Montreal suburb to enforce $1,000 penalty for removing Gaza hostage posters.
OAN’s Brooke Mallory
3:15 PM – Friday, November 10, 2023
A mayor in Hampstead, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is supporting his municipality’s plan to outlaw defacing or removing posters depicting hostages held in Gaza during Hamas’s attacks on Israel that began on October 7th.
On November 2nd, Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi announced that the town council would pass a bylaw to protect posters related to Gaza hostages in public areas. Anyone caught demolishing or destroying these posters would face a $1,000 fine, issued by the town’s public safety squad.
The council is expected to approve the bylaw on November 14th.
Levi stated that all fines would be sent to Israel, but did not provide details on how or where the money would be sent. He also mentioned that the fine would apply to posters on private land if the property owner filed a complaint.
Levi emphasized that the town is not financially supporting the posting of these flyers.
While some legal experts raised concerns about potential violations of equality and free expression rights, Levi assured that the bylaw was reviewed by outside legal counsel and does not infringe on any constitutional rights.
“The bylaw to be adopted was verified with outside legal counsel and does not contravene any constitutional rights,” Levi told reporters.
However, attorney Pearl Eliadis, an associate professor at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, expressed concerns about the bylaw potentially favoring one viewpoint over others.
“The first interesting question would be whether or not this bylaw permits different types of viewpoints—this seems to be specifically about one point of view,” she said.
Eliadis questioned how Hampstead would handle the removal of pro-Hamas or pro-Palestine posters, highlighting potential equity issues if differential treatment based on political opinion occurred.
“If those two people are treated differently, from a municipal perspective, then you have differential treatment based on political opinion, and that, to me, raises important equity issues,” she added.
According to Levi, there have been no reports of tampering with the posters in Hampstead, a wealthy town with a predominantly Jewish population. He commended the town’s proactive action to prevent any problems with the posters.
The posters, labeled “Kidnapped,” have gained global attention. They feature images, names, ages, and nationalities of over 220 hostages held by Hamas, including Israelis, Americans, and other foreigners. So far, they have not sparked heated debates in Quebec.
Levi responded to Eliadis’s remarks, stating that the bylaw is not one-sided and is simply a modification to the nuisance bylaw, unrelated to Israel or any specific issue.
“In a nutshell, any poster, placard, banner, etc., must have Hampstead approval prior to being erected on any public property. With this modification, we are now making it an infraction to remove, vandalize, or cover up these displays on public property,” he stated. “The lawyer on the CBC report never inquired with us on the technical aspects of the bylaw and has no clue what she’s talking about—she didn’t even request a copy of the proposed draft bylaw change. It was complete rhetoric.”
Regarding the removal of pro-Palestine posters, Levy clarified that any poster erected without town authorization would be taken down.
The Israeli consulate expressed immense gratitude to Hampstead for its action on social media.
“This is what leadership looks like,” the post said.
Hampstead has maintained close connections with Kiryat Shmona, a town on Israel’s northern border, since 1978. Following the Hamas assault, Hampstead took a firm stance in favor of Israel, and Levi expects the council to support the new bylaw.
Notably, the neighboring municipality of Côte Saint-Luc, with a predominantly Jewish population, has not implemented similar regulations for posters. However, it has urged the City of Montreal to denounce and curtail hate speech and the glorification of violence at demonstrations in support of the terrorist attack.
“The City of Côte Saint-Luc supports free speech, but not hate speech,” said Mayor Mitchell Brownstein. “Demonstrations celebrating the kidnapping and slaughtering of civilians are reprehensible and grotesque. We ask the City of Montreal and the Montreal police department to impose clear conditions on any future demonstrations.”
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How will the $1,000 fine issued by the town’s public safety squad for demolishing or destroying these posters be handled and where will the money be sent?
The Mayor of Hampstead, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has announced his support for a bylaw that would outlaw the defacement or removal of posters depicting hostages held in Gaza during Hamas’s attacks on Israel. The bylaw is expected to be approved by the town council on November 14th.
Mayor Jeremy Levi stated that anyone caught demolishing or destroying these posters would face a $1,000 fine issued by the town’s public safety squad. Levi also clarified that all fines would be sent to Israel, although he did not provide details on how or where the money would be sent. The fine would also apply to posters on private land if the property owner filed a complaint.
Levi emphasized that the town is not financially supporting the posting of these flyers. While legal experts have raised concerns about potential violations of equality and free expression rights, Levi assured that the bylaw was reviewed by outside legal counsel and does not infringe on any constitutional rights.
However, attorney Pearl Eliadis, an associate professor at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, expressed concerns about the bylaw potentially favoring one viewpoint over others. She questioned how Hampstead would handle the removal of pro-Hamas or pro-Palestine posters and highlighted potential equity issues if differential treatment based on political opinion occurred.
According to Levi,
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