Two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish girls school in suburban Toronto early Saturday morning, The National Post reported.
There were no reported injuries in the shooting at Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, located in the North York district of Toronto. The incident took place at 4:52 a.m. local time.
Israel’s consul-general in Toronto, Idit Shamir, said the gunmen shot five rounds.
“Another attack on a Jewish institution today in Toronto. A Jewish girls’ school is the latest target. Two men opened fire, shooting 5 rounds at Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School. Can we be surprised that violence escalates when there is no deterrence following antisemitic attacks on Jewish students?” she wrote on social media, sharing a video showing two black-clad men exit a black vehicle being driven by a third person and hover briefly outside a fence before opening fire and fleeing.
Toronto police Insp. Paul Krawczyk told reporters that the force’s hate crime unit is aiding the investigation, but it was too early to say if the shooting was a hate crime.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow condemned the incident and called it “a despicable antisemitic act.”
“Jewish children and families should not be made to fear for their safety. Toronto police are increasing their presence around religious schools and synagogues. I am in contact with the chief about the plan to keep children and families safe,” she wrote on social media.
Michael Levitt, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, called on Chow and city council to act immediately to protect Toronto Jews.
“This is a brazen and cowardly attempt to intimidate the Jewish community and let me be clear, we will not cower or hide,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the attack “a gross display of antisemitism. It’s beyond belief that anyone could be this hateful… These cowards need to be found and brought to justice,”
Toronto and the area have seen an increase in anti-Israel riots and acts of antisemitism since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas on October 7.
In early November, an Indigo book store in downtown Toronto was vandalized with red paint and posters plastered on its front windows wrongfully accusing its Jewish founder and CEO, Heather Reisman, of “Funding Genocide.”
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.
In February, an anti-Israel protest at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto turned into a display of antisemitism. At least one protester was documented scaling the hospital with a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag.
Last month, posters in Toronto depicting four-year-old Ariel Bibas and one-year-old Kfir Bibas, who were kidnapped to Gaza on October 7 along with their parents Shiri and Yarden Bibas, were vandalized with swastikas.
Last week, the Kehillat Shaarei Torah Synagogue in the city’s north end was vandalized for the second time in four weeks.