Montréal passes Palestinian solidarity motion after removing text on cutting ties with Israel

JTA – Montréal has passed a motion of solidarity with Palestinians after stripping a clause that called for severing institutional and diplomatic ties with Israel. 

On Monday, Montréal’s city council adopted the measure, which also removed earlier references to Israeli “apartheid” and “genocide”, after a contentious debate about the role of local government in denouncing conflicts abroad. The amended motion passed with 54 councillors voting in favour and six against. 

The motion was introduced by Projet Montréal, a progressive, environmentalist municipal party that forms the opposition in the city council. An original version demanded the city “immediately suspend its institutional ties with the current government of Israel, its institutions, and its municipalities”. Major Canadian Jewish organisations pushed to discard that clause. 

Montréal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada clashed with progressive councillors during Monday’s debate. She argued that it wasn’t the role of a city government to make determinations about international crises, saying that “recognising the limits of our institution isn’t turning a blind eye to Gaza”. Changes to the final motion from Martinez Ferrada’s administration focused on diversity and inclusion in Montréal. 

According to the original proposal by Projet Montréal, Israeli government representatives would no longer have been invited to Montréal City Hall until Israel “returns to its internationally recognised borders, ceases its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, and ends its violations of international law”. 

The initial motion also stipulated that Montréal “recognises and denounces the apartheid regime imposed in Palestine and the genocide perpetrated there”, citing definitions of “apartheid” and “genocide” that international human rights groups and scholars have used to describe Israel. Another clause condemned rising antisemitism and said “the Jewish communities of Montréal and elsewhere, as well as people of Israeli origin, cannot be held responsible for the actions of the State of Israel”. 

The measure’s dilution comes after national Jewish organisations raised strong opposition to the initial language. B’nai Brith Canada said in an open letter to the city council earlier this month that it would be “inappropriate and exacerbate tensions between communities” if Montréal weighed in on the Middle East. 

“It is deceitful and inflammatory to conflate Israel with apartheid South Africa, and Canada has rejected the view that Israel’s actions constitute apartheid,” the group said. “No court of competent jurisdiction has found that a genocide has occurred.” B’nai Brith also linked the proposed policy with antisemitism, saying it would “further normalise the targeting of our Jewish community”. 

After Monday’s vote, B’nai Brith Canada celebrated the motion’s transformation. 

“We are pleased that the city council didn’t adopt the deceitful and distorted language contained in the original motion,” Paola Samuel, the regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, said in a statement. 

Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis, a member of the clergy at the Montréal-area synagogue Shaar Hashomayim, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the final motion resulted from Jews “mobilising” in support of Israel. 

Projet Montréal called the solidarity motion a “historic breakthrough”, but lamented the changes that “significantly weakened the scope of the original motion”. 

“Palestine deserves the same solidarity as Montréal has expressed towards so many other peoples,” the party said in a social media statement. “Thousands of Montréalers have loved ones directly affected and we have the responsibility to stand by their side.”