‘It is violent. It is targeted. It is organized.’
ARSON ATTACK ON TORONTO DELI CONDEMNED AS ANTISEMITISM, ASSAULT ON ‘CANADIAN VALUES’
The day after an arson attack on a Jewish-owned Toronto delicatessen, politicians are rallying to condemn the rise in antisemitism in Canada’s largest city. Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s education minister, said on X that there have been “brazen attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools & businesses” across the city. “This hate-motivated arson is yet another direct assault on Canadian values, pluralism & the rule of law — inciting violence singularly because of one’s faith.
“Call it what it is: antisemitism.” Toronto police say they are investigating the fire at International Delicatessen Foods that broke out early Wednesday as “motivated by hate.”
The business, which specializes in European foods and often prints its flyers in Russian, also had its windows smashed and was defaced with “Free Palestine” graffiti, police said.
The sign over the shop’s entrance reads IDF, the same initials as those used for the Israel Defense Forces. After the fire, municipal representatives reported that the store is owned by a Jewish family originally from Russia.
“Based on the totality of circumstances, we believe that it was committed with bias or prejudice,” Staff Supt. Pauline Gray told reporters, according to CTV News.
“This is not graffiti on a bus shelter. This is not a lawful protest protected by constitutional right. This is a criminal act. It is violent. It is targeted. It is organized,” Gray said. “We will leave no stone unturned.”
Mike Colle, deputy mayor for north Toronto where the shop is located, said he met with the owner, who told him he was concerned for his family’s safety and worried it could be months before the business reopens.
Colle said the suspected arson strikes at the fears of the city’s Jewish community and reflects the human cost of “appalling” hate-motivated violence.
In a statement, Mayor Olivia Chow said these types of incidents leave people feeling shaken and “diminish our sense of safety and belonging.”
“All residents of Toronto deserve to be safe and feel safe,” Chow said. “As Mayor, let me be clear: acts of antisemitism, hate and violence are not welcome here.”
Toronto police said there has been a major increase in hate-motivated crimes in the city, fuelled by tensions related to the Israel-hamas war. Between Oct. 7 — the day Hamas breached a border between the Gaza Strip and Israel — and Dec. 17, there were 98 hate crimes reported to police, compared to 48 in the same period in 2022.
Of them, police said, 56 were antisemitic and 20 were anti-muslim.
The grocery store, located in a strip mall less than two kilometres from York University, is the picture of a suburban ethnic grocery. Its windows feature photos of food, advertising its catering business and staples for sale. Its neighbouring businesses include a hairdresser, Long and Mcquade music shop, a dentist and a convenience store.
“This leaves everyone in the Jewish community feeling unsafe. Am I going to be the next target? Are my family members going to be a target? This is just so unacceptable,” said Jamie Kirzner-roberts of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “This is the product of weeks and weeks and weeks of hateful rhetoric being spread by hate groups operating here.”
Ya’ara Saks, the federal Liberal minister of mental health and addictions, said “with each brazen act of incitement and of violence, the cycle of antisemitism and hateful acts increases.”
Steven Del Duca, the mayor of neighbouring Vaughan and former leader of the Ontario Liberal party, said politicians must “speak out forcefully, and take action, against the increasing intolerance targeting Jewish-owned businesses and predominantly Jewish neighbourhoods that we are witnessing on a regular basis.”
James Pasternak, a Toronto city councillor, said the graffiti “confirmed” the suspected arson’s “links to the anti-israel mob.”
“This escalation of lawlessness in #Toronto must come to an end,” he wrote on X.
But perhaps the most vociferous condemnation came from Roman Baber, a former Conservative leadership candidate who used to represent the riding of York Centre in the Ontario Legislative Assembly.
“Today’s fire in a Jewish-owned grocery store in York Centre is a dangerous new low in what has morphed into an out of control situation,” Baber said Wednesday, calling it “a pivotal moment in Canadian history” and implying that the law was not being applied equally in responding to anti-jewish hate incidents.