Members of Toronto’s Jewish community called for concrete action on Sunday, following the second shooting in five months outside a Jewish girls’ elementary school in North York, CityNews reported.
No injuries were reported as the school, Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, was targeted by shots fired from a motor vehicle just after 4:00 a.m. Saturday.
This is the second time that the school has been hit by gunfire, after two gunmen opened fire on it in late May. No one was injured in that incident either.
On Sunday, the school’s rabbis along with community leaders gathered outside the school to condemn the violence and call on all three levels of government to step up and take action, calling for stiff mandatory judicial sentences for hate crimes of this nature.
“We need the federal government, we need the RCMP to act, we see people downtown carrying the flag of terrorist organizations, designated terrorist organizations and we need the RCMP to step in,” said City Councillor James Pasternak. “Calling for the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews and the boycotting and destruction of Jewish businesses is not Charter protected, that is not freedom of expression.”
A spokesperson for Canada’s Public Safety Minister told CityNews that the government is making major investments to combat hate crimes, including through the new Canada Community Security Program, which funds local projects to protect communities at risk of hate crimes.
“We are working closely with all partners, including provinces, territories, and security agencies, to ensure everyone in Canada can continue to live free from fear,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Rabbi Nochum Sosover, the school’s principal, says this second attempt to spread fear across the Jewish community will not succeed.
“A message to the perpetrators – we will not be scared, each time we get stronger, and we get more united,” Sasover said, noting the school will reopen on Monday and it will be business as usual.
Toronto has seen an increase in anti-Israel riots and acts of antisemitism in the year that has passed since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
In July, two synagogues in Toronto were attacked on the same day by vandals who threw rocks through the synagogues' windows.
The first incident occurred at the Pride of Israel Synagogue, where congregants were shocked to discover several windows shattered, holes in their stained glass and stones scattered onto the bimah.
In the second incident, a vandal threw a rock through the window of the Kehillat Shaarei Torah Synagogue. This synagogue had been targeted in similar attacks twice before that.
In January, a Jewish-owned grocery store in Toronto was spray-painted with the words “Free Palestine” and later set on fire.
Days later, Toronto police arrested four people on a highway overpass, located near a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, that has become the site of recurring pro-Palestinian Arab protests.