Bad as the wave of anti-Semitism in the U.S. has been, it seems less intense than what has been transpiring in Montreal. There were at least three incidents where shots were fired at Jewish schools, four attacks on synagogues or Jewish community centers with firebombs or Molotov cocktails, and dozens of cases of anti-Semitic graffiti, vicious anti-Israel protests, and so forth. Warren Kinsella comments:

In none of the most serious cases, all crimes, has an arrest been made. And Jews who spoke to . . . reporters declined to give their names—or report to police other anti-Semitic crimes—because they feared retribution. That is Montreal since October 7. This city has experienced more hate crimes against Jews than any other North American city. . . . What the hell is happening here?

“The reason that Montreal is the only city in North America that has had multiple violent targeted attacks against Jewish institutions and people—from gunshots to Molotov cocktails—is because there is no condemnation of jihadist behavior taking place on the streets of Montreal. None. We need a political voice to say, ‘Enough!’ But we don’t have it.”

Beryl Wajsman, the articulate and passionate editor of Montreal’s award-winning newspaper the Suburban, pauses. He looks more angry than sad. . . . Wajsman says [the city’s mayor] Valerie Plante is much more preoccupied with greening the city and “the war on the car” than she is with the safety of Montreal’s Jews. That has sent a message to Montreal’s pro-Hamas fanatics, he says. “They know they’re not going to be taken in by the police. They know they can trespass, and block traffic, and more.”

And they’re paid to do so, he says. Pro-Hamas protesters can get up to $50 for each protest they attend, he claims, and they’ve divided the city up into grids, with leaders responsible for each grid.

Even if the agreement with Hamas to secure the release of some, and possibly all, of the remaining hostages—and the bodies of those no longer alive—is a prudent decision for Israel, it comes at a very high price: potentially leaving Hamas in control of Gaza and the release of vast numbers of Palestinian prisoners, many with blood on their hands. Nadav Shragai reminds us of the history of such agreements:

We cannot forget that the terrorists released in the Jibril deal during the summer of 1985 became the backbone of the first intifada, resulting in the murder of 165 Israelis. Approximately half of the terrorists released following the Oslo Accords joined Palestinian terror groups, with many participating in the second intifada that claimed 1,178 Israeli lives. Those freed in [exchange for Gilad Shalit in 2011] constructed Gaza, the world’s largest terror city, and brought about the October 7 massacre. We must ask ourselves: where will those released in the 2025 hostage deal lead us?

Taking these painful concessions into account Michael Oren argues that they might nonetheless be necessary:

From day one—October 7, 2023—Israel’s twin goals in Gaza were fundamentally irreconcilable. Israel could not, as its leaders pledged, simultaneously destroy Hamas and secure all of the hostages’ release. The terrorists who regarded the hostages as the key to their survival would hardly give them up for less than an Israeli commitment to end—and therefore lose—the war. Israelis, for their part, were torn between those who felt that they could not send their children to the army so long as hostages remained in captivity and those who held that, if Hamas wins, Israel will not have an army at all.

While 33 hostages will be released in the first stage, dozens—alive and dead—will remain in Gaza, prolonging their families’ suffering. The relatives of those killed by the Palestinian terrorists now going free will also be shattered. So, too, will the Israelis who still see soldiers dying in Gaza almost daily while Hamas rocket fire continues. What were all of Israel’s sacrifices for, they will ask. . . .

Perhaps this outcome was unavoidable from the beginning. Perhaps the deal is the only way of reconciling Israel’s mutually exclusive goals of annihilating Hamas and repatriating the hostages. Perhaps, despite Israel’s subsequent military triumph, this is the price for the failures of October 7.