Man charged with hate crime after Israeli flag burned twice in front of Hampstead City Hall

A man has been charged with arson and inciting hate after the Israeli flag flying in front of Hampstead’s City Hall was burned twice in under a week.

A 39-year-old man has been charged with arson and inciting hate after the Israeli flag flying in front of Hampstead’s City Hall was burned twice in under a week.

Montreal police (SPVM) arrested Frédéric Biron Carmel in the Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension borough after officers found arson and explosive evidence while searching his home.

The arrest comes after the Israeli flag, which flew alongside the Hampstead, Quebec and Canadian flags, was burned on Aug. 22 and 25.

Biron Carmel appeared in court on Wednesday and is also charged with mischief and possession of incendiary material. He asked to act as his own lawyer and appeared via video conference from the police station.

The Crown did not object to his release, but requested that he not be permitted to use social media, with which the judge agreed.

Biron Carmel complained in court that he needed social media to prepare his defence and that denying him would be an infringement on his freedom of speech.

Quebec Superior Court Judge Thi Trang Dai Nguyen said the defendant could either accept the conditions or remain in jail.

Biron Carmel finally agreed to the conditions.

Burning posted on YouTube

A video posted on YouTube titled “Manifesto of the Flag Burner” shows one of the acts along with commentary justifying the action, describing it as a duty that “belongs to all of us.”

“I burned the Israeli flag at Hampstead Town Hall because flying it is both immoral and illegal,” the narrator says.

“It is the flag of an apartheid state carrying out the Holocaust of Palestinians, a genocide broadcasted (sic) live every day. Children starve on camera, families are buried under rubble and entire neighborhoods are erased.”

Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi posted about the two fires on X.

“They thought hate could frighten us into silence,“ he wrote. ”Instead, they ignited our resolve. Today, we raise a flag twice the size — a banner of defiance, strength, and unbreakable unity.”

Levi regularly uses his social media platform to support Israel’s war in Gaza. Recently, he posted a condemnation of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to recognize the state of Palestine.

The creator of the YouTube video, which is also posted on the Facebook page of “Fred BD”, accuses Levi of promoting genocide.

“His words leave no ambiguity: raising the Israeli flag at the Hampstead Town Hall is not symbolic, it is an endorsement of extermination,” he says.

“By hoisting it, he abused his office, forcing public property into the service of a foreign state accused at the International Court of Justice of committing genocide.”

The Israeli flag, which was first installed in 2023, has caused controversy with some residents hoping to have it taken down.

A new Israeli flag, “twice the size” of the burnt one, now flies in its predecessor’s place, according to Levi.

“We will never be made small,” he said. “To those who come with hate, know this: every attempt to tear us down only makes us stand taller.”

Biron Carmel will return to court on Oct. 24.