Home Editor Picks Mayor Olivia Chow condemns suspected deli arson

Mayor Olivia Chow condemns suspected deli arson

0
0
IDF deli


‘This is not a lawful protest protected by constitutional right. This is a criminal act. It is violent. It is targeted. It is organized’

Article content

The day after a suspected antisemitic arson attack at a Jewish-owned North York delicatessen, politicians are rallying to condemn the rise in hate crimes in Canada’s largest city.

Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative education minister, wrote that there have been “brazen attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools & businesses” across the GTA. “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,” Lecce wrote. “Call it what it is: antisemitism.”

Article content

On Wednesday night, Toronto police said they were investigating the fire at International Delicatessen Foods, which broke out early Wednesday morning, as “motivated by hate.”

Advertisement 2

Article content

“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.

The business, which specializes in European foods, and often prints its flyers in Russian, also had windows smashed and was defaced with “Free Palestine” graffiti, police said.

“Incidents like this leave people feeling shaken. They diminish our sense of safety and belonging. All residents of Toronto deserve to be safe and feel safe,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter. “As Mayor, let me be clear: acts of antisemitism, hate and violence are not welcome here.”

The store’s front entrance carries the initials “IDF,” the same 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.

“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.

Article content

Advertisement 3

Article content

“We will leave no stone unturned.”

Last month, 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 barrier between the Gaza Strip and Israel — and Dec. 17, there were 98 hate crimes reported to police, compared to 48 in the same time period in 2022.

Of them, police said, 56 were antisemitic and 20 were anti-Muslim/Palestinian/Arab; 53 per cent of all hate crimes in that period were antisemitic in nature.

The grocery store, located in a strip mall less than two kilometres from York University, is a picture of any suburban ethnic grocer. Its windows feature colossal photos of food, advertising its catering business and products 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.”

Advertisement 4

Article content

The suspected arson — police have so far arrested no suspects — received a wave of condemnation from political leaders across levels of government and the political spectrum. 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 Vaughn 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, Toronto’s ward six 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.

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.

Advertisement 5

Article content

“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.

With additional reporting by Tristin Hopper

Related Stories

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content



Source link

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here