Between January and September of last year, there were an average of 47 monthly hate crimes reported in Toronto. In the next three months—after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7—Toronto police fielded an average of 190 monthly hate crime reports, more than a 300% increase. “Our officers have worked tirelessly to manage 308 demonstrations,” Myron Demkiw, chief of the Toronto Police Service, said on Jan. 11. “Exponentially more than any other city in Canada.”

“Antisemitism continues to account for more reported hate crimes than any other category, making up 37% of all hate crimes reported in 2023,” per Toronto police. “In 2023, there were 132 reported antisemitic hate crimes compared to 65 in 2022.” (Anti-Muslim hate crimes went up from 12 in 2022 to 35 in 2023.)

Many Jews in the Ontario capital feel intimidated, according to Demkiw, who announced that anti-Israel demonstrations will no longer be permitted on the Avenue Road bridge, where they’ve occurred for the past month. “People can expect to be arrested if necessary,” he said. Police previously drew criticism for delivering food and coffee to protesters on the bridge, located near a large Jewish community.

Toronto residents indeed are concerned, and antisemitic incidents are getting more violent and bold by the week, local Jews told JNS.

Inconsistent Preaching

Jew-hatred is being given a pass in Canada’s most populous city, according to Amir Epstein, executive director of Tafsik Organization, a newly-launched advocacy organization.

“Disturbingly, pro-Hamas groups venture into Jewish neighborhoods, brandishing inflammatory imagery of Hitler and concealing their identities behind Yasser Arafat keffiyehs. This brazen conduct, amounting to criminal harassment, goes unchecked,” Epstein told JNS. “Those responsible for sanctioning such illegal behavior must be held accountable.”

Chani Jos, of Toronto, told JNS that she wants local leaders and police officers to state matter-of-factly that incidents targeting Jews are outright antisemitism.

“They’re quiet about a half million Muslims killed by the Syrian regime, 400,000 Yemenis killed in a civil war and Palestinians in Lebanon robbed of basic human rights as a matter of government policy,” Jos said. “They preach ceasefire through one side of their mouths, and the other side say, ‘Intifada revolution,’ ‘Jihad against Zionists’ and ‘Globalize the Intifada.’”

Since the new year, a Jewish-owned grocery store was firebombed and graffitied in Toronto and a man spit upon and yelled antisemitic insults at four Jews in Vaughan, Ontario, near Toronto. Anti-Israel protesters also disrupted Toronto Mayor Oliva Chow at a public ice-skating party. Vandals were also caught on camera slashing the tires of a car with an Israeli flag sticker on its bumper, and windows were smashed at an iconic Jewish bakery, Gryfe’s Bagels.