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Toronto (July 31, 2024) – Toronto police have launched an investigation after Jewish community signs outside two local synagogues - Kehillat Shaarei Torah and Temple Sinai - were set on fire overnight.

This comes as tensions remain high in the Jewish community, following a series of other troubling incidents involving Jewish sites in the Greater Toronto Area over the past week.

Kehillat Shaarei Torah was previously targeted in two attacks in April and May, with its windows smashed by vandals. In recent days, a number of businesses, signs and other sites in predominantly Jewish areas in Vaughan, including the Vaughan Jewish Community Campus, were vandalized with "Free Palestine" graffiti. The York Regional Police is investigating.

This week, Leo Baeck Day School, a Jewish day school in Toronto, was the scene of an overnight fire. The Toronto Police Service confirmed that there was no evidence that the incident was motivated by hate, declaring in a statement issued yesterday, "The cause of the fire is undetermined, with no suspicious circumstances noted at the scene."

FSWC has been in communication with police about this week's incidents, including the latest arson attacks outside the synagogues, to underline the gravity of the situation and to ensure the Jewish community's concerns are heard.

"The Jewish community remains on high alert, as it continues to face intimidation, threats and countless incidents of hate," said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy. "For far too long, Jews in Canada have felt unsafe as acts of vandalism targeting Jewish sites and hateful rhetoric play out on our streets. Now, more than ever, these incidents must be met with determined efforts by law enforcement and government officials to confront and combat the scourge of antisemitism."

According to recently released hate crime data from Statistics Canada for 2023, the Jewish community in Canada experienced a 71 per cent increase in police-reported hate crimes and was the target of 19 per cent of the total 4,777 hate-motivated crimes reported last year. This despite the community accounting for just 1 per cent of Canada's population.

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