Rising Threatening, Violent Antisemitism in Toronto Courtesy of Muslim Community

"The Jewish community is increasingly asking a fundamental question: if imagery portraying Jews as vermin and celebrating the elimination of the Jewish state does not meet the threshold for hate propaganda laws, what does."

"As synagogues are shattered by gunfire and extremists march through largely Jewish neighbourhoods, it's clear that the status quo is not only unacceptable -- it's a growing threat to innocent life in our city." 

Joint letter: Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, B'nai Brith Canada, United Jewish Appeal

 

"At protests at Bathurst & Sheppard, extremists openly made threats of violence, glorified terrorism, and depicted Jews as subhuman -- yet no arrests have been announced. After multiple attacks on our community, many are asking why the law is not being enforced."

"We're calling on the Toronto Police Service to investigate and lay charges, declare assemblies unlawful when there are activities that promote and incite hate, and make the necessary and critical changes to protect our city."

Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

Toronto Al-Quds Day demonstration   World Socialist Web Site

 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week made an attempt to stop an Al-Quds Day rally, originally a creation by the Islamic Republic of Iran, to claim the ancient Judean city of Jerusalem an Arab Palestinian city and the Temple Mount, the retaining walls of the biblical Temple of Solomon dating back to the 10thC BCE, the Islamic Noble Sanctuary where the Prophet Mohammed was said to have flown up to heaven mounted on a horse. 'Quds', the Arabic word for Jerusalem.

 

The ceremonial day is meant to convey Islamic ownership of Jerusalem, as much to deny Israel its rightful place on its own ancestral heritage territory. A blatant global religious intifada, in very fact. Characterizing the rally for Al Quds Day as an event that 'glorifies violence' and 'celebrates terrorism', the Premier's effort was for naught when a court rejected his request for an injunction, permitting the event to proceed, one its organizers described as a 'pro-Palestinian' rally.  

"These kinds of things make our community fearful, so we would love to see restrictions on things like promoting designated terrorist organizations and terrorism inside of Canada."

"I think there is a recognition of the challenges that we face at this particular moment in time that are increasing in terms of threats from terrorism."

"[The Jewish community remains] in the midst of an unprecedented tidal wave of antisemitism." 

Dylan Hanley, vice-president public affairs, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

 

"We'd like to see the criminalization of the glorification of terror."

"We'd like to see additional Criminal Code offences that make it more difficult for terrorist organizations to operate in Canada after they are listed as terrorist entities."

Rich Robertson, research manager, B'nai Brith Canada  

Anti-Israel demonstrators hosting Nazi-era signage savaging Jewish personas featuring a caricature of an emaciated Orthodox Jew exiting a cave asking if "Iran has stopped" yet, a drawing of a caricatured Jewish man crying "Help us, Daddy!" into a walkie-talkie faced with an American flag as missiles rain down -- another of rats creeping in and out of a hole in the shape of the Star of David were flaunted in Toronto last week, in a disgusting display of racist denigration of the Jewish community. Joseph Goebbels would be proud of his propagandist inheritors.

 

Protesters display antisemitic posters demonizing Jews during protest at Bathurst St./Sheppard Ave. West in North York on March 15. (Images courtesy of @l3v1at4an on X)

 

Jews in Canada are asking the federal government to consider enacting criminal laws that specifically target terror glorification and acts that promote or encourage terrorism. A dramatic -- and to Jews in Canada -- horrifyingly familiar scenario of an ongoing rancid rise in antisemitic incidents that call out for government attention and  appropriate remedial action. Shootings of synagogues, anti-Israel protests that applaud the Hamas October 7, 2023 barbaric atrocities in southern Israel, calling for Israel's destruction, a 'final solution', to 'globalize the intifada'. 

 

Organized marches led by Palestinian student groups in Canadian universities that march through Jewish neighbourhoods, jeering, intimidating, threatening residents. These are groups that not only focus on preying on the Jewish community, but that also go out of their way to become public nuisances, blocking highways, mounting protests in front of hospitals and diplomatic missions. And blocking access to public traffic by kneeling en masse in public street prayers as a sign of  Islamic conquest.

 

Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

"Week after week, for far too long, hateful protesters have been allowed to publicly spew antisemitic vitriol on this street corner [Bathurst and Sheppard]."

"The line has been crossed repeatedly. Toronto police must lay charges, the Crown must prosecute, and the courts must make clear that promoting antisemitism on our streets carries serious consequences."

Michael Levitt, CEO, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center  

According to Toronto police, an online statement assured it was "aware of antisemitic signs displayed at a demonstration this weekend at Bathurst and Sheppard" (the heart of the Jewish community in Toronto). "Hate Crime Unit investigators are consulting with the Ministry of the Attorney General regarding promotion of hatred offences under the Criminal Code." Yet, despite considerable police resources tasked to security of the Jewish community, the threats and the violence continue, as evidenced by recent synagogue shootings and another at the U.S. Consulate.

 

Toronto Police