Vivian Bercovici: Belleville shooting is the inevitable result of unchecked Jew-hatred

SDEROT, Israel — When the most-watched TV station in Israel went back on the air following the end of Yom Kippur on Monday evening, Belleville, Ont., was top of the news.

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A little context may be helpful: Hours before the onset of the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar, a young father of six was murdered in a terror attack. His funeral was held at the close of Yom Kippur, one day later. Iran and its Houthis allies continue to escalate threats and attacks in the Middle East. There’s a lot going on.

Before Monday night, not many people in Israel had heard of Belleville. That has changed. But it takes a lot these days to shock Israelis, or Jews.

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

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It took 14 hours for Prime Minister Mark Carney to react with a tepid, detached statement more suited to a routine traffic report. His government colleagues maintained the message discipline, avoiding any strongly worded expressions of shock, horror or disgust, which they customarily deploy when the slightest infraction or prejudice is demonstrated towards other identifiable religious and ethnic groups.

Approximately 17 hours after 29-year-old Sean Ward, a resident of nearby Quinte West, is alleged to have discharged dozens of bullets from a firearm outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue, his name was released to the public. It is noteworthy that, by that point, any social media presence he may have had no longer appeared to exist. Was it scrubbed? If so, by whom?

At a press conference held Monday at the scene of the shooting, Belleville’s deputy police chief, Sheri Meeks, and Kristy Denette, a communications official with the Ontario Special Investigations Unit, confirmed that the attack had occurred at approximately 7 p.m. ET on Sunday night.

This was the precise time when the approximately 25 attendees were entering the sanctuary for the beginning of the service. Quickly realizing that they were being attacked, the synagogue’s president told everyone to get on the floor and take cover. Meanwhile, outside, Belleville police officer Jeff Smith, a 13-year veteran of the force, was guarding the building.

Denette stated that the sequence of events remains unclear, but the outcome is not. Smith is in hospital in critical but stable condition. His quick reaction to Ward’s alleged shooting spree likely averted a massacre in the synagogue. Ward was sent to hospital and pronounced dead on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the shooting was being mentioned in Israeli media, more in passing than shock or horror. Once a committed ally of Israel’s, Canada under Carney is seen very differently in this country.

Violent incitement and hatred targeting Jews in Canada has been “normalized” — the euphemism of the moment. Most political leaders and law enforcement authorities have demonstrated — for three years now — that they are loathe to enforce existing laws to protect Canadian Jews from harassment and violence.

The consequence of their ongoing reluctance to circumscribe the actions of anti-Israel protesters — under the disingenuous pretext of protecting their constitutional rights — is that those who commit anti-Jewish violence have become emboldened.

Also on Yom Kippur, mere hours after the Belleville attack, Jews attending services in Toronto were, according to a report and video posted to social media by CBC journalist Neil Herland, accosted by what has become a typical throng of antisemitic protesters spewing hatred in a threatening manner. This is the not-so-new normal in Canada.

On Israel’s most-watched television station on Monday night, a clip was shown of Denette replying to a reporter’s question as to whether this was a terror attack targeting the Jewish community: “I’d be speculating, but … I think that common sense would say that probably was the case.”

One would think that is obvious. As is the fact that the synagogue’s stained-glass windows were riddled with bullet holes, as evidenced in photographs published by the media.

Belleville police were circumspect, as well, declining to attribute any motive to Ward’s alleged actions, which beggars belief. Are we to accept that an armed man just happened to show up outside a small synagogue at the precise hour when congregants were assembling for the most important religious service of the year and began shooting?

Had a similar incident occurred outside a mosque or a church, I am confident in speculating that the police and politicians would have concluded differently. And the prime minister would not have taken 14 hours to issue this tepid statement:

“Last night, on the holiest night of the Jewish calendar, a shooting took place outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville. A police officer was shot and the community has been left shaken. Jewish people must be able to worship safely. To live free, open, proud Jewish lives.

“Canada’s government will do everything in our power to support law enforcement in ensuring that the perpetrator is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts are with the injured officer and his family, and the entire Jewish community.”

This breezy response to a violent attack on Jews attending Yom Kippur services illustrates why Jew hatred is flourishing in Canada. It is why people attending Yom Kippur services in Toronto were accosted by hateful mobs. Their conduct often contravenes the law, but nothing ever seems to be done to prevent these “protests.”

Interestingly, a very active group called Belleville Justice and Peace assembles each Sunday afternoon in the quiet city to hold public demonstrations. Its advocacy appears to focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict, according to social media posts.

Among its more prominent members is local resident Shahid Mahmood, who was detained by Israeli authorities in May. Mahmood had been a participant in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by the Israel Defence Forces before reaching its intended destination — the Gaza Strip.

This is not the first shooting of a synagogue in Canada since October 7. Jewish schools have been similarly targeted, as have neighbourhoods with high concentrations of Jewish residents, community centres and Jewish-owned businesses.

The result is Belleville. Israelis understand that. Canadians, it seems, do not.

History has taught us, repeatedly, that in societies that demonize Jews, the targeting of others ensues, as surely as night follows day.

National Post

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