‘Bullets are flying': Two more Toronto-area synagogues hit by gunfire

Two more Toronto-area synagogues were hit by gunfire early Saturday, hours after the city’s Jewish community was warned to exercise extra caution as Israel and the United States wage war on Iran. “Both incidents took place at a time when the buildings were empty and no community members were present,” the city’s Jewish Security Network (JSN) said in a community security update. The targets were the BAYT synagogue on Clark Avenue in Thornhill and Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in Glencairn Avenue in the Toronto neighbourhood of North York, the JSN said. Earlier in the week, a North York synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, was shot at shortly after a Purim celebration on Monday. Although no injuries were reported, the doors of the shul were littered with bullet holes and broken glass. “We know that there are armed and dangerous thugs connected to the Islamic Regime living freely in Canada. Bullets are flying and it is only a matter of time before one of them hits an innocent person,” Michael Westcott, CEO of Alies for a Strong Canada, said in a statement Saturday morning. York Region police say they found the front of the Beth Avraham Yoseph Synagogue damaged by gunfire.  No one was injured in the incident, police say, adding a dark sedan was seen in the area at the time of the shooting. Meanwhile, Toronto police said they were called to investigate shots fired at a synagogue in the Bathurst Street and Glencairn Avenue area. On Friday, the JSN had recommended community members remain alert in public spaces, refuse entry to buildings from “unknown individuals” and to “be attentive when arriving at or leaving Jewish institutions or events.” “Iran and its proxies have historically targeted Jewish and Israeli interests outside the Middle East,” the security agency launched by the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) wrote on Friday. “For this reason, it is important that communities remain alert and take sensible precautions.” The message echoes concerns raised this week by Israel’s national security services to exercise “increased caution in all destinations around the world.” “Since the start of Operation Roaring Lion, there has been an identified surge in motivation and an increase in terrorist activity and threats from Iranian security agencies against Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide,” the country’s National Security Council (NSC) wrote on Tuesday. The NSC alert referenced recent Iranian attacks against other Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), adding that “several attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis have been thwarted and disrupted.” The council advised nationals to avoid sharing personal information in real time, avoid flights through the UAE, to “conceal Jewish and Israeli identifiers in public spaces” and “avoid visiting sites identified as Jewish or Israeli,” such as Chabad houses or synagogues. The Israeli alert flagged an increased threat from “lone-wolf attackers” in recent days, including a shooting in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, and another in Toronto the following night. After the temple Emanu-el shhooting, the Jewish Security Network emphasized it should “serve as a reminder that the environment we operate in requires continued vigilance.” “For months, the warning signs have been there,” Michael Levitt, president of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, wrote on X following the Temple Emanu-El attack. “The threats. The normalization. The excuses. When antisemitism is tolerated or minimized, it escalates. It always does.” “When that happens Chief Demkiw, Mayor Chow, Premier Ford and Prime Minister Carney will be responsible for not stopping this wave of violence that has been escalating for years under their collective watch, and frankly emboldening it by their inaction.” -With files from Ari David Blaff

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