(Montreal) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are aware of social media posts threatening Canada’s Jewish community, while public safety and justice ministers across the country say no one should promoting violence or supporting terrorism.
Hamas militants launched a deadly attack last weekend that killed hundreds of people in Israel, including at an outdoor music festival.
Israel responded with airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas since 2007, and by cutting off access to water and electricity in the territory. The Israeli military has asked more than a million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate the area, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Friday to destroy Hamas.
The Associated Press reports that the war has so far killed at least 3,200 people on both sides.
The RCMP statement comes as several Canadian police forces, including in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, say they have increased patrols in response to the war between Israel and Hamas, but have not identified any specific local threats.
In Montreal, for example, vigilance was clearly visible Friday morning around the Jewish General Hospital, in the Côte-des-Neiges district.
The CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest de l’île de Montréal, which is responsible for this hospital, closed some of the services this Friday, as a precautionary measure.
The director of the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM), Fady Dagher, announced in a press release that its personnel were present throughout the territory and that its units were patrolling in sensitive areas. Furthermore, police personnel are increasing their vigilance, he added, with regard to potential incidents or hate crimes linked to this conflict, an essential measure to help detect trends, centralize information and facilitate the surveys.
Director Dagher also affirmed that his meetings with the leaders of the Jewish and Muslim communities of Montreal reassured him about their intention to express their opinions in a free and respectful manner.
An RCMP spokesperson declined to answer further questions about the social media threats, including whether police were investigating.
The RCMP has simply indicated that all threats will be taken seriously and investigated.
For its part, the Ontario Provincial Police released a statement Friday morning saying it was aware of “global threats of online violence regarding the situation in the Middle East.”
Speaking to reporters in Bromont after a ministerial meeting Friday, federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said law enforcement officials “work a lot together to ensure the safety of Jewish communities and other communities facing this threat.
Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani added at the same press conference that while the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, it is also against the law to deliberately promote or incite hatred.
“We must ensure, when the line is crossed, that our law enforcement officials have the tools, resources and capacity to make arrests when necessary,” Minister Virani said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Friday in Vancouver that Conservatives believe in freedom of expression and assembly.
“People are free to express their own opinions, even ones that I find abhorrent,” he said.
“That said, I am free to express my opinion that Hamas is a sadistic, terrorist death cult and must be defeated, and I find it abhorrent that anyone in Canada or anywhere else would show support for Hamas. Hamas,” he added.