Two synagogues in Toronto were targeted in shootings overnight on March 6, just days after another shul in the area was hit by gunfire.
Nobody was injured in the shootings, police said – but the spate of attacks has shaken the community.
The two latest shuls to be fired at were Shaarei Shomayim, a modern Orthodox community in midtown Toronto with a congregation of around 700 families, and Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto, also a modern Orthodox synagogue, in the suburb of Thornhill. Around 800 families make up the Beth Avraham Yoseph community.
On March 2, Temple Emanu-El, an egalitarian Reform congregation, was hit by gunfire, with Toronto police treating the incident as a “targeted” hate crime.
In a Zoom call on Sunday, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog spoke with with leaders of the Canadian Jewish community, including the rabbis of the synagogues hit. Expressing his shock at the attacks, which followed a steep rise in incidents of Jew-hatred in Canada in the wake of the October 7 2023 Hamas-led wave of terror on Israel, Herzog said: “The Jewish people are all one family – in times of joy and in times of difficulty. We in Israel care for every Jew anywhere in the world.”
Separately, he said on social media: “From Jerusalem, I send a message of resilience, strength, and solidarity to the Jewish community of Toronto …We stand together and will prevail over all the forces of evil seeking to harm us.”
He added: “All eyes are on Canada to halt this unprecedented wave of Jew-hatred.”
Canada’s Centre of Israeli and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) described the attacks on local shuls as “outrageous” and urged the government to “take action” instead of offering “thoughts and prayers”.
It said in a statement: "Since the terror attacks of October 7, our community knows all too well that when tensions flare in the Middle East, we feel it here at home.
"Our leaders must be absolutely clear that it is outrageous for Canadian communities to face violence because of events happening abroad. No more ‘thoughts and prayers’, we need to see urgent action.
The body urged "all levels of government” to “move immediately to address the escalating security demands of communities targeted by this wave of violence.”
It added: "At the same time, we cannot build higher walls while extremism and radicalisation go unchecked on our streets and across our society. This requires confronting the sources of the violence by criminalising the wilful promotion of terrorism, holding extremists accountable, and other important measures to protect Canadians.
"This is not just about the safety of one community—it is about our national security and the future of our Canadian way of life."
Additional reporting by Jewish News Syndicate
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