Terry Newman: Three years of hate

As the third anniversary of October 7 nears, Canadians need to wake up to the escalating hate and violence towards Jewish communities that has been allowed to fester in this country.

Sign In or Create an Account

Governments, universities and media have believed the lies that Israel is committing genocide and that anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism and have allowed these lies to fester and spread on campuses, between politicians and in news reports.

The blood from the terror attacks waged by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and civilians on Nova music festival goers, families on several kibbutz and civilians in the city of Sderot and town of Ofakim had barely dried when small rallies celebrating the attacks rang out in cities across Canada.

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.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Channel Israel will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

The day after the attacks, anti-Israel protesters in Montreal marched in solidarity, carrying signs saying “Resistance until liberation” from Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal ending at the Israeli Consulate.

McGill’s Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) immediately took to social media to plan a celebration for the following day, writing: “We call on our people in Montreal and in the far diaspora to celebrate the resistance’s success, to uplift their calls, and to march this Sunday,” which was the day after the attacks. SPHR also referred to it as a “heroic attack,” remarking that “the resistance has set a new precedent for the Palestinian struggle.”

Three days after the attacks, in Ottawa, our nation’s capital, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Kahlil led a celebratory chant of,  “We are your men, Mohammad Deif!” outside the Human Rights Monument, of all places. Deif was commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. Hamas is an Islamic terrorist group and arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. On that day, Kahlil praised the October 7 attacks, also known as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” and pledged he would “ride” the flood into the city of Jerusalem. He ended his speech in Ottawa that day asking his supporters to “be the nightmare” in Canada. “We’re going to be the nightmare here. We’re going to be the nightmare in Gaza,” he encouraged them, his head wrapped in a keffiyeh, the same garment also worn by many of his supporters in the crowd that day.

All of this took place within a 750-metre walk from where Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was shot and killed by Islamic terrorist Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, while he, too, donned a keffiyeh. Two days earlier, warrant officer Patrice Vincent was killed by Martin Couture-Rouleau, who ran him down in his vehicle in support of the Islamic State.

It’s important for Canadians to realize that campus groups have been feeding this hatred for a long time and were primed to go out and turn October 7 into a sympathetic narrative for the terrorist group Hamas and have it spill into our streets. And it looks like their plan worked.

In 2022, Jews were already the victims of 527 religiously motivated hate crimes in Canada. The following year, that number jumped to 959 and only slightly decreased in frequency while increasing in severity in 2025 — and 2026’s numbers haven’t even been compiled yet.

After October 7, attacks against Jewish synagogues, community centres and places of business began to rise in number and severity. Four Jewish schools were shot at, two were targeted multiple times. Four synagogues were shot at, five, if you include the fact that one of the schools was housed in a synagogue. In addition, Jewish neighbourhoods were harassed and Jewish businesses were attacked. This list is not exhaustive, but it is illustrative of the hatred the Jewish community has been subjected to since the horrific attacks on October 7.

Oct. 27, 2023

Anti-Israel protesters targeted Jewish-owned Cafe Landwer’s University Avenue and Adelaide Street location chanting “boycott” and referring to it as a “Zionist cafe.”

Nov. 3, 2023 

A video captured anti-Israel protesters swarming Jewish-owned Aroma café, near Toronto’s CN Tower, and chanting “boycott Aroma.”

Nov. 7, 2023

It began in Montreal. Beth Tikvah synagogue and a nearby Jewish community centre in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a suburb of Montreal, were firebombed with Molotov cocktails.

Nov. 9, 2023

Two days later, the front doors of two Jewish schools — Talmud Torah Elementary School and Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal — were struck with bullets in the Montreal neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges.

Nov. 10, 2023

The Toronto Indigo bookstore on Bay Street and Bloor Street was splattered with red paint on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Nov. 12, 2023

Two days later, four shots were fired into the door of Yeshiva Gedola, again. In 2024, 20-year-old Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed was arrested and pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm. A 66-month sentence has been recommended. The prosecutor in the case argued that there was no way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mahdi Ahmed firing shots into a Jewish school was a hate crime. Ahmed will be back in court for sentencing on Oct. 19.

Mid-November 2023

Lists of Jewish businesses in Montreal circulated on social media urging people to boycott them. A Jewish owner of a coffee shop chain told the Montreal Gazette that the previous weekend “they put swastikas on the … menus downtown and they wrote ‘F–k the Jews.’ ” The same owner also said that protesters used permanent black markers to scrawl “Free Palestine!” on the plates in one of his restaurants and that the windshield of one of his vehicles was smashed. The business owner was so fearful of reprisal, they asked the Gazette not to publish their information and they obliged.

Nov. 27, 2023

Hours after about 60 members of the Jewish community and two Liberal MPs, Rachel Bendayan and Anthony Housefather, gathered at a community centre in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce area of Montreal to discuss a federal program to help with security costs to keep the community safe, a Molotov cocktail was launched at the building, which ended up charring the floors and walls and blew out a glass panel in the front door of the centre.

Jan. 3, 2024

International Delicatessen Foods, a Jewish-owned deli in Toronto had its windows broken, was set on fire and had “Free Palestine” spray-painted on it. Police referred to it as hate motivated and called it a “tipping point.”

May 25, 2024

In the early morning hours, two men fired on Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary, a Jewish girl’s school in Toronto. A video captured the two men who were wearing black exit a car being driven by a third person, shoot and then flee.

May 29, 2024

Belz Yeshiva Ketana, a Jewish school in the Young Israel of Montreal synagogue in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood of Montreal, was hit by at least one bullet. 

May 30, 2024

An individual poured accelerant on the doors at the front of Schara Tzedeck synagogue in Vancouver. Police released a video of the suspect who was never caught.

Aug. 21, 2024

Roughly 125 Jewish organizations received a morning email bomb threat. Synagogues and other institutions across the country were swept for safety. Thankfully, no explosives were found.

Oct. 12, 2024

During Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, the Toronto Jewish girls’ school, Bais Chaya Mushka, was shot at again. Two people were arrested — and adult and a youth. The adult was 20-year-old Toronto resident Helder Antonio De Ameida. The 17-year-old youth could not be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Information about their sentencing is unavailable.

Dec. 18, 2024

Beth Tikvah synagogue and the nearby community centre in Montreal were firebombed for the second time. Mohamed Ilyess Akodad pleaded guilty, told the court he was offered a $15,000 paid mission, implied he was too high to know what he was doing and claimed in front of 12 members of the Jewish community who were present that day that he didn’t know that they were Jewish buildings. I know, because I was there. Akodad received two years plus probation and avoided a hate crime charge.

Dec. 20, 2024

Early in the morning, shots were fired for the third time at Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School in the Toronto borough of North York. A video showed a vehicle pull up, a passenger get out, shoot and then get back in and speed away. No arrests have been made.

Dec. 20, 2024

Jewish-owned eatery Cafe Landwer’s window in its North York location was broken, causing $5,000 worth of damage.

Jan. 10, 2025

In the early morning, the office of La Briut, a kosher restaurant and caterer in Markham, Ont. was broken into and robbed. “F–k Jews” and “Free Gaza” were spray painted on the walls.

Jan. 12, 2025

La Briut’s restaurant in Toronto near Dufferin Street and Steeles Avenue West was also broken into, the property was damaged and items were stolen. 

March 16, 2025 

Jewish-owned Goldstruck Coffee in downtown Toronto had its front windows smashed and valuables taken. It was captured on a security video.

March 17, 2025

Amir Arvahi Azar, a 32-year-old Toronto resident was charged with allegedly participating in an antisemitic eight-month crime spree. Azar faces 29 charges including advocating for the genocide of Jews and damaging windows, starting fires and inciting hate at Jewish institutions and businesses. These attacks included damaging a window at a Café Landwer location, damaging synagogue signs at four synagogues with fire and damaging a window at another synagogue. He also allegedly threatened the Forest Hill Jewish Centre in a voicemail.

March 23, 2025

Goldstruck Coffee had its front glass door shattered. It was captured on a security video.

April 19, 2025

On the seventh day of Passover, kosher pizzeria My Zaidy’s Pizza in Thornhill Ont. was broken into. It was one of three break-and-enters on Jewish businesses that evening.

May 15, 2025

An anti-Israel protester with a keffiyeh over his head ignited a smoke canister and stood near Café Landwer’s outdoor patio while patrons tried to eat. A woman came out of the restaurant and shouted at police, “Why aren’t you stopping them?” Shahrez Hydri, 38 at the time, was charged with mischief.

Aug. 8, 2025

A 32-year-old Hasidic Jewish man was physically assaulted by a stranger in front of his three young children in Montreal’s Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough. The assault was captured on video. In the video, you can see Sergio Yanes Preciado, 24, of Montreal, who was later arrested, punched the father repeatedly while one of his children screamed and clinged to him. It was ruled that he couldn’t be held responsible because he was in the midst of a psychotic episode.

Aug. 22 and Aug. 25, 2025

Frédéric Biron Carmel allegedly set fire to a municipal flag, at least once, and Israeli flag on two occasions in Hampstead, Que. On one occasion, he allegedly recorded a video of him doing it, which he called “Manifesto of the flag burner” and posted it to social media. He was later arrested and showed up to court wearing a T-shirt with a member of Hamas, a listed terrorist organization, on it.

Dec. 19, 2025

Toronto and Peel police announced that they had arrested three men, one connected to ISIS, who were hunting down Jewish women and trying to abduct them from the street.

March 2, 2026

On the Jewish holiday of Purim, Toronto police responded to shots fired at Temple Emanu-El Synagogue at 10:49 p.m. Police announced that their Integrated Gun & Gang Task Force and Hate Crime Unit on the investigation. No arrests have been made for this shooting.

Jewish-owned Old Avenue Restaurant on Alness street in Toronto was targeted by gunfire.

March 4

Swastikas were painted on three Jewish-owned businesses in the same neighbourhood in Montreal — a pharmacy, a butcher and a kosher Italian restaurant.

March 6

The Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto synagogue in Thornhill, Ont. was shot at just before midnight. Bullets pierced the doors of the synagogue, which had people present at the time.

March 7

In the early morning, police were called to Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in Toronto, which also had been fired at. Police immediately suspected that the synagogue shootings were connected. An unnamed 17-year-old youth of no fixed address, an 17-year-old youth from Waterloo, and 23-year-old Chris Perreira from Barrie, Ont. were charged in connection with both shootings.

April 3

During Passover, in the early morning, Old Avenue Restaurant’s Avenue Road and Brooke Avenue location had 14 bullets shot into it. Mohamed Mahdi, 35, of Brampton Ont. was later charged for this shooting, but not in the earlier shooting in March.

June 5

Just after midnight, security cameras revealed that an individual had broken a window at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in the Montreal neighbourhood of Westmount with a rock and tossed two explosive devices in it to set it on fire. The suspect, Steven Luu, a resident of the St-Léonard neighbourhood in Montreal was quickly apprehended by police. Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom’s rabbi, Lisa Grushcow told the Canadian Jewish News, “I will eat my kippah if it was totally random that this person chose to cross town into a neighbourhood that wasn’t where he lived, in the middle of the night, and multiple times threw a rock at the window to try and open it, and then threw in an incendiary device — that it had nothing to do with it being a synagogue?” Luu was supposed to have his bail hearing on June 17 but was delayed at that point until Luu’s lawyer could come up with a release plan. According to Canadian Jewish News reporter Joel Ceausu, Luu remains detained and his next court date is Oct. 16.

July 25

Just before midnight, Jewish-owned Kiva’s Bagel Bar’s Bathurst Street and Steeles Avenue West location was targeted with gunfire. The shots came from a dark SUV.

July 26

Just after midnight, what police believed was the same SUV, fired bullets at Kiva’s Bagel Bar’s Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue West location.

Aug. 3

A man was arrested for allegedly trying to use a knife to slice through the Israeli tent at the Edmonton Heritage Festival. One video posted to social media allegedly shows the man’s shadow as he raises his knife attempting to cut the tent and another allegedly shows him being arrested while people in the background chant, “All Zionists are racists.” The man’s name hasn’t been released to the public.

Sept. 20

Worshippers were gathered inside Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont. to celebrate Yom Kippur. Sean Ward, 29, of Quinte West, Ont., arrived and opened fire on Const. Jeff Smith who was posted outside the synagogue to protect the community. Video captured Ward yelling, “You are going to die for the Jews.” Smith was already wounded by Ward when he left his truck and continued to defend members of the congregation, receiving more wounds. The stained glass window of the synagogue had 24 bullets go through it while congregants heard the shots and waited in fear. Belleville Const. Mike McCurdy arrived and also exchanged gunfire with Ward who was stopped and later died the next evening in Kingston General Hospital. Along with the shotgun he was using, he had other firearms and combustibles in his truck. Ward was stopped by these two heroic men from slaughtering the entire congregation.

Canadians need to wake up. This could have ended with a shul full of dead Jewish-Canadians.

Last year, I covered October 7 in downtown Montreal and noted how the date of massacres of festival-goers and families had been inverted into a narrative about Israel committing genocide. A document was handed out to students suggesting that the U.S. and Israel were responsible for the attacks on 9/11. While trying to film anti-Israel speakers in the evening, I was surrounded and covered with flags. Montreal police, who had been babysitting these protesters for two years at this point, knew I was with National Post, but told me they couldn’t assure my safety and, therefore, I needed to leave, or else be charged with obstruction of justice. One officer told me, “Would you go into a field of lions?” I retorted, “It’s your job to get rid of the lions,” and moved away to avoid being arrested. I will be returning to the streets of Montreal to cover the campus protests this year and expect them to be worse, not better.

The Liberals have recently admitted in a report that anti-Zionism is a manifestation of antisemitism, no one knows this better than Jewish university students across Canada. According to the recent Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences study, 95.7 per cent of Jewish students had either experienced or witnessed at least one instance of antisemitism over the previous year. And the antisemites at universities hide behind the claim that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. They have planted themselves in student unions across the country and encourage students to hate the West and spill out into our streets to celebrate October 7 every year, inverting the date of those horrific attacks into a story where they are the victims.

However, Prime Minister Mark Carney, who in June announced that he had assembled a Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion in a speech meant to address the broken covenant Canada has with Jewish-Canadians,, hasn’t made a public made a statement acknowledging this yet.

I’m sure it’s on his to-do list. I’m sure his demographics won’t keep him from echoing the words in his own government’s report. Jewish-Canadians should expect nothing less from this government that professes to care about their safety.

National Post

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.