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TAUB: Politicians decry antisemitism has no place in Canada yet synagogue shootings persist

Acknowledging the scale of a problem is not alarmist – it is the first step toward solving it

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There is a sentence Canadian politicians repeat every time antisemitism erupts into public view: “Antisemitism has no place here.”

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It is delivered after vandalism. It is delivered after threats. It is delivered after protests outside Jewish institutions.

TAUB: Politicians decry antisemitism has no place in Canada yet synagogue shootings persist Back to video

And now it has been delivered again after bullets were fired into three synagogues – two in Toronto and one in York Region – in six days.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford described last Tuesday’s shooting at Temple Emanu-El– near Bayview Ave. and York Mills Rd. – as “a vile and targeted act of antisemitism” and added that “antisemitism has no place in our province.”

Solicitor General Michael Kerzner declared that “cowardly acts of antisemitism, violence and hate will never be normalized or accepted in Ontario.”

The language sounds strong. It is meant to reassure.

Reassurance rings hollow

But reassurance rings hollow when Jewish houses of worship are being shot up.

Because if antisemitism truly had no place in Ontario, synagogues would not need concrete barriers, Jewish schools would not require armed security and Jewish community institutions would not conduct threat assessments before hosting events.

Yet this is the reality Jewish communities across Canada now face.

To say antisemitism has no place here while synagogues are being hardened like security installations is not a reflection of reality – it is a denial of it.

The uncomfortable truth is that antisemitism is not disappearing from Canadian life. It is thriving.

It thrives when mobs march through Jewish neighbourhoods chanting slogans calling for the destruction of the Jewish state. It thrives when Jewish businesses are vandalized. It thrives when protests surround synagogues while congregants are inside.

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And it thrives when someone feels confident enough to fire bullets into a Jewish house of worship in the largest city in Canada.

Deputy Chief Rob Johnson of the Toronto Police Service told the public that “a shooting targeting a place of worship is unacceptable.”

Of course it is unacceptable.

But “unacceptable” is the word you use when you receive bad service at an expensive restaurant. It is not the language a society should be using when bullets are fired into a synagogue.

When a Jewish house of worship is shot up, that is not merely unacceptable, it is an act of targeted intimidation against a religious community in Canada.

The question is why it keeps happening.

Because these are not the first synagogues targeted in recent years. It is part of a pattern that has been developing steadily. Each incident is followed by the same sequence: condemnation, investigation, and assurances that hate will not be tolerated.

Then the next incident occurs.

That’s exactly what happened early Saturday when two more synagogues were targetted by gunfire – Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue on Glencairn Ave. in Toronto and Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue in Thornhill.

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Solicitor General Kerzner has described these attacks as “cowardly.” But focusing on the moral character of the attacker misses the deeper issue.

When bullets are fired into a synagogue, the problem is not whether the perpetrator lacked courage. The problem is that someone believed they could target a Jewish house of worship in Toronto at all.

And describing the attack as “cowardly” raises an uncomfortable question.

Cowardly compared to what?

Are we suggesting that the attack would somehow be less cowardly if it occurred while the synagogue was full of people? Are we waiting until someone walks into a house of worship during services and turns it into a mass casualty event before the seriousness of the threat is fully recognized?

That is the trajectory the Jewish community fears.

Synagogues vandalized. Jewish businesses targeted. Protests surrounding houses of worship. Gunfire striking synagogue buildings.

Escalation rarely announces itself in advance. It unfolds step by step until a line is crossed that cannot be undone.

Jewish community warned about growing antisemitism

For nearly two-and-a-half years the Jewish community has been warning about this trajectory. We warned when demonstrations surrounded synagogues. We warned when Jewish schools required armed security to operate. We warned when antisemitic slogans became commonplace in public spaces.

Each warning was met with another familiar statement from officials: Antisemitism has no place here.

Yet the gap between those words and the lived experience of Jews in Canada continues to widen.

This is not a matter of semantics. Language matters because it signals whether leaders fully grasp the scale of a problem.

When antisemitism is described as something that does not belong here, it implies that it is an anomaly, an intrusion from outside Canadian society.

But the reality is far more troubling. Antisemitism today is embedded in ideological movements that operate openly within Western democracies. It spreads quickly through digital networks and draws legitimacy from institutions that would never tolerate other forms of hatred.

Pretending that this phenomenon has “no place here” does not make it disappear. It merely obscures the challenge of confronting it.

Synagogue shootings aim to intimidate and instill fear

A synagogue is not simply another building. It is a place where families gather, where children learn their heritage and where generations of Jews celebrate life’s milestones.

When someone fires bullets into that space, the message is not subtle. It is intimidation. It is an attempt to instill fear.

And when the response to such an act consists primarily of statements and assurances, the message received by those who harbour hatred may be equally clear.

Words alone do not stop escalation.

Acknowledging the scale of a problem is not alarmist. It is the first step toward solving it.

If synagogues can still be targeted with gunfire, then antisemitism clearly does have a place here.

The question now facing Canada’s leaders is whether they are prepared to confront that reality, before the next escalation forces them to.

— Matthew Taub is the founder and executive director of Unapologetically Jewish, a national organization fighting antisemitism in Canada

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