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Shots fired at Jewish girls elementary school in Toronto

No injuries were reported, although there was clear evidence of gunfire.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Police are currently searching for two suspects who fired a weapon outside of a Jewish girls elementary school in Toronto at 5 am on Saturday morning.

The incident took place at Beis Chaya Mushka school at Dufferin Street and Finch Avenue West in North York, Toronto.

No injuries were reported, although there was clear evidence of gunfire.

The two suspects arrived in a vehicle and shot at the school shortly before 5 am.

A surge in antisemitism is fueling a rise in the number of hate crimes in Canada’s largest city, according to data collected by the Toronto Police Department.

In March, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw provided an update on hate crimes in the city, revealing that the Jewish community remains the group most targeted by hate crimes in Toronto.

Not only are Jews the most targeted group for hate crimes in the city, an absolute majority of hate crimes in Toronto targeted Jews.

Jews make up just 3.5% of the city’s overall population of 2.795 million.

Of the 84 hate crimes committed between January and March 2024 in Canada’s largest city, 56% targeted members of the Jewish community. February saw the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the last three years.

Since October 7, hate crimes in Toronto have increased by 93% compared to the same period last year.

The International Delicatessen Foods store, based in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Toronto, Canada, and reportedly owned by Jews of Russian origin, experienced a bomb attack, smashed windows in January.

In addition, anti-Israel protests became so virulent in Toronto that some protesters were seen wearing suicide vest, implicitly praising terrorists attacks against Israelis.

In late February, a student was targeted at Toronto’s Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD) when antisemitic messages and death threats directed at her personally were written on the walls.

“I had never felt so sad in my life,” Samantha, who also goes by Sam, told CTV News

Sam, who is the former president of the school’s Jewish club said, “They were all like horrible things about me, horrible things about Jews.”

“I started getting death threats. There was even sexual connotations relating to my mother and Hamas,” she said.