Day: November 27, 2023

A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the entrance of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal just after midnight on Sunday, according to the council. No one was present at the center at the time and the building suffered minimal damage, the council said.

“The rise in antisemitism in our city is frightening, and the repeated violence and attacks on our community are abhorrent and condemned in the strongest terms,” said Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the council’s executive director.

Montreal police’s arson squad is leading an investigation into the incident, and its hate crimes unit has been advised of the case, but it is not yet actively involved, according to CBC News.

The attack adds to the growing cases of violence in Montreal since the start of the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas on October 7. Earlier this month, two Jewish schools in Montreal reported that shots were fired at their entrances.

“These continued acts of antisemitic violence are deplorable and unacceptable — and must stop immediately. We must all stand united against such vile, hateful acts,” Trudeau said on X, formerly Twitter.

Police in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, have reported a significant spike in the number of antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes since the start of the Gaza conflict.

St. Andrew School enrollment graphic

St. Andrew School Opens its Doors to Families with Strong Christian Values and an Academic Focus

PASADENA—For over 126 years, St. Andrew School has remained a highly respected educational institution, a foundation for Christian values and a place with a strong sense of community. St. Andrew School is accepting applications for children in Preschool through 8th Grade.

The staff is dedicated to providing a rich, engaging and rigorous academic experience that educates the whole child. The curriculum has a STEM focus and emphasizes Christian values. Service, faith and community are at the forefront of education at St. Andrew School.

Students can join extracurricular programs, including music lessons, theater, basketball, volleyball, media club, cooking, art, choir and more! The boys’ basketball team and girls’ volleyball team won the league championships last year. St. Andrew School has a thriving choir program that has performed with the LA Opera and opened for the Tallis Scholars. The group will perform at the Vatican in Rome this winter.

Graduates of St. Andrew are accepted to the top private high schools in the area, including Loyola, Mayfield Senior, St. Francis, Flintridge Sacred Heart and La Salle. Students leave St. Andrew School poised to achieve their God-given potential for greater things in service of Church, family, and community.

Interested candidates are encouraged to visit the website to schedule a tour and see the amazing things happening at St. Andrew School.

St. Andrew School was founded in 1987. The school is a diverse, nurturing community that fosters faith development, intellectual curiosity, respect for others, and lifelong learning. St. Andrew School serves students from preschool through eighth grade.

The Armenian community of Istanbul on November 4 held a consecration ceremony for the rebuilding of Camp Armen, located in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, Turkey. Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, presided over the ceremony and addressed the attendees with congratulatory remarks and prayers. Several noteworthy guests participated in the ceremony, including Rev. Krikor Ağabaloğlu, Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedikpaşa, Archbishop Levon Zekiyan, the Apostolic Administrator of Armenian Archeparchy of Istanbul, and the students of Hrant Dink School.

Hrant Guzelian had a vision, in 1962, to save and educate orphaned Armenian children.

The most well-known among them was Hrant Dink and his spouse Rakel Dink, who were forced to live in a foreign society and follow a different faith. Today, the Armenian Missionary Association of America strives to help revitalize this vision by helping to restore and rebuild Camp Armen, and to remember Hrant’s legacy, and the impact he had on children who he helped save.

Hrant Guzelian with children from the interiors of Turkey

Hrant Guzelian at Camp Armen

Guzelian, a fearless hero who searched for and rescued hundreds of Armenian children left without family, identity, church, or schools in the decades following the Armenian Genocide in 1915, first opened the Youth Home and later built Camp Armen of Istanbul to provide these children with shelter and love, and to teach them how to honor and keep their Christian faith and Armenian heritage.

In the late 1970s, Camp ARMEN was confiscated by the local authorities and many attempts to take it back were rejected. In May 2015, resistance began when attempts were made to demolish the Camp. Nor Zartonk and Kamp Armen Solidarity guarded the camp for 180 days and prevented its destruction. As a result of a negotiation process which included representatives of the Armenian community and politicians, and within the framework of the reforms made for the minorities, the property right of “Camp Armen” was returned to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Evangelical Church on October 27, 2015. Since then, consistent efforts have been made within the Turkish-Armenian national-ecclesiastical life to rebuild the camp. Camp Armen will now be rebuilt to suit the current needs of the new generation. This initiative is carried out by a joint Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic, and Armenian Evangelical program.

The goal is to raise $2.5 million so that the new Camp Armen will be the first and only Camp in Turkey to function as a development center serving the Armenian Evangelical, Catholic, and Apostolic communities every day throughout the year with much-needed social, cultural, and religious development activities for the youth with help from trained volunteers.

The AMAA encourages everyone who believes in the vision of Hrant Guzelian to participate and become a part of this unique time of rebuilding Camp Armen.

Camp Armen will be rebuilt to once again embrace Armenian children living in Turkey and connect them to their heritage and faith, and to inspire them to make a difference in the world around them.

Since its founding, the Youth Home/Camp Armen and Guzelian’s work has been generously supported by the AMAA.

Please partner with the AMAA to help create a small home for Armenian children living in Turkey to perpetuate the cultural and spiritual identity and keep the torch burning. You may visit amaa.org to learn more about Camp Armen and make a donation online or mail your donation earmarked for Camp Armen to Armenian Missionary Association of America – 31 West Century Road, Paramus, NJ 07652.

Founded in 1918, the Armenian Missionary Association of America serves the spiritual, educational, and social needs of Armenian communities in 24 countries around the world including Armenia and Artsakh. For additional information, you may visit the website.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who snubbed a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization last week, did not rule out the possibility of Armenia exiting the Russia-led security bloc as he again accused the group of not honoring its obligations to Armenia.

A leading member of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party on Monday signaled that Armenia could leave the CSTO because of the group’s hesitance to support Armenia, especially when Azerbaijani forces breached Armenia’s sovereign borders in September 2022 and May 2021.

“There is a defined situation in which we would definitely leave [the CSTO,]” Gevorg Papoyan, Civil Contract’s deputy chairman, told reporters on Monday. “We don’t have that situation yet.”

“But there is also a situation where we would definitely participate in those [CSTO] meetings. There is no such situation either,” he said, referring to Yerevan’s effective non-participation in the alliance’s program and activities.

The CSTO secretary general on Monday downplayed Pashinyan’s decision to attend last week’s summit.

Imangali Tasmagambetov said that Pashinyan did not fly to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, for the summit last Thursday for merely “technical” reasons.

“In my view, it makes no sense to draw any categorical conclusions from this situation,” Tasmagambetov told the TASS news agency. “Armenia was and remains our ally.”
Tasmagambetov is scheduled to visit Yerevan.

The Russian foreign ministry, however, accused Pashinyan and his government of planning a “radical change” if its geopolitical orientation, claiming that the United States and the European Union are pushing Yerevan to abandon Russia.

Over the weeken, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the criticism of the CSTO voiced by Pashinyan and other Armenian leaders.

He expressed hope that Yerevan will soon resume its “full-fledged participation in the organization.”

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Hundreds of Armenian trucks were stuck at the main Russian-Georgian border crossing on Monday after Russia reportedly tightened import and export controls on them amid its unprecedented tensions with Armenia.

Truck drivers said that the Russian customs service is subjecting them to stricter sanitary and other checks, causing long lines of the heavy vehicles on both sides of the Upper Lars crossing vital for the Armenian economy.

“I’m stuck at Lars for a second day,” one driver told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “There is a problem with paperwork. It’s not just me but also other Armenian trucks.”

“According to our information, several trucks have already returned [to Armenia] and about 200 others are waiting in line,” Garnik Danielyan, an opposition parliamentarian, wrote on Facebook.

Deputy Economy Minister Arman Khojoyan confirmed that Russian customs officers have turned away some of the Armenian trucks carrying goods for the Russian market. But he did not give any numbers.

“As the head of the State Revenue Committee told me yesterday, it’s not that they are turning away all goods or entire categories of goods,” he told reporters. “We also have cargo crossing the border.”

Khojoyan would not say whether he believes there is a political reason for the stricter border checks introduced by the Russians.

Artur Khachatryan, another Armenian opposition lawmaker, suggested that Moscow is retaliating against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decision to boycott last week’s Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Minsk which highlighted a significant deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations.

“I think that Russia is sending certain messages [to Yerevan],” said Khachatryan. “Let’s acknowledge that this is not accidental.”

The truck driver, who did not want to be identified, also felt that he and his Armenian colleagues remain stuck at Upper Lars because of the tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.

“The [Armenian] government picked a fight with the Russians and the Russians are now retaliating in this way,” he said.

Russia is Armenia’s leading trading partner, accounting for more than one-third of the South Caucasus nation’s foreign trade. It has long been the main export market for Armenian agricultural products, prepared foodstuffs and alcoholic drinks.

The total volume of Russian-Armenian trade, mainly carried out through Upper Lars, has skyrocketed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting barrage of Western sanctions against Moscow.

Armenian entrepreneurs have taken advantage of those sanctions, re-exporting various goods manufactured in Western countries to Russia. This explains why Armenian exports to Russia nearly doubled to $2.6 billion in January-September this year.