Toronto police need to take 'strong action' on anti-Israel mobs, says Ontario solicitor general

Ontario’s solicitor general wants the Toronto Police Service to urgently step up its enforcement of “hate, intimidation and harassment-motivated offences” plaguing the city.

And while Michael Kerzner’s letter to Toronto Police Service Chief Myron Dimkew and Councillor Shelly Carroll, chair of the civilian oversight board, doesn’t explicitly single out the city’s Jewish population as the victims of such offences, his intent is clear.

“Recent incidents, including mob intimidation and harassment at the Eaton Centre just last week, as well as ongoing intimidating marches through residential neighbourhoods near Bathurst and Sheppard, are completely unacceptable,” he wrote in a letter dated Dec. 30.

For the second year in a row, an anti-Israel mob of protesters occupied an area in the downtown shopping centre on Boxing Day, reportedly chanting for “Intifada.”

As for the Bathurst and Sheppard area, home to a large percentage of the city’s Jewish community and located within Kerzner’s district, anti-Israel demonstration marches through otherwise quiet residential neighbourhoods and near Jewish institutions — including synagogues, schools and community centres — have occurred weekly.

Kerzner said even these recent incidents have left some people paralyzed by fear in what should be safe spaces and “concerned about a lack of visible response.”

National Post has contacted Dimkew and Carroll for comment.

“When such incidents occur repeatedly and without visible consequences, it substantially undermines public confidence in the rule of law and in the institutions responsible for upholding it,” said Kerzner. He is the York Centre Member of Provincial Parliament, the highest-ranking Jewish member of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government.

While not mentioned by Kerzner, Jewish residents of two buildings in the Bathurst area had their mezuzahs — Hebrew prayer scrolls affixed to doorways — stolen or vandalized in December.

Earlier in the month, about 200 anti-Israel protesters gathered outside Meridian Hall to oppose a debate featuring former Israeli officials. Groups that organized the protest called the Israelis “war criminals” and were upset that they were given a platform. Two people were arrested.

Multiple similar incidents have been documented in the city over the past two-plus years as anti-semitism has emboldened and spread in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.

Kerzner said the provincial government has done its part to equip, train and empower Toronto police to respond to these incidents and enforce the law at the local level.

“The responsibility now rests with police leadership to ensure that existing authorities to act are used promptly and decisively when criminal acts of hate and intimidation are taking place,” he wrote.

“Strong action is required to prevent further escalation and hold offenders to account.”

Just before Christmas, Demkiw and Mayor Olivia Chow received a similar piece of correspondence from York Centre Conservative Member of Parliament Roman Barber, who was much more pointed in highlighting the “fear and intimidation” inflicted on Toronto’s 100,000 Jewish people, 17,000 of whom are his constituents.

He demanded an outright end to the Sunday protests in the Bathurst and Sheppard area, which he said are not peaceful and not protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as they “include threats and disturb the peace.”

“They deprive local residents and businesses of enjoyment of property,” he said, arguing it should at least be deemed mischief under Canada’s criminal code.

Barber also highlighted that people making calls for “intifada” in the U.K., where it is considered an incitement to violence, are now subject to arrest.

“A long overdue, but welcome recognition by Ontario that intimidation & threats can be addressed by enforcement of existing laws,” the MP who represents the York Centre federal riding said of Kerzner’s letter on X. 

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