WARMINGTON: Jewish girls school in North York shot up for second time in recent months

Article content

It’s open season on Jewish people and Jewish targets in Toronto – even on their holidays.

Article content

Another day, another hate crime directed to Jews in the city. Shooting up a Jewish school not once but twice is horrific, but to do it at Yom Kippur – the holiest day on the Jewish calendar – is diabolical.

However, this is the Toronto we now live in. When it comes to the treatment of Jews, it is ugly, violent and dangerous.

The parents of children at Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School on Chesswood Dr. – near Dufferin St. and Finch Ave. W. – know this all too well having now endured two shooting incidents after hours at the girls school.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it was disturbing this happened at the time of the Jewish holiday.

And Mayor Olivia Chow agreed, calling the shooting “a horrific antisemitic act” and urging the suspects to turn themselves in to police.

Article content

Article content

Article content

“This is the second time the school has been targeted by this disgusting hate,” Chow said in a post on X. “I reiterate that the students of Bais Chaya Mushka have the right to learn, and the teachers have a right to teach, in safety and without fear of antisemitic attacks.”

“Jewish families and the Jewish community should not be made to fear for their safety. Antisemitic violence and threats are unacceptable,” she added.

It is not believed anybody was in the school when the gunshots rang out just after 4 a.m. on Saturday and no injuries have been reported.

Article content

As the Toronto Sun has previously reported, a bullet hole was found in a window along with other evidence of gunfire at the same elementary school on May 26.

In that incident, security camera video captured the shooters in a vehicle firing from the fence line and then driving off. No known arrests have been made in that case.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

This time, sources say, there were more gunshots. About ten shell casings have been seen on the ground and at least three bullets are believed to have hit the school shattering some glass.

A witness told people in the vicinity that a silver car was seen in the area with someone shooting at a building. Police have not commented on this so far as they gather evidence.

Cops shut down Chesswood Dr. while they investigated.

Article content

Article content

We have seen this story before, not just in May, but over and over again. Whether it’s antisemitism in chants, or signs or on Jewish businesses, or vandalism on Jewish schools or synagogues, things are beyond out of control in Toronto.

If this was a truckers’ issue, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have already invoked the Emergencies Act, once known as the War Measures Act.

The old title is more appropriate. There is a war on in Toronto and that war, whether the Mayor understands it or not, is on Jews.

Not enough is being done to fight it. And until there is more done, there will be more attacks on Jewish targets. The bad guys feel emboldened now and are not afraid of getting caught.

Many in Toronto’s Jewish community are feeling abandoned.

Article content

Article content

“Waking up on Yom Kippur, the most solemn day on Jewish calendar, to news that Bais Chaya Mushka School for Girls in North York has been targeted with gunfire. Windows broken,” Michael Levitt, president and CEO Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote on X.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also quick to condemn the latest hate crime against the Jewish community.

“This is yet another shameful and terrifyingly common antisemitic attack in Canada in 2024,” he posted on X. “It is part of a 251% increase in hate crimes during the 9 years of the NDP-Liberals.”

“I will ban the terrorists, secure our borders, lock up criminals and bring home safety for all,” Poilievre pledged.

Article content

The violence comes after a week of controversy over Olivia Chow not attending a vigil in Toronto marking the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Black Sabbath in Israel at the hands of Hamas at the Gaza border where more than 1,200 were savagely rapped, murdered and beheaded and another 250 taken hostages – 100 of whom are still being held captive.

Article content

City Councillor Brad Bradford took to X to express his anger over Saturday’s shooting.

“This morning thousands of Jews in Toronto are in synagogue, marking the holiest day in the Jewish calendar,” wrote Bradford. “This morning, we woke up to a Jewish girl’s school being shot at again. We are long past the time for nice words about ‘hate having no place here’ when antisemitism has been allowed to swell in our city with no action.”

Michael Westcott, CEO of Allies for a Strong Canada, agrees.

Article content

“Allies for a Strong Canada stands in solidarity with the staff and families of Bais Chaya Mushka School for Girls, and with the entire Jewish community following the latest in a long string of violent, hateful attacks on institutions in the Jewish community,” he said. “While our hearts are broken, our resolve is strong. The time for action is now. Today and this weekend we will hear from elected officials decrying the violence with blanket statements such as ‘hate has no place here’ without putting any meaningful action behind their words.”

He’s right. And he’s right about something else too.

“Without real action from our leaders we are only going to see a further escalation of violence,” Westcott said. “Unless and until there are consequences for those who support and condone violence against the Jewish community, we are only going to continue to see this rising tide of hatred continue. It is long past time for our leaders to lead.”

How many times does a Jewish girls school need to be shot up before our leaders realize that?

jwarmington@postmedia.com

Article content