Israeli man and Canadian police officer killed outside Chabad house in Montreal

Two people were killed on Monday in a shooting near a Chabad house and kosher restaurant in Montreal, Canada.

The victims were later identified as 68-year-old Israeli citizen Michael Moshe Mizrahi and police officer Mohamed Lamine Benredouane. The suspected gunman was killed in an exchange of fire with police and reportedly left behind a 100-page manifesto espousing “anti-feminist” ideology. Local authorities said the motive remains unclear. Mizrahi was reportedly killed after being mistakenly identified as the gunman.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs mourned Mizrahi’s death.

“He was a beloved member of Montreal’s Jewish community,” CIJA said in an official statement. “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time of unimaginable grief.”

The Montreal police described the death of Officer Benredouane as “a great loss to our organization.”

“His sense of duty, dedication and professionalism will remain forever etched in our memory,” the local police stated. A second police officer was reportedly also injured in the shooting attack, which took place in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, which has a large Jewish population.

Moishy Bloch, a local Montreal resident and volunteer from the Jewish rescue organization ZAKA’s international unit, recalled the deep uncertainty and confusion surrounding the tragic event.

“These were long hours of uncertainty,” Bloch said. “I walked around the scene with the deceased’s son and between the various officials to understand what had happened to his father. Only after a long time did we receive the official confirmation that he had been killed at the scene.”

It is unclear whether the gunman was affiliated with the antifeminist movement. However, the news outlet La Presse quoted the sociology professor Mélissa Blais, who assessed that “the vocabulary and ideas that appear in it are faithful to incel philosophy.”

The manifesto also blamed women’s sexual liberation as a cause for Western men suffering from loneliness and social isolation. “This is a clear call for armed struggle,” Blais argued.

Rabbi Chaim Shlomo Cohen said that the gunfire was directed at a building close to the Chabad house.

“The shooting was toward a building close to the Chabad house. They fired from the hotel at another building,” he said. “I was sitting in my office, and suddenly police officers came in and said no one was allowed to leave the building, and evacuated people from hotels to us,” the rabbi recalled.

A local resident, Brandon, who witnessed the incident, said he heard “10 or 12 shots in a row” at the time of the incident.

“Parents and children ran from the park in panic,” he said. “We are all in complete shock that this is happening in our neighborhood, which is usually quiet. We are surrounded by schools. It is usually a very family-oriented area.”

The attack in Côte-des-Neiges took place amid rising levels of antisemitism across Canada.

Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for action: “The crisis of antisemitism in Canada today is specific, it’s severe and it demands a targeted response.”