For the second time in two weeks, a Canadian police officer has been killed. Both incidents were connected to attacks against Canada’s Jewish community.
On Monday morning, police responded to reports that a lone gunman had carried out an attack in Côte-des-Neiges, a prominent hub for Montreal’s Jewish community. The attack, near several kosher restaurants, Jewish schools, and community centers, led to the deaths of Montreal police officer Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, and bystander Michel Mizrahi, 68. Mizrahi was a Jewish civilian and a member of the local Chabad chapter. Alleged shooter Seth Hatfield, 25, of Lethbridge, Alberta, was also killed, while another police officer was seriously injured.
The attack came just 11 days after Toronto police officer Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was killed while executing a high-risk search warrant connected to dozens of shootings in the greater Toronto area, including one at the U.S. Consulate last March and others on multiple synagogues and Jewish day schools. Reports indicate those shootings may have been part of a guns-for-hire plot, connected to Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia—a violent Islamist group backed by Iran.
Together, these incidents have heightened tensions amid what Canadian prime minister Mark Carney recently described as a “crisis of antisemitism in Canada.”
So why isn’t the media reporting on the antisemitic elements of Monday’s shooting?
