On Aug. 27 at a Loblaws grocery store in Ottawa, a woman was stalked and stabbed in the kosher food aisle, one of the most public and everyday spaces in Canada’s capital.

Police have charged Joseph Rooke, 71, of Cornwall, with aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon, and are classifying the stabbing as a hate-motivated crime. The Hate and Bias Crime Unit and multiple other investigative teams are involved, and more charges may follow.

This was not random. It was not a “tragic misunderstanding.” The alleged act was an antisemitic hate crime, committed in broad daylight, in the most ordinary, and public, of places. B’nai Brith Canada has stated that Rooke’s social media posts, featuring hate-filled anti-Jewish tropes, “leave little doubt as to the motive behind the attack.” And it bears noting: Rooke left his home in Cornwall to seek out a Jew in Ottawa, and then chose an elderly woman as his victim. This was deliberate, targeted, and cowardly.

What does it say about us, as a country, when even the kosher food aisle of a........

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