Two weeks before his 19th birthday, Mohamed Ilyes Akodad travelled across town to the epicentre of Jewish life in Montreal’s West Island, armed with a hammer, a lighter, gasoline, and a mission to raze two buildings to the ground.
On Tuesday, June 30, Akodad recounted in a Montreal courtroom how he arrived on the scene around 3 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2024, smashing a window of the Federation CJA’s West Island offices with a hammer, and 10 minutes later setting fire to the Beth Tikvah Ahavat Shalom Nusach Hoari synagogue across the street, next to a Jewish day school, surrounded by single-family homes.
Akodad stoked terror in the tight-knit Jewish community, in this quiet suburban neighbourhood and across the island, as Montreal and Canada saw antisemitism soar following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel that launched the Gaza-Israel war. The arson came just over a year after another firebombing at the same location exactly 30 days following the October 7 attacks. The first firebomber was never found. The Hebrew Foundation school adjacent to the 58-year-old Beth Tikvah also had flags set on fire in April 2023.
SPVM officers arriving on the scene of Akodad’s attack doused the fire. While the damage was minor, the attack stunned the community, particularly as it was the second such assault in a year.
Last January, Akodad pleaded guilty to three of six arson-related offences he was charged with when arrested in April 2025. Section 434 — intentionally or recklessly caused damage by fire or explosion to property; section 430(1)(a)(3)(a) — mischief with respect to property with value exceeding $5,000; and 436.1(a) — arson by negligence. The three offences carry maximum prison terms of 14, 10, and 5 years, respectively.
The Crown is seeking a 24-month prison sentence, about nine additional months in custody after credit for time served. Another two months in custody (until Superior Court Judge Karine Giguère delivers her decision Sept. 10) will likely mean another three-month reduction.
Crown prosecutor Christopher Hadjis-Chartrand told The CJN that courts do not overlap counts for a singular offending act. “In other words, even if we had done the trial, Mr. Akodad would not have been sentenced to all six counts.”
Clad in sweatpants and sweatshirt, bearded with a large ponytail and his wrists handcuffed in front of him, Akodad, now 20, told Judge Giguère the act — a “contract barbecue” — had “nothing to do” with Jews.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Akodad at his day-long sentencing hearing, his 17th court appearance since his April 2025 arrest in east-end Anjou, when the SPVM’s Arson and Explosives Unit investigators seized evidence at his home.
“I need three barbecues”
The evening before his attack, Akodad visited a “chill spot” at a downtown Airbnb condo with a friend “to get high, where we could smoke with girls.” There he was allegedly approached by a man he did not know and cannot identify, who told him of an opportunity to make money, introducing him via a Signal FaceTime call to another individual who hired him for “a mission.” The man, described only as a white male with dark hair and glasses, allegedly said: “I need three barbecues,” criminal slang for arson, for which Akodad was promised $15,000.
More than a dozen Jewish community members, including Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and Beth Tikvah representatives, listened in the courtroom, along with Akodad’s family and a representative of a Maghrebin (North African) community centre, who submitted a report on behalf of the accused’s family. Community victim impact statements were read by former B’nai Brith Canada Quebec regional director and Beth Tikvah Cantor Henry Topas, and CIJA Quebec vice-president Eta Yudin.
In 2025, said Topas, “anti-Jewish hatred, while widely propagated by a virulent and venomous subgroup of our society, has spread to every aspect of Canadian life.” Streets, synagogues, schools, educational institutions, workplaces, and online platforms, he said, “have been increasingly infiltrated by malign actors eager to spread and incite hatred against the Jewish community,” citing the 18.6 daily hate incidents targeting Jewish Canadians as recently reported by B’nai Brith.
After two such attacks, congregation members, those who attend weekly services, and children attending the day school have experienced “fear that has now risen exponentially. We have to ask ourselves: Should we risk a third?” The other question, he says, is due to how Akodad “returned seconds later and took a picture of the vestibule that was now in flames. Who was the photo for?”
The CJN asked the SPVM if investigators explored the third-party connection, given recent revelations by federal officials and Toronto Police Service that shootings at Toronto synagogues and the U.S. consulate were carried out by young men recruited by foreign actors through online platforms and ordered to film their crimes. A response was not obtained by press time.
Hadjis-Chartrand told the court that offences targeting Jewish institutions strike at the heart of religious freedom, with consequences extending far beyond physical damage. “Such crimes become a cancer that infiltrates people’s minds,” he said. “They undermine social peace.”
The sentence must send a clear message, he added, noting that “within Jewish history, using fire against Jewish institutions carries particular symbolic significance… Every minority in Canada should be able to gather peacefully, confident that society will protect them. The court should communicate that no community will be left behind.” He referenced Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act. While not applying in this case, having only been recently adopted, he said, “Parliament’s actions reflect the current social climate and the need to reinforce protection of places of worship.”
Topas told Giguère that Canada’s justice system “is the last bastion of hope for the community, to stand up and act in the face of these threats… We cannot tolerate acts of violence against religious institutions, regardless of faith. Everyone has the right to live in peace in Canada. Mr. Akodad, himself already charged in another case, poses a threat to the safety and security of Canadians.”
For his part, Akodad pleaded with the Jewish community to forgive him. “It’s not obvious” he said, “but I regret what I did,” adding, “if they don’t forgive me, I can’t forgive myself.”
Prompted by his lawyer, he spoke extensively about a difficult childhood, being bullied, his parents’ divorce, low self-esteem, drug use and a criminal history including car thefts, shoplifting, and other offences, insisting, “It wasn’t all the drugs’ fault. I’m not a victim.” His mother sat silently near the back of the courtroom, weeping through much of the testimony, at one point leaving the courtroom accompanied by the community centre director — the same man who aggressively approached journalists in the courthouse, telling them whom they could and could not film. When asked to identify himself, the man, later identified as El Amine Serhani, told reporters, “Don’t worry about who I am.”
Akodad claimed he didn’t torch the Federation building because he panicked, and just chose to break the window, striking it repeatedly with a hammer. When the driver asked to see the video, he lied, telling him he panicked because people were around. “I’m not a killer. I’m not someone who would ever burn something with someone inside.” But the driver insisted he torch the second address: “He wouldn’t take me home unless the mission was completed.”
The pair circled the block for approximately 10 minutes before Akodad exited and approached the synagogue doors, where he smashed the window, before pouring enough gasoline inside to ensure the building would ignite, and used paper to light the fire. He fled as he found himself surrounded by flames, dropping tools and the driver’s cellphone, before returning to retrieve them and film the blaze.
Testimonial inconsistencies and missing recollections
Hadjis-Chartrand disputed Akodad’s claims of stress and drug-induced memory loss, saying evidence shows he remained capable of planning, complex decision-making, lying and strategizing, and filming the offence as instructed, demonstrating a greater level of awareness.
During pointed cross-examination, he said Akodad claimed he couldn’t remember things because he was very intoxicated, “yet you remember numerous details. You were able to manipulate tools, handle a hammer, gasoline and other incendiary materials, carry on conversations throughout the evening, and remember discussions with the driver.” Moreover, if lying about people seeing him at the Federation building worked to persuade the driver to leave, asked Hadjis-Chartrand, “why didn’t you use it again at the synagogue?”
He also challenged Akodad’s claims of ignorance that these were Jewish institutions, believing they were businesses. Akodad said he didn’t notice or recognize the Hebrew lettering on the doors of the shul or any Jewish symbols. He later acknowledged he may have seen a Star of David “in films” or in lessons at school and knew it represented the Jewish religion. “I’m not stupid. I know what it is,” he told the court, adding, “it resembles the star on the Moroccan flag.”
“Had I known it was a religious institution, I would never have done it,” he said. His lawyer noted that, unlike a cathedral or a mosque (with minarets), the synagogue was not immediately recognizable as such.
Once learning the mission failed, the alleged contractor refused to pay Akodad the full amount and instead paid him only another $2,500. To collect, Akodad said the following day he travelled by bus before getting into a car with two other individuals, recognizing only the driver from the night before, then met another person whom he could not identify inside a Montreal residence that he could not recall, where he was given the cash.
Defense argues it was only about “money”, not hate
Defence counsel Nazar Saaty said Akodad spent approximately 10 months in pre-trial detention under “difficult conditions,” notably placement with gang members, lockdowns, limited family visits, and exposure to violence. He was previously detained for car theft in Ontario and was on release in connection with outstanding robbery charges when arrested for the synagogue arson.
Saaty acknowledged that Jews are Canada’s most frequently targeted religious community, agreeing the court cannot treat this “exactly like damage to an ordinary commercial building. We are dealing with a community that has been disproportionately targeted.”
Nevertheless, Saaty argued that Akodad was an immature, teenage drug user, motivated solely “by money,” not hatred or ideology, arguing the Crown hadn’t proven beyond reasonable doubt that he knew he was targeting Jewish institutions, and thus deserves “the benefit of the doubt… It is unreasonable to expect someone with only a Secondary 2 or 3 education to recognize symbols such as the Star of David or a menorah,” Saaty argued. “We cannot ignore that.” Community members in court, he added, “have every right to be fearful, but (the accused) should not become a scapegoat for all crimes committed against the Jewish community in Canada.”
CIJA’s Eta Yudin dismissed talk of scapegoating, telling The CJN, “For a second time in a very short span of time, both these locations, very visible Jewish community landmarks in Dollard, were targeted. That is the reality of what happened in a climate where Jews are the most targeted and disproportionately targeted religious minority in Canada.”
After the January guilty plea, the parties were clear they would not agree on sentencing. “Given the odious nature of the offence,” Hadjis-Chartrand told The CJN, “the Crown had taken the position early on that a joint submission would not be possible,” necessitating a contested hearing.
The defence proposed a 20-month sentence, served in the community, minus approximately 15 months for time served. Alternatively, Saaty suggested a straight prison sentence of nine-12 months, which amounts to time served.
Either way, Akodad would continue treatment and therapy with conditions and said he’s prepared to do community work. “I deserve to serve a punishment… I imagined if someone tried to burn the mosque I attend with my father, I would think they were a monster too.”
He said he wants to speak directly to the community to apologize. “They are right to be afraid.”
Community remains in fear
Yudin recalls that viewing video footage of Akodad attacking the synagogue “so violently, in order to supposedly set it on fire, was chilling,” recalling his determination to enter the building. She cited Montreal police data showing the Jewish community in 2023 was targeted by 103 of the 139 religion-related hate crimes. It’s in that context that Montreal Jews woke up on Dec. 18, 2024, “to learn that new acts of intimidation had been committed during the night.”
Recent history, she says, shows tolerating or minimizing acts of hate risks them becoming normalized “and paving the way for more serious acts of violence.” She cites the Australian Commission of Inquiry into the killing of 15 people attending a Chabad Hanukkah party at Bondi Beach, which shows it is “essential that hate crimes be met with a judicial response that reflects their particular seriousness.”
Akodad’s actions were a gratuitous attack to intimidate and harass all Jews, she said, telling The CJN that both the prosecutor and defence acknowledged their severe impact on Canada’s most-targeted religious minority. “I think there was an understanding that this wasn’t just a random case of arson… We all know what needs to happen, people need to be held accountable for their actions. We’ll be watching very closely to see how the judge weighs in on this in September.”
Following Akodad’s arrest last year, Dollard resident Lissa Albert expressed little confidence in a swift or just response from the courts. After hearing testimony Tuesday, those fears remain.
“It’s really close to home,” she told The CJN. “I live down the street, and if he had succeeded, God only knows what my block would have looked like.”
While doubting his claims of not knowing where he was or who he was targeting, “take everything out of it except the act itself, and he still went to commit a really dangerous crime. He could have killed people. Why are we considering that he deserves a break? This guy was coached well and is throwing everything at the wall. He is a criminal. He went to set buildings on fire. We’re not playing here; we’re dealing with people’s lives.”
If Giguère imposes a sentence resulting in Akodad’s release on Sept. 10, she said, “that’s a day before Rosh Hashanah. Shuls will be full. The timing is unbelievable.” A stronger sentence, she added, “would send a very strong message: ‘We heard you. Happy New Year’.
“Three barbecues? The callousness of that alone, is chilling. They’re talking about… us.”
Joel has spent his entire adult life scribbling. For two decades, he freelanced for more than a dozen North American and European trade publications, writing on home decor, HR, agriculture, defense technologies and more. Having lived at 14 addresses in and around Greater Montreal, for 17 years he worked as reporter for a local community newspaper, covering the education, political and municipal beats in seven cities and boroughs. He loves to bike, swim, watch NBA and kvetch about politics.