Kiva's bakery at Steeles Avenue and Bathurst Street on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.

 

"This is utterly reprehensible."

"[Incidents such as these] deepen fear and reinforce why so many in our community feel increasingly vulnerable ..."

"Condemnations are not enough. The Jewish community needs more than expressions of concern."

"It needs results." 

Michael Levitt, president,  Friend of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Study

 

"We condemn yet more violent attacks on the Canadian Jewish community."

"These attacks are not only on Jews but on Canada's values and our democracy itself. [There has] not been a word from the advisory committee on rights, equality and inclusion, now responsible for determining the causes of antisemitism in Canada."

"As we have previously noted, this committee has members with no qualifications in issues of antisemitism and members whose prior associations should have disqualified them."

Hadassah Goldberg, CLARITY Coalition Canada 

Supporters stand in front of the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on McGill University campus, in Montreal, Monday, June 17, 2024. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

 

Canadian Jews have been left disbelieving. Never would it have occurred to them that the ancient pathology of Jew-hate that most Jewish antennae are attuned to would suddenly escape the confines of polite society to emerge as a storm of unadulterated antisemitism, boldly declared in the public arena, escalating to the point that the sewage of Jew-hate has become a threat to their very existence as Jews living in Canada. There is not one Canadian Jew unfamiliar with the syndrome, all have experienced it to at least a 'mild' degree from childhood to adulthood. 

 

Jews have had a presence in Canada since the 16th Century; they are not recent immigrants.  The number of Jews in Montreal warranted the establishment in 1768 of the Shearith Israel synagogue. 18th Century Quebec City had seen Jews settling in as proud citizens, along with other parts of Lower Canada. In Trois-Rivieres, Ezekiel Hart was elected to the legislature of Lower Canada in 1807, but on the basis of his religion was denied his seat. Early arrivals in the emerging Canada of today, rife with antisemitism but a home to Jews.

 

In this more enlightened era where Canadian Jews known to have made a reputation for themselves as scientists and academics, industrialists and medical pioneers, researchers and writers, the place that Jews made for themselves in Canada emerged as contributors to Canadian advances in all spheres of human endeavour. Diaspora Jews valued their lives in the countries they became citizens of throughout Europe, Latin America and North America among other destinations. With the advent of the State of Israel reemerging in its ancestral geography it became another point of pride, passion and security.

 

Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

 

It took only a few decades for Canada to welcome immigrants, refugees and migrants from parts of the world where the religion, history, culture and heritage was one of inherited antipathy to Jews and that viral antipathy accompanied them to their new home, their numbers among the general population steadily increasing to the point where politicians sought them out as a voting bloc irrespective of their inability and unwillingness to accept Canadian law, values and culture. This, in a society that valued its concept of multiculturalism as a great benefit to the country.

 

The outcome of which has been foreign interference in a programmed and organized campaign to slander and threaten Canadian Jews, based on their links to Israel as Zionists in support of that ancient heritage forever under threat by fundamentalist Islamists devoted to the jihad of the sword -- or bombs, beheadings and mass slaughter. A public relations campaign that introduced the West to a new phobia that was to be taken up and deplored as an assault on human rights -- Islamophobia -- became the darling of Western politicians courting the Muslim vote. And nor were the media confined to neutral reportage.

 

Temple Emanu-El windows shot out, March 2, 2026, North York, Toronto Star/Getty Images

 

Public institutions and governments throughout the West developed an affinity for responding to Muslim invective against Jews everywhere and particularly Israel which soon became globally isolated every time its military responded to deadly attacks against the presence of the Jewish state. The slopover in Canada saw campaigns to delegitimize Israel, to boycott its products, services and academics in favour of demonstrating fealty to the plight of Palestinians 'victimized' by a country that would not allow itself to be attacked, its citizens murdered by neighbours plaintively calling themselves victims while attacking their 'occupiers' whose very presence 'oppressed' them.  

 

In Canada, Jewish-owned businesses are vandalized, synagogues fire-bombed, Jewish parochial schools shot at, hateful marches through Jewish neighbourhoods harassing and threatening its residents, all with complete impunity. University campuses shut out for Jewish students and Jewish professorial staff frozen out by their colleagues whose support of the Palestinian 'cause' is paramount in their progressive-left Marxist embrace. One prime minister after another disinterested in the plight of that segment of the population in favour of deploring any symptoms of 'Islamophobia' should Jews point out the campaign of disentitlement of Jews in Canada is led by Muslims. 

 

The accused, Mohamed Ilyess Akodad, said he accepted a $15,000 contract to set fire to Congregation Beth Tikvah on Dec. 18, 2024. (Simon-Marc Charron/Radio-Canada)

 

"[Should the attacks on the two Toronto Jewish bakeries be proven to be hate crimes, they would be] the latest in such attempts to harass the Jewish community and would represent an assault on all civilized Canadians."  

"Rather than shine a light on the real threats facing Canada, including Islamic radicalism and the Iranian regime's tentacles in Canada, much of the news media has instead fixated on regurgitating pro-Palestinian talking points."

Robert Walker, Honest Reporting Canada

 

"Toronto's Jewish community deserves more than just thoughts and prayers."

"Toronto is not going to remain a city where Jewish store owners sweep up broken glass."

"We will sweep it up together. Indifference is indictment."

Toronto City Councillor Brad Bradford, mayoral candidate 

"[An officer already on site as part of a security detail since the last attack heard the distinct sound of a single gunshot near where he was stationed. He then spotted] a white late-model Honda Accord with no licence plates in the area and saw it speeding away from the scene."

"It's because of that officer's actions that we were able to get up on our suspect and that's why we actually managed to get involved in a pursuit." 

"[That the shot was fired while a Toronto police cruiser was parked in front of the building with its emergency lights on] perhaps speaks to the brazen quality of this act and the recklessness that's involved, certainly, to engage in a high-speed pursuit."

"[Investigators] would not, as a matter of course, rule out any possible connection [between the latest consulate incident and the shots that were fired at two Jewish-owned Kavi's bakery locations late Saturday night]." 

Deputy Chief Frank Barredo, Toronto Police Service  

 

"What kind of city have we become? Paid shooters roaming through our streets to spread terror."

"We will support and wish for the safety of all the diplomats and their staff while living in Toronto."

Toronto Councillor James Pasternak

 

"Canada has a serious antisemitism problem the government needs to get serious about."

"Everyone needs to wake up. Attacks like this are the canary in the coal mine."

"The attackers are coming after our Judeo-Christian values. We need to act like it."

Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott

A shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, the second this year, set off a high-speed chase and a manhunt. Police called the attack 'brazen' and 'reckless,' but didn't say why the consulate was targeted again.  CBC News

 

Five months ago, gunshots were fired at the U.S. Consulate building in Toronto. An investigation that followed at that time established that three young men -- Sheldon Tracey-Stewart 18, Zara Jabbi 19, and Nicholas Bennett 19, were responsible for that shooting, an attack described as a "national security incident". Multiple firearms charges face all three, while Bennett is charged as well with first-degree murder of Toronto police officer Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43. While attempting to serve an arrest warrant, Constable Pinizzotto was shot to death by Nicholas Bennett.

 

"Police allege  young people are being recruited through encrypted messaging applications to carry out attacks and are required to record the incidents as proof, to receive payment", police explained in a public announcement. Ballistics from seized handguns, the one used in the death of Constable Pinizzotto included, have been linked to 27 shootings in the city. Another link is an unsealed criminal complaint where prosecutors in the U.S. suspect the attacks were ordered by Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iraqi militia commander with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

Now, police in Toronto dealing with another shooting at the U.S. Consulate, consider a link with the previous shooting there, part of a gun-for-hire network, targeting various city locations, mostly synagogues and Jewish schools. The Monday shooting at the U.S. consulate on University Avenue led to a high-speed chase, ending when police decided they would no longer engage in the high-speed pursuit for fear of potential crashes on busy roadways -- at 5:00 a.m. 

 

An officer stationed near the building immediately reported seeing a white Honda Accord with no licence plates speed away from the scene, Deputy Chief Frank Barredo said. (Toronto Police Service)

 

A single spent shell casing was located that caused some damage to the building's facade. Two security personnel at the consulate were uninjured. Two Jewish-owned Kavi's bakery locations were also shot at, late on Saturday night on St.Clair Avenue and Steeles Avenue, damaging both facades.  

"I can assure Torontonians that the Toronto Police Service and our partners, federal, provincial and otherwise, are very much actively working to not only deter, but apprehend people involved in this."

"We have made arrests in practically all of the other shootings, at great cost to the Toronto Police Service [the death of Corporal Pinizzotto] in one instance."

Deputy Police Chief Frank Barredo

 

"[The] warning signs are becoming impossible to ignore [Canada must] get tough on terror."

"Hold accountable those perpetrating and directing these attacks."

"And ensure law enforcement and security agencies have the tools they need to protect Canadians."

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs  

Police at the scene after a shooting outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on Monday.  Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP

 

"The European Commission is not expected to rush into a decision about whether exports of raw materials from Aughinish Alumina to Russia should be cut off by economic sanctions, The Irish Times understands.

The Government’s confidential report investigating the Co Limerick plant shows the Rusal-owned company has become increasingly dependent on selling alumina to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, as demand from other European countries declined due to concerns about Aughinish’s Russian ties and ownership."

"The unpublished report, seen by The Irish Times, could not find evidence proving alumina exported by Aughinish was ultimately used by Russian arms producers and defence contractors, but officials said their investigation was hamstrung by a lack of access to information about activities inside Russia and reliable internal trade data."

"Reporting by The Irish Times and a consortium of European media outlets revealed vast amounts of alumina refined in Aughinish was being shipped to smelters based in Russia making aluminium, which is sold to ASK, a Moscow trading company known to supply the alloy to Russian arms and missile manufacturers."

The Irish Times 

 

"[Our aluminum has] no connection whatever to the Russian military supply chain."

"[We will order an] independent third-party verification by a competent global company, who will monitor the alumina flows from Aughinish and subsequent export out of Russia."

Aughinish Alumina

The Aughinish Alumina plant in Co Limerick. Photograph Nick Bradshaw

 

Europe's largest alumina refinery sits on a sylvan plain, in Ireland's Limerick County on the Shannon river estuary. The enterprise that employs about 500 locals, is now at the centre of a dispute pitting support for Ukraine against the potential loss of that local employment. Owned by Russian aluminum giant Rusal, which according to Swedish tax authorities recently, is under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

 

Calls for Ireland to halt exports to Russia have newly arisen, despite that alumina exports are not at the present time subject to European Union sanctions. The company launched its Ireland production in 1983. Around 1.9 million tonnes of alumina is produced annually at the plant, according to the company. Following a March investigation by the Irish Times daily, plus a consortium of journalists (the OCCRP), raw material it is alleged, was shipped from Aughinish to Russia, processed into aluminum sold to a Moscow-based trader who supplies Russian arms manufacturers.

 

That public revelation inspired a government probe, where Enterprise Minister Peter Burke stated that "no adverse findings" had shown up against the refinery Since the investigation had been  unable to determine where alumina was traded once it entered Russia given a lack of internal Russian trade data, the statement of 'no adverse findings' appears both to reflect hopeful incompetence and a lack of government interest. 

 

Half of the refinery's alumina exports were shipped to Russia in the first quarter, according to official Irish data published this month; an increase from 43 percent in 2025 -- while 40 percent was shipped to the European Union. The exports. as far as Ukraine is concerned, erase concerns over economic activity out of Ireland that could be aiding Russia's war effort. "Every supply of strategically important raw materials that strengthens Russia's capacity to sustain its aggression raises serious questions",  urged the Ukrainian Embassy in Dublin.

 

Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick supplies vast amounts of raw materials to Russian aluminium smelters, according to an investigation by The Irish Times and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).   Irish Times

 

During a visit by Irish prime minister Micheal Martin to Kyiv, to mark Ireland's six-month rotating EU presidency, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Ireland's engagement on the issue.

"It is important that appropriate steps are taken to ensure that the Russian war receives no support whatsoever". Surely an uncomfortable moment for the Irish prime minister given Ireland's support for Ukraine, weighed against its non-intervention at one of Europe's last major Russian-linked industrial assets.

 

Within the European Union, Ireland, albeit militarily neutral, has been among Ukraine's strongest political supporters, claiming it is fully committed to sanctions against Russia. Outside the Irish parliament in Dublin, Ukrainian flags fly alongside Ireland's and the EU's flags. "The whole thing around Aughinish doesn't match, we need to be banning those exports", said opposition lawmaker Patricia Stephenson; the government's position was difficult to reconcile. 

 

Government ministers, said Stephenson, should work with the EU to secure alternative markets for the refinery's alumina while preparing contingency plans, including examining nationalization, should it be deemed necessary. The refinery's strategic importance as a major employer in rural western Ireland, and a key supplier to Sweden's and France's aluminum smelters, which supply European heavy industry, are issues more to the heart of those ministers. 

 

"Nobody wants to see local jobs lost. But we shouldn't be sending the stuff to Russia", said local businessman John Cassels in Foynes village across the estuary from the refinery, the location of a port that handles the refinery's exports. 

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) greets Taoiseach Micheál Martin as he arrives at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv last week   Niall Carson/PA

 

Smoke rises from a fire at Wildberries' logistics complex in Elektrostal, outside Moscow, Russia, following a Ukrainian drone attack on July 18, 2026. (Tatyana Makeyeva / AFP / Getty Images)

 

"Well, starting last Saturday and just about every day since, Ukrainian drones have struck these giant warehouses belonging to Wildberries, causing massive fires to facilities outside of Moscow, outside of St. Petersburg and several cities in the south of Russia."

"The costs have come in lives. At least nine workers are dead, dozens more injured, several of whom were migrant workers from Central Asia. But of course, there's also material costs."

"Wildberries is Russia's largest online retailer. And its warehouses are full of goods from small and mid-size Russian businesses, who have taken to social media to say these attacks have caused their financial ruin."

Charles Maynes, NPR, Moscow  

"Yet another flood of videos from Russians weeping over the ‘shock’ and ‘unfairness’ of strikes on a Wildberries warehouse."

"​It doesn’t cross their minds how unfair it felt when we were just living our lives, bothering no one, in our own country and our own homes, right up until their missiles started tearing our cities apart on a chilly winter morning."

Kateryna Bohuslavska – who posts on X as “Kate from Kharkiv”  

 

"In Russia, official procedures mostly only cover arms procurement."

"So military units and individual soldiers need to buy a lot of things themselves: uniforms, food, gasoline, electric power generators, drones, cars, motorcycles, spare parts… that’s why it is possible to buy goods necessary for warfare on Wildberries." 

Pavel Luzin, senior fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis 

Smoke rises from a Wildberries facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 24 after a Ukrainian drone attack. Reuters verified this social media image by matching building and other details with satellite imagery. The founder of Wildberries also confirmed there was an attack on the facility. (Social media/Reuters)

 

  A fire sending smoke pouring over St. Petersburg early Friday was caused by Ukrainian drones hitting a warehouse for a Russian e-commerce giant. St. Petersburg has been targeted by Kyiv stepping up its long-range drone strikes on Russian energy, military and logistic sites in recent weeks. Retribution for Moscow's nightly drone and missile barrages aimed at Ukrainian cities. Russian strikes at civilian targets throughout Ukraine have aimed at depressing morale of the Ukrainian population, a war crime in and of itself. Russians have never, until recently, had to face the reality that Ukrainians have lived with for over four years.

 

This was not supposed to happen. Russian President Vladimir Putin imagined a swift and easy invasion of a country incapable of defending itself. The Ukrainian response proved otherwise, rising from an initial determination to defend itself against superior numbers and weaponry, to the present where necessity drove Ukraine to invent its own military hardware capable of withstanding Russia's aerial attacks and in good time a counteroffensive to knock Russia's military back from its steady advances, to the point where Ukraine not only held its own, but retook some of its sovereign territory from rapacious Russian occupation.

 

Most recently, Russian forces were put to the test of shooting down 571 Ukrainian drones over a dozen regions, including Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russian annexed in 2014 when it began its revanchist Greater Russia enterprise. More latterly, grey smoke rose into the morning sky over highrise residential buildings in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin's hometown, located over 800 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. 

 

A Wildberries warehouse, for Russia's largest online retailer referred to as 'Russia's Amazon" was set on fire following the strike. The third such overnight strike on a Wildberries installation by Ukraine forces over the course of a single week. Eight night shift workers last week were killed at Wildberries sites when one of the company's main warehouses came under attack and burned to the ground, just outside Moscow. 

 

A Wildberries collection point in Moscow. The platform is popular among lower-income Russians and its network of collection points extends into small towns and villages. Photograph: Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters

 

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the facilities were used to "supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment". This bombing campaign is one of "long-range sanctions"; Kyiv adding that the attacks are justified retribution for nightly drones Russia sends along with missile barrages everywhere in Ukraine, targeting its cities since February of 2022 when the ground invasion of Ukraine began.

 

Nationwide fuel shortages have arisen thanks to the campaign, undeniably taking its toll on Russia's financial war account. Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg was forced to suspend flights throughout the attack, disrupting 50 departures. Two of Wildberries warehouses in the city temporarily halted their business operations.  

 

Recent months have seen escalations of long-range strikes by both Russia and Ukraine. Increasing ballistic missile numbers have been fired at Kyiv, killing dozens of residents, while ripping open apartment blocks and destroying neighbourhoods. Leading perhaps to a turnabout in attitude, when U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to back Ukraine's counterattacks on Russia; naming the strikes "an escalation that can lead to an end".

 

June of 2026, according to the United Nations, has seen a surge in civilian deaths; the deadliest month since mid-2022.  

"Russians found out their country is waging a war. The next step is for them to realize who is responsible for all the damage caused to Russia (Putin)."

"Wildberries is no longer just an online marketplace for clothing and household goods. The platform sells weapons, body armor, drones, drone components, and fiber-optics used for drones."

"All of these items are used in the war against Ukraine and help kill Ukrainians. That is why such facilities are legitimate military targets for Ukraine’s Armed Forces."

Anton Gerashchenko, Ukrainian social media influencer  

Remains of the Wildberries warehouse that burned down after a recent Ukrainian drone attack in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the city of Elektrostal in the Moscow region, Russia July 23, 2026. Photo by Stringer TPX Reuters

 

"[The warehouse attacks added to the pain of small businesses, which in recent years have been] struggling very badly, [while probably causing only] relatively slight [damage to the industry and the economy in general; effectively stagnant, but stable]."

"[It's about] undermining public morale, and getting people to talk much more [about the war and question the Kremlin's actions]."

"[For years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people largely appeared complacent about the fighting.] It was something that was happening a long way off. [But that has changed this year, with regular strikes on oil refineries in parts of Russia leading to the massive fires, and now Wildberries]."

"There is now much more awareness, but there's also much more discussion, and more people are questioning what's going on and why is it happening and the conflict lasting so long. It brings it home."

Chris Weafer, CEO, Macro-Advisory Ltd. Consultancy 

"[Police allege that on May 25 and September 7, 2024, Ahmad Hassan Hajahmad, 33, attended anti-Israel demonstrations in the area of Bay Street and Front Street West], where he used amplification devices to make public statements that advocated for the detestation and harm against members of the Israeli and Jewish communities [allegedly acting] for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas."

Toronto Police Service 

 

"It is chilling that a Toronto man has been charged with acting for the benefit of and in association with Hamas, a banned terrorist organization.

"Governments and authorities across Canada must do more to confront those who are radicalizing people in our streets to support violence and promote terrorist organizations, and ensure police and national security agencies have the counter-terrorism resources they need to enforce the law and keep Canadians safe."

Noah Shack, CEO, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

 

"He faces a single charge arising from speaking at public demonstrations. No violence, no weapon, no one harmed. Speaking out at a protest about the killing of civilians is protected expression, not terrorism."

"The police told the media he 'advocated for detestation and harm' but he is not charged with that. We'll be looking closely at how and why this case came to be, and we're confident it won't hold up when measured against the law."

Mohamed El Rashidy, defence lawyer for the accused 

Demonstrators at pro-Palestinian rally before the U.S. Consulate in Toronto   Chris Young, CP

 

The Attorney General of Ontario and the Government of Canada provided consent to the Toronto Police to proceed with the charge against Ahmad Hassan Hajahmad, resident of Toronto. Following which this man was arrested and charged with participation in or contributing to the activities of a terrorist group. One of the very such groups on Canada's terrorist list. Following his appearance before the Ontario court of justice the Toronto Police Service issued a statement. 

"Due to a court-imposed publication ban, the Toronto Police Service is unable to provide further details related to this investigation."

"The Toronto Police Service thanks the RCMP's INSET for their support with this investigation."

"A joint investigation by the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit and INSET subsequently gathered evidence supporting the allegation that the accused acted for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas, a designated terrorist group."

Toronto Police Service

Tensions ran high on Montreal’s downtown campuses as student activists led more than 500 protesters in support of Palestine. The rally began outside of Concordia University’s Hall building and snaked through downtown towards the McGill University campus. University Affairs

 

The Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET), is led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, comprised of especially trained members of that group along with other law enforcement and national security partners at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. The proliferation of street demonstrations led by Palestinian student groups in Canada, incited and funded by foreign actors from abroad were initiated in the wake of the 7 October 2023 Palestinian terrorist incursion into southern Israel, led by Hamas. 

 

The protesters, labelling themselves 'pro-Palestinians' cited and repeated Hamas/Palestinian claims of Israeli genocide against Palestinians even before the Israel Defense Force had entered Gaza for the distinct purpose of routing out all Hamas agents and the terrorist leaders who had planned and executed the bloody barbarism that saw Jewish girls and women gang-raped and tortured, entire families put to the torch in their homes, farming communities torn asunder, their residents butchered, and children, the elderly and infirm and other Israeli civilians in their hundreds taken hostage into Gaza.

 

The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

 

Marching through Canadian streets and chanting 'Globalize the Intifada', 'Final Solution!', and 'Palestine will be free from the river to the sea', the protesters engaged in wildly uncivil and unlawful actions while threatening Canadian Jews in their neighbourhoods. On college and university campuses encampments were set up to harass Jewish students and to publicize Palestinian/Hamas propaganda, slandering both Israel and the Canadian Jewish population. While the targets of these wholesale discriminatory, racial events awaited police reaction and law action, it was in vain.

 

Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized, Jewish parochial schools shot at, synagogues fired-bombed, Jews were ostracized and abandoned, while police organized themselves to keep public order translated as separating the Palestinian supporters from smaller groups of Jews that came out to counter-protest and in so doing informed those small groups that their presence comprised a threat to public safety by inciting violence from the Palestinian-support groups lionizing Hamas's bloodbath as an understandable 'reaction' to 'occupation'.

 

Investigators had executed a search warrant at a Toronto residence on March 7, 2025, and there seized multiple electronic devices, we now are informed. "Investigations into criminal offences committed at demonstrations do not end when the event is over", stated Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw. 

"As this investigation progressed, we worked closely with our INSET partners to pursue the terrorism charge warranted by the investigation."

These complex investigations underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen our Counter Terrorism Security Unit so we can identify and investigate evolving threats to public safety."

"We will continue to hold those who break the law accountable, no matter how long it takes."

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw 

Hamas terrorists in Rafah, Gaza   (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

"The latest hate crime data further reinforce Canada's antisemitism crisis, with Jews targeted at rates disproportionate to any other community."

"While the number can fluctuate year-to-year, we've been tracking the proportion of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community very closely as a bellwether for what's happening in Canadian society."

"When criminals attack Jews, it's not because of how we pray."

"Nothing can justify attacks on Canadians here in Canada, no mater what  you think about what's going on a half a world away."

Noah Shack, chief executive, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs/Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA

Police tape outside synagogue in Thornhill, Ont. struck by bullets following start of Iran war. Global News

 

In Canada, police reported 4,708 hate crimes for 2024, three percent fewer than the 4,841 reported for 2024, according to Statistics Canada. Prior to this decline there were six years of increases, more than doubling the national count between 2018 and 2024. Those hate crimes that have been motivated by religious bigotry fell 18 percent to 1,114 incidents. Jewish people were targeted out of that total 788 times, 15 percent fewer such incidents than the year before, yet representing 71 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes.

 

The target of over 15 percent of all hate crime incidents, Jewish Canadians represent just under one percent of the overall Canadian population. A Jewish Canadian is 22 times likelier to be a victim of a hate crime than is any other Canadian. In 2024, Jews accounted for 69 percent of religion-motivated incidents, and 71 percent in 2025.

 

Extremists living in Canada, along with foreign principals from abroad are involved in anti-Israel hate, fed by conspiracy theories. The leading proponents of slander against both Israel and Jews in Canada emerged from among the Canadian Muslim population whose numbers now aggregate over five times the numbers of Jewish Canadians. 

 

Violence such as fire bombings and synagogue shootings as well as at Jewish parochial schools, along with vandalism striking Jewish-owned businesses, and aggravated boycotts have wracked the Jewish community since October 7, 2023, when Palestinian student groups organized street protests that called for internationalizing the 'Intifada', while accusing Israel of 'Apartheid' and 'genocidal' intentions in the Palestinian Territories, somehow managing to bypass the origins of the current war in Gaza, propelled by the Hamas-led slaughter in southern Israel.  

"When criminals attack Jews, it’s not because of how we pray. Much of today's antisemitic violence – which includes gunfire and firebombing of synagogues and schools, vandalizing businesses, and assaulting community members – is perpetrated by extremists at home and foreign actors abroad, driven by conspiracy theories and anti-Israel hate. Governments and authorities must be unequivocal: nothing can justify these criminal acts targeting Canadians."

"Government and authorities at all levels must acknowledge the drivers of today's antisemitism, including the extremism and radicalization that fuel attacks against Jews; consistent enforcement of the law; get tough on terror; and ensure public institutions and government bodies, such as the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Canada Revenue Agency, are not weaponized against Canadians."

Noah Shack, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

Global News

 

The largest category of hate crimes at 2,391 incidents, sees race or ethnicity at the top, while Blacks were targets of 858 incidents and attacks targeting South Asians rose to 483 such events, concentrated in Ontario and British Columbia. The trend declined for most other racialized groups in Canada. Jewish Canadians were targeted more frequently than any other group, measured against population size. 

 

One Anti-Jewish hate crime occurred for every 366 Jews in Canada in 2024, compared to one for every 1,961 for Black Canadians, and one for every 9,091 Muslim Canadians, revealed the Canadian Jewish Barometer, a study co-authored by Robert Brym, emeritus sociology professor at University of Toronto. Disability, language, sex, age and immigrants or newcomers as a separate category, rose 52 percent to 562 incidents. 

 

The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR), which is allegedly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, claimed responsibility for two shootings in Canada. Global News

 

"There's a lot of hate that's spreading out there that doesn't rise to the criminal level, whether we're talking about bullying in schools, discrimination in the workplace and general attitudes that people are confronted with as they go about their daily lives."

"These numbers are an important indicator of what our community is facing, but of course behind each number is a story of a family and a community that has suffered a hate crime."

Noah Shack, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

"The aim ​was to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, so as to strip it of that mystique."

"[That mystique was encouraged by the Nazis' cult of personality around Hitler, under whose rule the] Fuehrer birth house [was an art museum. Hitler only lived there for a few weeks in 1889 before his family moved out]."

Stephan, Mlczoch, head, history department, Austrian interior ministry

 

"I think on the whole, the people of Braunau have accepted it and can live ‌with it." 

"I think it isn't a bad approach but whether it works as we all hope and expect, we'll have to wait and ​see."

Braunau Mayor Johannes Waidbacher 

 

"Every year at the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial there's a ceremony ⁠to say: never again. And in Braunau they're saying: let's forget as soon as possible." 

"The world won't ⁠forget where the worst mass murderer in history was born. Wikipedia won't change its entries."

"[There will be no reduction in the number of neo-Nazis making] the pilgrimage to Braunau." 

Robert Eiter, Mauthausen Committee/Network Against Racism and Right-Wing Extremism

A new police station will be officially opened in Adolf Hitler's birth house in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on Wednesday. A memorial stone outside reads 'for peace, freedom and democracy, never again fascism, million dead remind.' (Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

 

Austria, the country that gave the United Nations one of its successive Secretary Generals, and when it finally became public that he had joined the Hitler Youth during WWII, his reputation plummeted. That didn't stop Austrians from electing him to its presidency in defiance of reports of his Nazi past. Because the United States in its follow-up investigations determined that he might have been involved in war crimes, he was declared persona non grata in the U.S.; an awkward position for a man who from 1972 to 1981 was present in New York, presiding over the United Nations. Nor later in 1986 to 1992 when the president of a purported ally of the U.S. wasn't permitted entry to the United States.

 

Adolf Hitler, born in Austria, led Germany to 'occupy' Austria in the 1938 Anschluss and the Germany army was welcomed with huge Austrian public enthusiastic displays of joy at their annexation. The 17th-century building near the German border where the Fuehrer was born in 1889 has undergone a transformation, at a cost of $32 million refurbishment to turn it into a police station in the town of Braunau Am Inn. The stated purpose was to deter Austria's ascendant far-right from pilgrimages to the Nazi dictator's birthplace.

 

The once-yellow roughcast walls were whitewashed under contract by the Austrian architecture firm Marte. Above the entrance now hangs a police sign. A memorial stone with the inscription: "For Peace, Freedom and Democracy. Never Again Fascism, Millions of Dead Warn", remains dutifully in its place on the pavement before the renovated building.  

 

Austrian police officers stand in front of the new station. (Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

 

 Following Hitler's annexation of Austria, 65,000 Austrian Jews were murdered, 130,000 forced into exile. The far-right political party FPOe founded by former Nazis is currently Austria's most popular political party. The political party has about 37 percent backing by Austrian voters, reveals polling aggregator Europe Elects.

 

The house was owned by the same family from 1912 onward, leased in 1972 to the Austrian state, where it became a centre for disabled people. Its last private owner, Gerlinde Pommer, vetoed any transformation of the house, contesting its expropriation by the state, despite that neo-Nazis frequently flocked to the place where their worshiped hero had been born.

 

Finally, the Supreme Court approved purchase of the 800-square-metre property, three years after a law was passed in 2015 to take control of the dilapidated building. Demolishing the site as an option was out of the question for historians who urged Austria to acknowledge its role in the slaughter of over six million Jews, as well as Roma, gays, the disabled and mentally unfit and political prisoners.

 

Turning the building into a historical memorial risked the likelihood that extremist fascists would continue to visit the site, as to a sacred memorial to the greatness that was the Nazi conquest of Europe. In the end, an commission of experts guided a final decision to make it into a police station insisting the permanent police presence would "clearly show" -- stated the Austrian government -- that no commemoration of Nazism would be acceptable, the site would be "neutralized". 

 

"But that's absurd: humanity will not forget where the worst mass murderer in history was born", charged Robert Eiter, representing an association of escapees from the concentration camp, Mauthausen Committee Austria. 

 

Vehicles are parked outside the building where Adolf Hitler was born, which has been converted into a police station by Austria's government in hopes of preventing it from serving as a place of ‌pilgrimage for neo-Nazis, in Braunau am Inn, Austria, July 16, 2026. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth

 

 

"This [appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi, a popular and innovative general, as the new head of Ukraine’s armed forces], brings a breath of fresh air and new hope to the struggle of free people for freedom and justice. It is a voice for change that could not be ignored."

"The high expectations of the Ukrainian people must be met with a clear vision for ending the war for independence, a strong team and decisive actions aimed at saving the lives of our soldiers, automating the frontline, delivering asymmetric strikes and crippling the Russian economy."

Mykhailo Fedorov, former Ukraine defence minister 

 

"I offered Mykhailo a prominent position within the government that would enable him to unify the technological sector of our state and ensure its development."

"Our shared wish is one – victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace."

"A significant path has been travelled, the defence of Ukraine continues, and every warrior deserves dignified treatment."

"We have come a long way. The defence of Ukraine continues. And every soldier deserves to be treated with respect."

"I am grateful to Syrskyi and to] every one of our soldiers [fighting on the frontline]." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  

Oleksandr Syrskyi and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 2022.  Metin Aktaş / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file

 

In a sudden move a week ago President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to remove his popular defence minister, his prime minister and several days later the commander-in-chief of his armed forces. Puzzlingly, this at a time when Ukrainian drones are hitting Russian refineries, while Moscow's summer offensive has stalled on most front areas and Ukraine has been restoring some of its sovereign territories.  Relations with Trump have settled down, and Ukraine has been given permission to manufacture its own U.S.-style interceptor missiles.

 

Yet at this signal time in Ukraine's history its president has announced a new "political strategy" through the reshuffling of its major war figures responsible for these successes. Thousand of Ukrainians poured into the streets across the country to protest the removal of  the popular Mykhailo Fedorov, credited as a key architect of Ukraine's advances in a drone warfare breakthrough. With no satisfactory explanation for the removal, Ukrainians fed up with corruption and alert to malfeasance, have campaigned for his reinstatement as minister of defence.

 

On the surface it appears that a generational conflict over how best to wage a modern war should proceed, as well as conflicts over corruption, inclusive of turf battles between the Defence Ministry and the generals, plus a president with a reputed tendency to remove subordinates who become too popular in the public regard, lest they become competitors for his alpha-executive governing position. 

 

With the acute realization that he may have made some awkward decisions that would not be well received not only by the Ukrainian public, but by the White House and Ukraine's NATO allies, Mr. Zelenskyy has been left to scramble in hopes of containing the fallout. It has become clear that deep institutional tensions on command structures in Ukraine which were brewing for months, have led to this crisis in confidence.  

"Probably [Zelensyy] didn't grasp fully how Fedorov has become so closely associated with positive changes."

"And the overall protest morphed into broad debate on war strategy and battlefield management."

Mykola Bielieskov, Kyiv defence analyst  

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov holds a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.  Danylo Antoniuk / Future Publishing via Getty Images

 

The disrupter-style hacks that were championed by younger officials tended to raise the hackles of old-guard battlefield tacticians, Mykhailo Fedorov first among them. Fedorov's innovative approach to the battlefield had won the approval of many officials in NATO, who privately expressed disappointment that Mr. Zelenskyy moved against his continuing in the role of Minister of Defence. 

 

Five consecutive nights saw thousands of noisy protesters outside the president's Kyiv office following Fedorov's dismissal as Minister of Defence, as rallies took place in over a dozen cities.  The public pressure succeeded in having the president reverse course, to fire Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Oleksander Syrsky and to replace him with another reform-minded commander, while offering Fedorov a new high-level government role. 

 

It had been widely rumoured that bad blood in battlefield disagreements between Fedorov and Syrsky led the commander-in-chief to demand that a choice had to be made by Zelenskyy; either Fedorov had to leave or he would. That choice was made, and then reversed under the weight of public censure. 

 

Syrsky's appointment to lead Ukraine's military arrived two years ago, replacing another poplar head of the armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, top commander during the February 2022 Russian invasion. A number of military issues led Zaluzhny to clash with Zelenskyy; the latter's request to mobilize 500,000 new soldiers one of those irritants.  It was likely that political ambitions on Zaluzhny's part finally poisoned their relations.

 

Disagreement between those who believe that drones and robots should drive the war to its winning conclusion as opposed to those who place their trust in conventional infantry and artillery to win the war has the former now feeling vindicated. The military tactics with the use of drones have unquestionably turned the tide of the war in Ukraine's favour. 

 

According to an interpretation by a European diplomat stationed in Kyiv, the turbulence between generational factions, corruption currents and personal egos are all involved. "All three of those reasons are  true. But also Fedorov is a political threat to Zelenskyy; many groups wanted to take him down." 

 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Oleksandr Syrskyi at the handover of drone missiles to the Ukrainian army in Kyiv in December 2024. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA