WARMINGTON: Emergencies Act needed as 'organized' attacks on Jews allowed to fester

· Toronto Sun

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

The latest “organized” shootings targeting Toronto Jews have seen seven people accused of committing suspected hate crimes .

Visit moryak.biz for more information.

Not one or two, three or four, five or six. Seven.

Move over Canada’s iconic Group of Seven. This throng of suspected Jew-hating thugs is the Gang of Seven — and, if the allegations are proven to be true, are the shame of Toronto, which has turned into 1930s Europe by allowing unfettered antisemitism to fester.

These suspected hate-motivated incidents are gross, embarrassing and intolerable. They are not normal. They would not be allowed if another religious or racial group were targeted.

While there have been no terrorism charges laid in connection with these incidents, Jewish Torontonians certainly feel like they are being terrorized.

“These incidents appear to (have been) organized and planned with more than one individual involved in the co-ordination,” Toronto Police Chief Supt. Katherine Stephenson told reporters Wednesday, adding “we also recognize that incidents like these can be early warning signs of something more serious.”

Walk with Israel event must be protected

The new arrests linked to the gel capsule shooting of innocent Jewish victims last month followed by a similar shooting targeting Jewish people at a synagogue change how security should be approached at Sunday’s Walk with Israel event.

“These heinous crimes are intended to intimidate and incite fear in the Jewish population and destabilize Canadian society,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy. “It is for that reason that B’nai Brith Canada will continue to urge police to investigate such cases as acts of terror.”

Danielle Keenan, of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said that “when Jewish Canadians cannot safely walk the streets of one of the country’s most diverse cities, it is a warning sign for all Canadians.”

No chances should be taken for Sunday’s Walk with Israel event — which in recent years has been protested with swastikas, terror flags, calls for the destruction of Israel and harm to Jews. No one in power seemed to care and now they have a crisis on their hands. Sadly, many of who caused this mess are the ones who feel they are the best leaders to fix it. They need to get serious now.

Fresh off him saying the “covenant” has been broken with Jews in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney should invoke the Emergencies Act from Thursday until Monday along the route and at airports and train stations to ensure police have the power needed to secure this event. It would also give authorities the power to prevent any of the ugly antisemitic protests, chants, flags and signs hectoring Jewish people along the parade route.

Haters can protest at city hall or Queen’s Park, but after all of the terror that Jews have faced, agitators should not be allowed near this walk.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Better safe than sorry

Too harsh? It wasn’t too harsh to remove peaceful Trucker Convoy demonstrators from around Parliament Hill in 2022, so it’s definitely not too harsh in a city where people are facing charges for shooting up synagogues, the U.S. Consulate and Jewish schools and vandalizing Jewish businesses.

Better safe than sorry.

Police have made two major arrests this week. One was for alleged hatred for displaying antisemitic signage on March 15 at Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave. and now the announcement of the arrests of this shooting ring. Ruslan Novruzov, 18, was charged with four counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose for the alleged gel-capsule shooting of “visibly identifiable members of the Jewish community” on April 30 and May 7.

At that time, Shomrim Toronto, security analyst Ross McLean, Unapologetically Jewish CEO Matthew Taub, Israel Now’s Meir Weinstein, community advocate Corey Herscu and many others said this was no lone-wolf scenario, but a suspected network. If the allegations are proven true, Stephenson’s comments confirm that.

Cops say ‘early intervention matters’

Luka Chokheli, 20, Alishahin Isayev, 23, a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl have also been charged with possession of a weapon and three counts of assault with a weapon. Two other young people are wanted. The charges have not been tested in court.

“Based on the evidence gathered during this investigation, we allege that members of the Jewish community were deliberately targeted,” said Stephenson. “People question whether they are safe attending religious services, walking in their neighbourhood or openly expressing who they are.”

If they are Jewish in Toronto, they are not safe. We just can’t have that and need to meet this hate with ferocity.

“When allegations of targeted hate-motivated violence comes to our attention, early intervention matters,” said Stephenson.

No one should be allowed to violate the Walk with Israel. If proven guilty, throw the book at this Gang of Seven.

Read full story at source