Noa Argamani and Ziv Avud React to Montreal Shooting After Recent Visits to Canada

Noa Argamani said she had been in Canada only days before the deadly shooting in Montreal, where two people were killed, including a member of the Jewish community and a local police officer. She wrote, "I was there, surrounded by kindness," and added, "My heart aches for this beautiful city and for everyone hurt by this tragedy."

The shooting triggered an active shooter alert in Montreal after gunfire in the Westbury neighborhood of the Côte-des-Neiges borough, near a local Chabad center. The incident drew immediate attention because of its location and the fact that it came amid growing concern about antisemitic violence in Canada.

Ziv Avud, a survivor of the Nova festival attack and the fiancée of hostage survivor Eliya Cohen, also responded. She said that after many advocacy trips to Canada, she was not speechless: "We have been there so many times, you can feel the terrible antisemitism in the air, and more than that, when the leaders around you do not condemn it, this is what it looks like."

The article says the attack came just months after Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli formally warned Canada’s prime minister about the danger to Jewish communities. In a March letter, Chikli said Jews in Canada are the country’s most attacked minority group on religious grounds, cited 2024 data showing Jews, about 1% of the population, were the victims in 920 documented hate incidents, and said a Jewish Canadian is 25 times more likely than the average Canadian to be the victim of a hate crime. After the attack, he urged the Canadian government to move from statements to concrete protection, saying, "I call on the Government of Canada to wake up, quickly, it is time for clear action."