Canadian police shot Israeli-born Jewish community figure dead during Montreal attack

Michael Moshe Mizrahi, who had planned to travel to Israel for his 68th birthday, was killed in Montreal, Canada, during a shooting near a Chabad House in the Côte-des-Neiges district, an area with a large Jewish population. His family says he was mistakenly shot by police who were trying to stop the attack, and that he later died of his wounds after remaining at the scene for hours.

His son-in-law, Avi Abergil, told ynet that foreign friends sent the family “a shocking video of the murder” and that “a child is watching his father’s execution” was the hardest part. He said his wife, Deborah, Mizrahi’s daughter, repeatedly tried to reach her father that day before learning he was at the scene of the shooting. The family said the official confirmation of his death arrived only around 1 a.m.

Canadian reports said the attacker was killed and left behind a roughly 100-page manifesto apparently tied to Incel ideology, so investigators ruled out an antisemitic motive. Chabad officials said police sealed off the area for hours and did not give the family or emissaries information, which fueled conflicting rumors about Mizrahi’s condition. The family says police have told them he was killed by a female officer while she was trying to neutralize the shooter.

Mizrahi was born in Lebanon, moved to Israel at age 15, enlisted in the IDF two years later, and fought in the Yom Kippur War. He later moved to Canada, where he lived for more than 40 years, ran a men’s clothing store in Montreal, raised three children and had six grandchildren. His family chose to bury him in Israel, as he wanted, and the funeral was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. in Migdal HaEmek. Abergil said Mizrahi was “a great man of kindness” who had saved Jewish lives by telling people inside a supermarket not to go out and by moving them away from the line of fire.