“It’s sad to see this in my own city,” Housefather said of the posters, which he believes were mainly put up in the Mile End and Outremont.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather is denouncing posters erected in Montreal that show the flag of Nazi Germany and equate Zionism to terrorism.
The posters also target Housefather directly, describing him as a neo-Nazi and calling for him to “get out of Canada.”
Housefather denounced the posters on social media Tuesday evening. In an interview Wednesday, he described them as “plain antisemitism.”
“It’s sad to see this in my own city,” he said. “This is intended to stigmatize, to target, and to make you afraid to say what you want to say.”
Housefather had been alerted about a similar sign before, but started receiving several photos of them from people who noticed the posters on Tuesday. He believes they were mainly erected around the city’s Mile End and Outremont neighbourhoods.
He said like other Jewish elected officials, he’s seen an “absolutely extraordinary amount” of hate over the last seven months, with threats being issued on social media or through calls to his office.
“This sort of continues down that path,” he said. “Except it’s another sign on the streets of Montreal where others are also exposed to it, not just me and my staff.”
The posters make reference to Housefather saying in speeches in recent months that his and other Jewish families have helped build Canada.
The signs equate this to Nazi Germany saying it “built the Autobahn and much more.”
“(That diminishes) all of the contributions of not only my family, but every other family that helped build this country,” Housefather said.
“And then to tell a Canadian Jew who was born in Montreal, whose parents and grandparents were born in Montreal, that I should go somewhere else … it’s telling us that we don’t have a place in our country just because we believe that Israel has a right to exist.”
Reacting to the posters post online, Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, said the signs not only target Housefather but all Jewish Canadians.
“Our country has gained so much from the contributions of our Jewish community; it is past time for the rest of us to come together and say ‘no more’,” Lyons wrote.
“It is our duty to stand in front of them to protect them, behind them to support them, and beside them in true friendship,” she added.