Jew-Hate Target ... Jewish Children's School/Toronto

"We are here to educate children, and that's what we're here for, and that's what we will continue to do, and we  hope that this is the final time, and this will come to an end soon."

"As Hanukkah is coming up, light will always prevail, and the message to the world out there is increasing goodness and kindness."

Rabbi Yaacov Vidal, Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School principal

 

"I can assure you, we will leave no stone unturned trying to find the perpetrators."

"Everyone, from the chief right on down, is putting all the resources that we can into this. We have stepped up our patrols."

"We have a couple of guns and gangs teams working on these shootings. We are making progress."

"There is a frustration, because what we've seen in our city in the past year with the antisemitic incidents, it's horrifying."

"It is quite simply horrifying."

Toronto Police Superintendent Paul MacIntyre

Toronto police are investigating another incident of gunshots fired outside a Jewish girls elementary school in North York. Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School was the target of two previous overnight shootings in October and May. CBC still from video

 

"And we're doing what we can, standing with the Jewish community, and we are throwing everything at these shootings."

"[The shootings are the direct result of the] incitement of mobs that have taken over our streets."

"What you're seeing is an entire societal failure, all the way from Ottawa down to the local government, to grapple with the lawlessness that is going on in our streets and in our cities."

"What has become of the city? What has become of this country?"

"The Jewish community will not be intimidated. We helped build this city. We helped build this country. "We're going to go about our daily lives as Jews, living as Jews, and going around without intimidation and harassment."

Toronto Councillor James Pasternak

Yet again a Jewish girls' school in Toronto was targeted. The Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School located in North York, for the third time was riddled with bullets. The day following the shooting the school opened as usual, but some parents decided to keep their children at home in fear for their safety. The shooting had taken place in the early morning hours on Friday. When police responded to the call they discovered "evidence of firearm discharge". 

 

According to police reconstruction, a vehicle with multiple individuals drove up to the school. One person emerged and fired six shots at the school, then the vehicle and its occupants left the scene.

According to school officials the fencing and school building sustained damage. Security guards hired by the school are not present overnight. Their concern is that during the day when children are in attendance at the school, they remain safe from harm. Police henceforth, according to Toronto Police Superintendent Paul MacIntyre, will have a command centre installed at the school property seven days a week, 24 hours a day to operate for the foreseeable future.

Police are open to assistance from the wider public; whether anyone saw or heard anything suspicious, or should anyone be in possession of dashcam footage. Toronto has the largest group of Jews in the country resident in the city. Resulting in the city seeing major protests over the war in Gaza. It seems evident that the large number of Jewish Canadians living in Toronto may be matched by a large number of Jewish-hating residents from backgrounds other than Canada, bringing with them historical antipathies finding expression following the atrocities of October 7, 2023 when terrorists from Gaza committed mass murder in southern Israel.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford expressed confidence in a thorough investigation by Toronto police. "I'm outraged and disgusted to hear that, once again, shots have been fired at a Jewish girls' school in Toronto. These antisemitic hateful attacks have no place in Ontario", he messaged on social media. Just coincidentally the Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue in Montreal was hit a day earlier with a crude firebomb. 

 

"Enough is enough. Antisemitism and antisemitic attacks have no place in Toronto", Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow responded, while taking care not to commit to putting an end to the disruptive and hate-filled, threatening weekend pro-Hamas protests in the city targeting the Jewish community.

"Canada has become a more dangerous place for the Jewish people under the divisiveness of the weak and now [politically rejected] wounded Justin Trudeau."

"Another day brings another cowardly act of antisemitic hate, and it's well overdue that the [federal] government do something, or anything, to protect Canadians."

Melissa Lantsman, Conservative MP representing GTA's Thornhill

Toronto police in an October 2024 update, pointed to 358 confirmed hate crimes in Toronto for the year. Close to 75 percent of the hate crimes were specifically directed at Jews. Over 160 people had been arrested, with 403 charges laid, according to Toronto Police Force statistics.

 

Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School was previously targeted on Yom Kippur. That shooting broke a window, in addition to other damage to the building. (CBC)

"I reiterated to him my great concern over the intolerable wave of antisemitic attacks against the Canadian Jewish community."

"I stressed that words would not suffice, and that firm and decisive action must be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice, to stamp out antisemitism, and to educate and legislate in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the Jewish community."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog

It's Not Over Till It's Over

"Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served."
"I hope the authorities will pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers, and ensure redress for his victims."
"We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed, the pain and trauma he caused so many people."
Jennifer Araoz, rape victim

Jeffrey Epstein pictured with US President Donald Trump in 1997    Getty Images

"[It is] an undisputed fact that multiple witnesses deposed in this case [have testified that Maxwell, daughter of the late British publisher Robert Maxwell] operated as convicted pedophile Epstein's procurer of underage girls."
Court-released documents

"I didn't know who he was. And so when I saw the tag that said Prince Andrew, then it clicked. I'm like, that's who it is. And we went down -- back down to the living room, and she [Maxwell] brought it [inflated puppet of the Duke] in. It was just funny because -- he thought it was funny because it was him."
"I sat on Andrew's lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet's hands and put it on Virginia's [Giuffre] breast, and so Andrew put his on mine."
Johanna Sjoberg, witness

Prince Andrew, left, seen with Jeffrey Epstein in New York  
News Syndication

"Today's events [news of the suicide-while-on-suicide-watch in prison] are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein's many victims their day in court." 
"To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing with you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing."
Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney, Manhattan

US attorney for the southern district of New York Geoffrey Berman has vowed to continue his investigation in to Jeffrey Epstein © JASON SZENES/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Sexual predator, lover of underage girls, party man with connections to high society, the political elite, royalty, Jeffrey Epstein, 66, will not face trial after all. He had much to answer for, and his multitude of victims, many of them in their mid- to late-teens when they were recruited by him with the assistance of Ghislaine Maxwell, British Socialite, former girlfriend of the disgraced billionaire, to service his appetite for under-age sex, are denied the satisfaction of seeing him sentenced to a long stretch of prison.

His evident choice of the long dark night of death has deprived them of that, and they find little joy in knowing he chose death over the revelations to come. On the other hand, much has been revealed in their joint depositions of 2,000 pages of documentation representing lurid details of this man's abuse of teen-age girls. He was well aware that he could be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life. This time, forever. He knew the denouement was due and he dreaded time in prison again.

Which didn't stop him from abusing dozens of girls at his palatial homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach. The strength of his addiction, one he generously shared with friends. Many of whom didn't mind his company at the time, but have good reason to cringe now that their names have been openly linked with his in everlasting public shame and notoriety. But he was found hanging in his cell, and died subsequently. The mystery being how could that happen since he was on suicide watch?

"We are enormously sorry to learn of today's news. No one should die in jail. We cannot confirm rumours as to his cause of death, and we trust that the United States Attorney's Office and the United States Marshalls will thoroughly investigate the circumstances of today's tragedy", stated his lawyers. And they will. And nothing will be found to incriminate any one else as being an accomplice enabling his suicide, or darker yet, machinations to ensure his death as a silencing technique.

After all, he kept quite interesting company. Or perhaps more accurately put, interesting people kept him company in his pursuit of sexual gratification at the expense of his victims. Celebrities, politicians, socialites. Quite a varied lot, too. From former president Bill Clinton to current President Donald Trump, both known for their lack of discretion and penchant for illicit female flesh. While they never made the grade as official sex offenders as Epstein did, their choices speak for themselves.

He trafficked the girls and they enjoyed sharing the privilege of abusing them. Oh, and Andrew, the Duke of York. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, and heavens, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. They can, of course, claim they merely attended some of his lavish dinners, not the sex parties. Which would still, given how widely he was known as a sex addict and offender, and previous charges, question the quality of the company they chose to keep.

In fact, a good many men of good reputation, as academics, scientists and others with popular social media followings because of their high profiles academically, socially, politically, often responded to Epstein's invitations to meet and mingle at sumptuous dinner parties where wine and conversation flowed. All now grimed by their association, however remote, and in some cases, close, to this man whose death is no tragedy. It is his life that brought tragedy to others.

"This relates to proceedings in the U.S., to which the Duke of York is not a party."
"Any suggestion of impropriety with minors is categorically untrue."
Buckingham Palace

“Justice demands that those who acted with him also be held accountable,” said David Boies, left, a lawyer who represents the women who said they were victims of Mr. Epstein. Standing at background left is Annie Farmer; background third left is Courtney Wild, two of Epstein's accusers.  Credit: Richard Drew/Associated Press