Posters seeking information about a missing 14-year-old Jewish girl in Toronto have reportedly been torn down across the city, according to family members and community activists, as police continue an intensive search for the teenager.
“All the posters we’ve put up to help find our dear Esti are being torn down,” Gigi Rosenberg, who identified herself on social media as the girl’s aunt, wrote online. “It’s heartbreaking and deeply upsetting.”
“Right now, a family and a community are searching for someone they love, and every poster matters,” she wrote. “Removing them doesn’t just take down paper; it removes a chance that someone may see her face and help bring her home.”
The girl, identified by police as Esther, also known as “Esti,” has been missing since May 15. She was last seen near Earl Bales Park in the North York area of Toronto, close to Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West. Authorities stated that she may also go by the name Sylvia.
Toronto police elevated the case to a Priority 1 search—the service’s highest response level—deploying extensive resources, including drones, mounted units and canine teams.
Clayton Campbell, president of the Toronto Police Association, said the designation is rare. According to Campbell, only five of the roughly 3,000 missing-person cases investigated since the start of 2025 have been escalated to Priority 1 status.
Shomrim Toronto, a Jewish volunteer safety patrol organization assisting police in the search, has coordinated hundreds of volunteers to canvass neighborhoods, distribute flyers and review surveillance footage.
Casey Babb, director of The Promised Land Project at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, shared images online showing several missing-person posters that had been ripped down.
“In Toronto, a young Jewish girl named Esther has been missing for over a week,” Babb said. “To make matters worse, people have been ripping down posters about her disappearance, just like they did with the hostage posters after Oct. 7—one of the more appalling things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Leo Housakos, a Canadian senator from Quebec, condemned the incidents, writing that they were “further proof that it was never about Israel. It has always been about Jew hatred.”
Deborah Lipstadt, the former U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, also denounced the removal of the posters.
“This shows the depravity of the war being waged on Jews,” Lipstadt wrote. “Taking down the posters of a missing girl? This is Jew hatred pure and simple.”
The Israeli Embassy in Canada called the torn-down posters “shocking and disappointing.”
“Jew-hate is getting in the way of a missing girl being brought to safety. In Canada. In 2026,” the embassy stated. “May Esti come home as soon as possible.”
