WARMINGTON: Another Toronto synagogue vandalized as city braces for Walk for Israel

· Toronto Sun

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On this night of the broken glass of a Toronto synagogue’s front window there was another curious clue left behind.

In addition to a broken window at Mishkan Avraham, a Jewish house of worship located at 2797 Bathurst St. in North York, there was also a bullseye sticker of what resembled a target that you might see in a gun range – or perhaps used with laser and optical measuring instruments .

Was this location targeted by somebody leaving a roadmap for antisemites to have Jewish sites to hit?

Was the bullseye put there to send a message? Was the broken glass meant to replicate a modern day Kristallnacht?

Perhaps we will never know. When there have been dozens of antisemitic attacks in Toronto since Oct. 7th, there is only so many things you can dismiss before you conclude there is a crisis here.

Toronto Police Hate Crime Unit investigating

And, yes, the Toronto Police Hate Crime Unit is investigating another attack on a Toronto synagogue.

The Toronto Sun has also asked police if they are aware of this unexplained bullseye and if it was part of the investigation or left behind by their Forensics officers, but they did not immediately respond.

Based on the word Leica visible in the top right corner, it appears to be a reflective target made by the Leica camera company, typically used to provide a point for laser and optical measuring instruments to aim at.

Regardless of whether the target was left intentionally to intimidate the community, the shattered window has many Jewish families concerned about safety at the annual Walk for Israel being held Sunday morning in the same neighbourhood.

“Less than a week after the Prime Minister addressed the Jewish community and spoke of the need to rectify Canada’s failing social compact and to protect Jewish Canadians, yet another synagogue in Toronto was targeted and vandalized in what is being investigated as a hate crime,” B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy Richard Robertson said Saturday.

“This incident exemplifies how the approach to combatting antisemitism presently being undertaken in this country is not enough – it fails to capture the gravity of the national crisis of antisemitism,” he added.

‘Mischief damage’

Calling it “mischief damage” on their X account , Toronto Police said officers “responded to reports of damage at a synagogue” at Bathurst St. and Glencairn Ave. where “a window was broken with an unknown object.”

It does not appear to be from gunshots, but at this time it is unclear what caused the damage.

Police were at the scene on Saturday.

“(The) damage (is) believed to have occurred overnight,” police said, adding they so far have “no suspect description(s) currently available.”

There were also no reports of anyone being hurt.

Yet another hate crime against Toronto’s Jewish community happening on the eve of the Walk for Israel surprises no one. What is surprising is the Toronto, Ontario and Canadian authorities providing all of the courtesy possible to those who pretend they are protesting but are really delivering vile antisemitism.

This is what happened last yea r and the year before when people wearing disguises were screaming disturbing antisemitic smears at many of the 55,000 people marching northbound on Bathurst St. up from Wilson Ave. to just below Sheppard Ave. W.

Jewish participants in 2025, many there with their children, described the last few hundred metres as the “Gauntlet of Hate” in which you had protesters harassing Jewish families with police in the middle.

It was ugly.

Hopefully there is no trouble at this year’s almost four-kilometre United Jewish Appeal’s Walk with Israel event, which commences at 9 a.m.

Police have indicated they are trying to prevent issues while aiming to balance demonstrators’ charter right to protest with not crossing what Deputy Chief Frank Barredo called the “blurry” line of what is free speech and what is hate speech.

He told reporters Friday there will be hate crime experts on the route to help determine this.

While Barredo said police do have a “plan” to keep people separated, this alleged attack on a synagogue – believed to have occurred early Saturday – could be an indicator of potential problems to come.

It also comes just a little more than a day after an attempted firebombing of a synagogue in Montreal and it’s lost on few how many other attacks have occurred in recent months on the Jewish community –gel capsule shots fired at members of the community, shootings into shuls, schools and businesses, as well as the United States consulate .

While Chief Myron Demkiw has been clear people breaking the law will be arrested “swiftly” and that police have the resources in place to achieve that, it has not been made publicly clear to the pro-Palestinian and pro-Ayatollah Iran supporters what they are allowed to do and where they are allowed to do it.

Many feel clarity in this regard could help police have a better chance of controlling the ground there. For example, protesters could be told to stay in a designated protest area where no one is able to be in direct contact with participants in the march – p erhaps north of the event, in a public park or at City Hall or Queen’s Park.

If there is intelligence suggesting the possibility of anything similar to the Bondi Beach massacre during Hannukah in Australia last year, then there’s nothing wrong with using the tool of the Emergencies Act for one day to potentially save lives.

It is too early to determine what happened with this latest vandalization of a synagogue just south of the Walk for Israel route, former Toronto Police officer and crime specialist for media Ross McLean spoke with officers who said it is still very much an investigation in its early stages.

Meanwhile, Toronto should not allow innocent Jewish families to be hectored, intimidated or violated.

“We must take action now to get at the root causes of antisemitism and to respond to it s continued occurrence with the force and vigour that it deserves, that starts with leadership at all levels, including the Prime Minister and the federal government,” Robertson said.

Because it’s not just glass that’s getting broken – it’s the whole country.

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