{"id":523466,"date":"2026-03-09T00:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523466\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T00:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:02:08","slug":"two-greater-toronto-area-synagogues-struck-by-gunfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523466\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Greater Toronto Area synagogues struck by gunfire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two synagogues in Toronto, Canada\u2019s Thornhill and North York neighborhoods were targeted in shootings overnight Friday, Toronto Police confirmed in a statement. There were no injuries in either incident.\n<\/p>\n<p>The attacks on the Shaarei Shomayim and Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT) synagogues came just days after another North York synagogue was hit by gunfire. Several bullet holes were found in the front windows of the neighborhood\u2019s Temple Emanu\u2011El on March 2, according to Canadian media reports.\n        <\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information about the overnight shootings was asked to make contact with Toronto Police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-promo\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com\/signup\/?utm_source=jewishchronicle-articles&amp;utm_medium=middle-link&amp;utm_campaign=signup-buttons\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com\/signup\/?utm_source=jewishchronicle-articles&amp;utm_medium=middle-link&amp;utm_campaign=signup-buttons\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFree Sign Up<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Police further noted that they were investigating whether the incidents were connected, and recognized that the incidents must be \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d for the city\u2019s Jewish community.<\/p>\n<p>Sharren Haskel, the Toronto-born Israeli deputy minister of foreign affairs, denounced the shootings as \u201cantisemitic terrorism\u201d in a statement late Saturday night in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince October 7, antisemitism has exploded across Canada and around the world. Jewish communities are under siege and governments at every level must do more to protect the Jewish community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Anti-Jewish terror is a \u201cresult of a global failure to confront antisemitism and the hatred directed at the Jewish people,\u201d Haskel tweeted, adding: \u201cThere is only one place in the world where Jews can truly guarantee their safety and defend themselves and that\u2019s in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Iddo Moed, Jerusalem\u2019s ambassador to Canada, called on Ottawa to \u201cact decisively to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure the full protection of Jewish institutions across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe safety of Canada\u2019s Jewish community must remain a national priority and a collective responsibility,\u201d the envoy added.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the shootings, B\u2019nai Brith Canada released a public statement during Shabbat \u201cbecause we share the community\u2019s frustration and concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will not allow the targeting of Jewish institutions to become normalized and will be sharing additional information after Shabbat on the necessary action our leaders must take to ensure the continued wellbeing and vitality of Canada\u2019s Jewish communities,\u201d the organization stated on X.<\/p>\n<p>It further expressed its gratitude \u201cfor the prompt response of police to both the BAYT and the Shaarei Shomayim [synagogues].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>B\u2019nai Brith added, \u201cWhile we have not been made aware of any imminent threats, during these times of heightened division and tension globally, we encourage everyone to exercise additional caution. If you see something, please say something. Report concerns to the police, B\u2019nai Brith, and to the Jewish Security Network. If you feel as if you are in danger call 911 immediately.\u201d PJC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two synagogues in Toronto, Canada\u2019s Thornhill and North York neighborhoods were targeted in shootings overnight Friday, Toronto Police&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-523466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}