Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, said on Tuesday that the shots fired at a Toronto synagogue the night before were part of a pattern of incidents against the Jewish community of Canada.
Only last month, Chikli noted, he had sent an urgent letter to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree, revealing that Canada’s government itself had warned that “the scale and severity of the incidents in Canada were clear warning signs before a disaster.”
Nevertheless, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney “continues to turn a blind eye to rampant antisemitism in the country,” Chikli said.
Shortly before 11:00 p.m. on Monday, an unidentified individual drove up to the synagogue located in North York and “fired more than a dozen shots at the main glass doors,” synagogue leaders said in a statement. No one was hurt.
“It is chilling that this happened just after our Purim evening celebration —a night filled with joy, laughter, and community. To have that joy followed so quickly by violence and intimidation is deeply unsettling. Still, we will not allow this act to define us or drive us apart,” they said.
As of Tuesday, a suspect has not yet been identified, Toronto police said.
“Our investigators are actively working to determine the circumstances surrounding the firearm discharge, and we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness,” Stephanie Miceli, a police spokeswoman, told JNS.
In his letter dated Jan. 14, Chikli said that Carney and his people were following in the footsteps of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Albanese had been warned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Aug. 17, 2025, that his failure to confront antisemitism would lead to its spread. The Bondi Beach shooting took place almost exactly four months later.
“The recent antisemitic terror attack in Bondi Beach, Australia, in which 15 people were murdered, tragically illustrates the lethal cost of ignoring early warning signs and underestimating ideologically driven antisemitic violence. Canada is now exhibiting disturbingly similar indicators. This path leads to a point of no return,” Chikli said.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in Canada by approximately 670% since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, Chikli wrote.
In Toronto, Jews are the most targeted group in the city, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said. On May 14, 2025, the Toronto Police Service 2024 Annual Hate Crimes Statistical Report revealed that although Toronto’s Jewish community made up less than 4% of the population, anti-Jewish hatred accounted for 40% of all hate crimes and 81% of religiously motivated hate crimes in the city.
“These figures represent a systemic failure to deter antisemitic violence,” Chikli said.
The results are already evident, he added. Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto have been hit by gunfire and synagogues in Montreal and Vancouver have been targets of arson. An elderly Jewish woman was stabbed in an antisemitic attack in Ottawa in August 2025, while an Orthodox Jewish father was physically assaulted in front of his children in Montreal.
“These are not random acts; they are unmistakable warning signs that antisemitic violence has become normalized,” Chikli said.
He called on Canada’s government to take “immediate and decisive action,” including boosting intelligence gathering, monitoring extremist Islamist networks, aggressively enforcing laws against incitement, and expanding security protection for Jewish institutions.
Chikli also noted that permitting mass protests that support terror groups, including the waving of Hamas, Hezbollah and ISIS flags, and the shouting of slogans, such as “Globalize the Intifada,” leads to violence.
“The warning signs are present, the trajectory is clear, and the consequences of further delay would be severe,” Chikli said, adding that Israel stands ready to assist Canada to confront antisemitism.
