WARMINGTON: North York Jewish store vandalism shows antisemitism acceptable now
· Toronto Sun
It’s the third time this popular Jewish gift shop has had its windows smashed by rocks.
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But the owner of Aleph Bet Judaica store on Bathurst St. in North York said he will do what he did the last two times: He’s putting in a new window.
“This is not going to scare me,” Moshe Joseph said. “I have been in Canada for 49 years.”
He won’t be going out of business because of any intimidation.
“We have been open since 1988,” Joseph said.
And he’s going to stay open. Since he came to Canada from Israel in 1977, he said he has never felt antisemitism. Until Oct. 7, 2023 , that is. Since that Black Sabbath slaughter by Hamas of innocent Israelis, it has not been easy to be Jewish in Toronto. Whether it’s synagogues shot up or lit on fire, or a Jewish school hit with bullets three times, or restaurants or businesses, antisemitism is normal in Toronto in 2026.
It’s not just a broken window as a result of a rock being thrown toward a Jewish store in North York. Broken windows lead to broken trust and eventually to a broken Toronto. The GTA has become like what it’s like to be a Jew living in the Middle East. They can be victim of terror at any time.
For many Jewish residents, Toronto not only feels broken, but it feels dangerous.
“Another day, another attack,” said the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).
Another day, another attack. This time a Judaica store in Toronto, which has been targeted before.⁰ ⁰Words are starting to lose meaning when this keeps happening.⁰⁰We need urgent action from the authorities and all levels of government to safeguard communities and address the…
— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) April 27, 2026
This time, the Aleph Bet Judaica. Again. On the same weekend, York Regional Police was investigating what they called a “hate-bias-motivated incident” Saturday at the Sephardic Kehila Centre in Vaughan, in which they put out a picture of a man they alleged “attempted to force his way into a synagogue and assaulted a victim prior to fleeing the scene.”
This hardly made a headline.
‘Words are starting to lose meaning’
”Words are starting to lose meaning when this keeps happening,” the CIJA said. “We need urgent action from the authorities and all levels of government to safeguard communities and address the sources of the violence before lives are lost.”
B’nai Brith Canada at a news conference Monday on Parliament Hill in Ottawa covered by The Canadian Press said antisemitism has become commonplace and accepted.
“We cannot allow antisemitism to be rendered into mere statistics that we grow numb to. There was an immense and tragic human cost to the 6,800 incidents recorded in 2025,” Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, said.
B’nai Brith Canada’s 2025 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents puts hard numbers behind what Jewish communities across Canada lived through last year.
— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) April 27, 2026
The findings should not come as a surprise. The warning signs were visible throughout 2025, and the incidents that have… pic.twitter.com/ATjGKBBS2Q
Robertson added, “an assault on a Jewish man in a park in front of his children is not just another notation in the violence column. It is an incident that creates generational trauma and leaves an entire cohort of society questioning if they are safe to remain in this country.”
In Joseph’s case, there have been no arrests in the three attacks. He said police did come Saturday and told him they can’t prove it’s a hate crime, “but I told them it was a hate crime.”
So far, Toronto Police, who have certainly upped their game to prepare for potential terror with the Task Force Guardian tactical unit station at sporting events or around synagogues, have not indicated if they are investigating the latest broken window, or if there is a plan to put out suspect information. However, if they provide pictures like York Region did with its most recent synagogue incident, we will certainly publish them.
Meanwhile, Joseph worries because his store was targeted with rocks instead of gunshots, it may not be given the highest priority. Whatever the police response, or the courts who often drop such cases, one thing for sure is it’s a bad time for Jewish Canadians in the GTA.
“Imagine owning a small business and wondering when the next window will shatter. For many Jewish Canadians, this is not abstract. It is the reality of rising antisemitism in real time,” said respected journalist on Jewish affairs, Ron East, “What this looks like in Canada right now: Jewish businesses singled out. Community institutions targeted. Repeated intimidation. Fear becoming normalized. A country that values pluralism cannot allow stores tied to religious identity to become recurring targets.”
It would not be tolerated if it were any other religious or ethnic group. Either way, Joseph says he’s not going anywhere.
“I was in the Israeli army; I am not afraid” he said with a chuckle.
He’s installed new windows before.
“It’s only money.”