some 200 people gathered here Oct. 7 in a vigil organized by several Jewish student organizations at both McGill and Concordia — Israel on Campus, Jewish Law Student Association and the Medical & Dental Jewish Student Association — to mark the third anniversary of the murderous Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel by Hamas.
Organizers invited the public to join Jewish students at McGill’s Lower Field, where a pro-Hamas encampment stood two years ago. Allied Voices for Israel also supported the vigil.
“We’re here to celebrate life. Three years ago was the deadliest, most horrific attack on our people since the Holocaust,” Elias Manevich, one of the student organizers of the vigil, said opening the program. “As Jewish students we got no support from our professors. We were harassed on campus and we saw attacks on Jews, like the firebombing in Dollard des Ormeaux, so it was important to come together to support Israel and Jews here in Canada.”
On Dec. 18, 2024, the Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue in the West Island suburb of Dollard Des Ormeaux was firebombed by Mohamed Ilyess Akodad, shattering glass, causing smoke damage and more. The explosion also smashed a glass door at a nearby Jewish community organization.
Lee Rahav, who helped defend the Nirim Kibbutz as Hamas thugs came across the Gaza border into Israel, described the fight to save people’s lives. Hamas “came with only one goal — to kill, rape and destroy as much as they could.” Rahav also spoke to hundreds at another commemoration that evening organized by the Federation Combined Jewish Appeal.
Several students who had family or friends killed or injured during the pogrom addressed the crowd, as did a Holocaust survivor originally from Hungary, who spoke from his wheelchair. Holding a sign reading “We will not be silent,” he described the horror of the Holocaust, adding “I see the seeds of what happened then, today. Never again!”