Police in Toronto are searching for a suspect caught on video smashing windows at Kehillat Shaarei Torah (KST), marking the tenth attack on the synagogue in just 18 months.
The latest incident occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
Security footage shows a hooded individual wielding what appears to be a hammer, jumping to strike a window before fleeing. Another camera captured the suspect running past the entrance walkway and smashing two more windows.
Toronto Police Services confirmed an investigation is underway into suspected hate-motivated mischief targeting religious property. The suspect is described as wearing a black jacket with a hood, black pants, and black shoes with white markings.
Previous attacks on KST have included arson against hostage lawn signs, anti-Israel stickers, and smashed windows, reported The Canadian Jewish News (CJN). The first incident occurred in April 2024, and the second occurred in mid-May.
Despite security upgrades since summer 2024 - including new cameras and fencing - Executive Director Michael Gilmore believes the vandal breached a neighboring fence to access the building. “It’s falling over. We’ve been trying to keep it propped up on our end,” he told The CJN.
The synagogue’s 7:00 a.m. service proceeded as scheduled, just hours after the attack. “We just kind of keep on moving on with our lives,” said Gilmore, who has grown accustomed to early morning alerts and budgeting for repairs.
Gilmore criticized recent remarks by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who referred to “a genocide in Gaza” at a November 1 gala. “I don’t think she wants to incite violence against the Jewish community, but when she doesn’t care that her words will incite violence, we have to be protected from somewhere else.”
Rabbi Joe Kanofsky, the synagogue’s rabbi, told The Canadian Press that while nobody was physically hurt in any of the vandalism incidents, the community is still shaken.
“The community is a place where people come together as a faith community to thank God for the good life that we have and to pray for an even better world for everyone. This is obviously pretty far away from what we believe or what we hope happens around us,” he said.
“We see that those who are determined to hurt other people seem pretty determined, so we have to double down on our commitment for good and for positive thoughts and prayer,” added Rabbi Kanofsky.
The continued vandalism at KST comes amid an uptick in incidents of antisemitism in Toronto since the start of the war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Data released by the Toronto Police Service in May found that the city experienced a historic high in reported hate crime incidents in 2024, with the Jewish community, once again, being the leading target.
In late August, Toronto police launched an investigation after eggs were hurled at the Yorkville Jewish Centre in the city. Surveillance footage, shared by the Centre on Instagram, shows a man throwing eggs from a carton while shouting an obscenity at the building.
Last month, anti-Israel extremists vandalized Cedarvale Park in Toronto. The incident occurred on the day on which the Jewish community rejoiced as Hamas released 20 living hostages from captivity.
On Wednesday, just one day after the latest vandalism at KST, a mob of violent protesters attacked an event hosted by the Students Supporting Israel chapter of Toronto Metropolitan University.
The rioters broke a glass door and caused injuries to one of the invited speakers at the event.