Toronto police are investigating a suspected antisemitic hate crime after mezuzahs were forcibly removed from the doors of Jewish residents in a North York apartment building, the latest in a growing series of incidents targeting the city’s Jewish community.
According to The Canadian Jewish News, mezuzahs were torn from three apartment doors on the same floor of a residential complex on Thursday. One of the mezuzahs, belonging to a Holocaust survivor, was later found discarded on the floor. The building is home to many Jewish residents and is located approximately one kilometer from a shul that was the target of multiple antisemitic attacks in 2024.
The incident follows a similar and more widespread act earlier this month, when roughly 20 mezuzahs were stolen from apartments in another North York building. Toronto police are reviewing both cases as potential hate crimes.
Neighborhood Councillor James Pasternak condemned the latest incident in stark terms, calling it “another example of the hate that has infected Toronto.”
“This is not random vandalism,” Pasternak said. “It is part of a broader pattern of intimidation fueled by incitement on the streets and online.”
He called for “universal condemnation” of antisemitic acts and demanded real “consequences” for those responsible.
The mezuzah incidents come amid a broader surge in antisemitism across Canada, a trend that predates the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel but has intensified since the war in Gaza began. Jewish organizations and law enforcement agencies have reported dramatic increases in threats, vandalism, and violent plots targeting Jews.
Last week, Canadian police announced the arrest of three terror suspects accused of planning attempted kidnappings targeting Jews and women. Authorities described the cases as serious and coordinated, underscoring growing concerns about escalation from harassment to physical violence.
Toronto police have already documented several such incidents this year. In May, three men—one armed with a handgun and another with a knife—approached a woman and attempted to force her into a vehicle in Toronto. The suspects fled only after a passing driver intervened, police said.
In June, in nearby Mississauga, three men carrying a handgun, a rifle, and a knife exited a vehicle and chased two women before again fleeing when a motorist stopped to help.
“These individuals were targeting women and members of the Jewish community,” Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said at the time, offering few additional details but emphasizing the seriousness of the threat.
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4 Responses
This follows the usual pattern of Paris, London, Amsterdam & Sidney, Australia. Where the governments in those countries are highly critical of Israel. They also permit wild demonstrations by so-called Palestinian groups. Creating an atmosphere of lawlessness. Then, when those criminal haters attack innocent Jewish people. Resulting in death & injury those same governments express regret & sympathy with their Jewish victims. They belatedly express “solidarity” with the Jewish victims. They fail to see, however, that this is a direct result of cuddling the terrorist groups.
One house is suspicious of a hate crime? I highly doubt it.
Unfortunately, once Jew haters realize that we are harmed by such vile actions of ripping down mezuzos, they will start doing it as a regular “thing”.
I have some serious advice for the torontonians start getting yourselves armed and when you see such terroristic acts performed pull out your weapon and blow their heads off that will stop them.