Montreal – A Jewish man wearing a yarmulke was assaulted this week by a taxi driver in Montreal.
The taxi driver was blocking the door to an underground garage at a condo building Sunday in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal. When the driver of a car honked to signal that he should move away from the door, the taxi driver apparently noted the other driver’s kippah and shouted, “I won’t move for any fucking Jews!” He also threatened to kill the other driver.
The victim then attempted to photograph the taxi number in order to file a complaint, at which point the driver exited his car and punched the Jewish man repeatedly and shouted antisemitic slurs until a parking supervisor intervened, B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement. The victim’s phone also was smashed. The victim required attention at a local hospital.
A woman who intervened was reportedly struck by the taxi driver.
“This is a shocking antisemitic hate crime, in which someone could have been gravely injured or even killed,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada.