Toronto synagogue, school signs set on fire

A synagogue sign and a Jewish school sign were set on fire in Toronto early Wednesday morning, the Toronto Police Service announced.

The incidents are being investigated as hate-motivated instances of arson and are suspected to have been conducted by the same motorcyclist.

The Canadian Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, also said that two synagogue signs were targeted during the same night, one at the Kehillat Shaarei Torah and the other at the Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said that police had increased their presence in the areas of the incidents. Lyons said that the Toronto Jewish community was calling for enhanced deployment of police forces and increased allocation of resources to law enforcement to protect institutions and houses of worship.

In May, two signs were set on fire in front of a synagogue in the same area in Toronto. The incidents occurred two days apart.

A motorcyclist was also sought for a series of acts of vandalism against Jewish sites in the city at the end of June. On June 30, the rider threw stones at the Pride of Israel Synagogue. The same motorcyclist was suspected to have thrown rocks through the window of the Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue just a few minutes later.

Urging unity against antisemitism

Kehillat Shaarei Torah also had its windows smashed on May 19 in a predawn incident.

Moreover, Chow addressed X community concerns about the arson of a school bus in a Jewish neighborhood of Toronto on Monday morning and a fire at the Leo Baeck Day school on Tuesday morning. At the outset of their investigations, police found no indication of hate-motivated arson at the school’s storage shed, where a homeless person had taken shelter.

“While Toronto Police investigates, we must stand together to support the Jewish community against antisemitism and intimidation,” said Chow. “No one should feel targeted because of their faith. Our city must be a place where everyone belongs and where we reject antisemitism and hate.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on social media that the incidents were disturbing and called for Canadians to “come together in support of our Jewish friends and neighbors as we stand against antisemitism and hate.”

The synagogues “are spiritual and community homes where our Jewish family, including members of my team, have gathered to celebrate and mourn, to be in community, and to practice their faith freely in a country that must actively protect that right,” said Lyons.

“I call yet again on all business, faith, and political leaders to speak up about how violent and antisemitic rhetoric has put our Jewish community at risk. And I encourage all Canadians to reach out to your Jewish friends, neighbors, and colleagues to ask how you can best support them during what has been a tsunami of antisemitism over the last 10 months.”