Jews in Montreal and the rest of Canada weren't the only victims of the religious fanatics who vandalized five synagogues and a Jewish school in Montreal in the early morning hours of January 17. Decent Canadians of all persuasions were victimized too because the vandalism was not only a direct frontal assault on Canadian values like tolerance and pluralism and religious freedom, it was also a warning to other religious groups as well. These acts are more than anti-Semitism carried out by simple minded local bigots. They are part of the religious war targeting Christians, Jews and religious minorities that is going on all over the world and have brought a level of planning and organization to Canada that hasn't been seen before.

If a group of criminals could organize and carry out religiously motivated hate crimes such as these, they are certainly capable of conducting the same kind of operation against churches or planting bombs that go off simultaneously in public places or other such atrocities. In fact, the coordinated nature of these crimes is a hallmark of al-Qaeda and it is no stretch at all to believe that it or one of its offshoots was behind them.

This could easily have been a dry run, with much more serious assaults to come. Make no mistake, the people who did this aren't garden variety vandals. They are highly skilled, well organized atavists and lunatics who can and will strike again unless apprehended and dealt with in the severest possible manner within the limits of the law. Their support networks must also be dismantled and all the media generated hatred, bile and disinformation, especially on the internet, has to be dealt with too. Jews may be the first of their victims in Canada but they certainly won't be the last if Canadians of good heart, good sense and courage don't stop them in their tracks.