Washington: Canada’s largest city is reeling after a string of violent acts targeting Jewish shops and – for a second time in six months – the US consulate, in what could be another example of an alleged “guns for hire” scheme involving foreign entities.
The attacks have drawn parallels with the Iran-orchestrated arson attacks against Jewish businesses in Australia that led Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to cut diplomatic ties last year and expel the Iranian ambassador from Canberra.
Jewish groups in Canada are also increasingly worried about a major attack like last year’s massacre on Bondi Beach, which “looms large for all of us here”, said Noah Shack, chief executive of Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Two locations of the same Jewish-owned bakery chain in Toronto were targeted in attacks overnight on Saturday. One shopfront was struck by gunfire, and the other had a window smashed.
The assailants hit Kiva’s Bagel Bar, a Toronto institution that has served bagels since 1979 and a fixture of the city’s Jewish community. Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was appalled by the attacks.
“Jewish Canadians should be able to live, work and worship free from fear, intimidation and hate,” he said. “Canada’s government is absolute in our commitment to combating the scourge of antisemitism.”
Then, early on Monday morning, a gunman fired a single shot at the US consulate in central Toronto, before leading police on a high-speed chase. Police ultimately broke off the pursuit.
Deputy police chief Frank Barredo said an officer stationed outside the consulate heard a gunshot at 4.46am, before witnessing a white Honda Accord with no licence plate speeding away from the scene.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow called it a “brazen attack” and vowed to work with authorities to “remove the illegal American guns off our streets”.
There were no injuries from any of the three incidents. It was the second time the US consulate in Toronto was shot at this year, after a similar incident in March.
Last month, Toronto police said young people were being hired over encrypted messaging services to carry out targeted and connected shootings, including at Jewish schools and synagogues.
“In order to get paid, they are required to film their attacks,” Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw said at the time. “Who is paying for this? This is what we’re trying to determine.”
An operation in June recovered two firearms – a 9mm handgun and a 45-calibre pistol – both from the US. Police said the 9mm was linked to at least six shootings and the 45-calibre to at least 21.
Two people were arrested in that operation and an officer, Marc Pinizzotto, was killed. A third person, already in custody, faced additional charges over the matter, while a fourth person was subsequently arrested.
Canadian MP Ruby Sahota, the secretary of state for combatting crime, told parliament that the people responsible for firing shots at Toronto synagogues in early March were hired and paid by a “foreign entity”. She did not identify the country.
A late June report from Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre referred to terrorist activity by the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, an Iran-linked network which claimed responsibility for attacks in Britain, and was recently designated a terrorist group by that country.
The report, excerpts of which were obtained by this masthead, also said Canadian authorities had disrupted four terrorist plots inspired by Islamic State since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023.
In 2024, father and son Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi were arrested and charged with allegedly plotting an Islamic State-inspired attack in Toronto. They are due to face trial in September.
On Monday, police said it was too early to say whether the latest shooting at the US consulate and the violence at the Jewish bagel shops were linked to the aforementioned guns-for-hire scheme.
Shack told this masthead that Islamist terrorism posed a serious threat to Toronto and Canada and “represents a ticking time bomb that needs to be defused”.
The alleged criminals-for-hire scheme “follows the pattern that was uncovered in Australia of the Iranian regime hiring criminals to attack the Jewish community with a spate of arson attacks”.
“This is a clear tactic that is being used in Australia, in Europe and we believe here in Canada as well,” he said.
Shack said Toronto’s Jewish community was shaken by the latest attacks, which “sit squarely in a pattern that’s recognisable to us”.
But the community was also resilient and determined not to let terrorists succeed, he said. Kiva’s Bagel Bar sold out of bagels on Monday, he added.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was “totally disgusted” by the shootings and vandalism in Toronto over the preceding 48 hours, and expected those responsible to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
It comes as authorities in Germany are questioned over their handling of Abdul Ballout, a German-born citizen with Lebanese roots, suspected of driving a van into a crowd at Berlin’s Pride festival, killing one person and injuring 29.
Ballout previously sought to join Islamic State, prosecutors said, and was convicted in Berlin of preparing a serious act of violence. But a court released him pending an appeal. He was killed in a confrontation with police responding to the Pride festival attack.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
