Second Cup cuts ties with Montreal franchisee, closes cafés over antisemitic remarks and gesture

WARNING: The story below contains antisemitic remarks and an image of a woman making a Nazi salute.

Two Second Cup café locations at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital have been shut down and the franchise owner's contract terminated after the individual was filmed at a protest on Thursday making "hateful remarks and gestures," according to the Canadian company.

In a statement posted to its social media pages on Saturday evening, Second Cup Canada said it has "zero tolerance for hate speech."

"In co-ordination with the hospital, we've shut down the franchisee's café and are terminating their franchise agreement," the statement reads.

The company said it will retain the staff and continue paying them until the locations at the hospital reopen under new management.

In a series of texts with CBC News, the president and CEO of Foodtastic, which owns the Second Cup coffee chain, identified the franchisee as Mai Abdulhadi. 

Peter Mammas said the company's operations team reviewed several videos Saturday afternoon, one showing a woman — whom he identified as Abdulhadi — at a protest raising her arm in a Nazi salute and another showing her hurling antisemitic remarks at other demonstrators.

"The final solution is coming your way, the final solution. You know what the final solution is?" the woman can be heard saying.

The phrase is widely recognized for its association with Nazi Germany's plan to exterminate Jewish people.

CBC has viewed the videos, which are being circulated on social media.

Mammas said his team confirmed that the videos were taken at a pro-Palestinian protest outside Concordia University on Thursday. He said a franchise termination notice was served to her shortly after her identity was verified.

"We are completely against hate speech and anything that would [incite] violence," wrote Foodtastic's CEO. "We believe that everyone has the right to voice their opinions, but in the respectful and productive way."

CBC attempted to reach Abdulhadi for comment but has not yet received a response. 

Mayor urged to 'rein in' antisemitic behaviour at protests

Henry Topas, Quebec regional director of B'nai Brith Canada, said he views the behaviour shown in the videos as a symptom of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante's tolerance of "continual hateful protests in the street."

He also criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's recent "endorsement" of the "corrupt" International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant earlier this week accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes in the country's deadly war in Gaza.

"That creates an atmosphere that is horrendous, and that creates an atmosphere in which we saw someone walking around showing the Heil Hitler sign and saying that the final solution is soon," Topas said.

He said he'd like to see Plante "rein in" antisemitic behaviours during protests, saying it is "unacceptable what has been tolerated to be demonstrated and shown to the people of Montreal."

CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, the health authority that oversees the Jewish General Hospital, says it was made aware of a video "containing antisemitic and hateful messaging that has been circulating on social media."

"We fully support Second Cup's decision to take swift and decisive action in this matter by shutting down the franchisee's cafés and terminating their lease agreement," a statement to CBC reads.

It added that CIUSSS stands "firmly against antisemitism and any other form of discrimination or hate speech."

The incident follows a surge in tensions in Montreal following recent protests. 

At Thursday's protest, students held a rally calling for Quebec post-secondary institutions to divest from companies with ties to Israel and urging the federal government to take a stance against the ongoing war in Gaza.

On Friday, three people were arrested after protests by pro-Palestinian and anti-NATO demonstrators turned violent, with protesters throwing objects at police, lighting two vehicles on fire and breaking windows.

The protest was condemned by politicians of all stripes on Saturday as acts of antisemitism, which one organizer rejected, saying the protests were against the actions of Israel and not Jewish people, and referring to the arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu.

As of Saturday afternoon, Montreal police said they had not received any reports of antisemitic acts or other hate crimes related to the demonstration.