Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 29, 2022

Toronto Police have charged a man who allegedly showed up to a North York Jewish school with a weapon, yelled at students, assaulted a staff member and said I want to kill Jews.

Community members said while these types of antisemitic incidents are always alarming, this one was especially scary in light of a mass shooting that occurred at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., the day before, where 21 people were killed.

An incident like this, especially on the heels of the horror that happened at a U.S. school earlier this week, its been very disturbing. And obviously no hate crime is more disturbing than one that appears to target children, as this one did, said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who helped the school work with investigators.

Toronto Police are investigating the incident as a suspected hate-motivated crime.

According to news release, the man was riding a bike through a school property in the Lawrence Avenue West and Bathurst Street area when students confronted him for being on the property.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center identified the school as Yeshiva Gedolah.

The man allegedly left the scene, returned as short time later and started yelling at students. Police say he made antisemitic comments Kirzner-Roberts says an investigator told her he said I want to kill Jews.

Police say the man was confronted by school staff and a fight occurred. A staff member was assaulted and threatened.

Police would not confirm what kind of weapon was found, nor the extent of the injuries.

According to Kirzner-Roberts, the staff member who confronted the man was reportedly a cook at the school and a former member of the Israeli Defense Force.

The man was allegedly a delivery person for Uber Eats, Kirzner-Roberts was told. Uber did not respond to a request for comment.

Kirzner-Roberts said, according to her understanding of what happened, the man was advancing on the children and uttering threats.

Kirzner-Roberts praised the staff member who reportedly confronted the man.

The staff member was able to somehow hold or apprehend the perpetrator until police arrived. So obviously, were very grateful that something much worse that could have happened was averted . We look forward to learning more about what sounds like a heroic staff member.

Marvin Rotrand, national director of The League For Human Rights with Bnai Brith Canada, thanked the police for apprehending the man and laying the charges.

Its going to reassure a lot of people. And while it may well be an isolated incident, it still causes a lot of concern in the community, he said.

Jews are the most targeted group in Canada for hate crimes. While comprising only 1.25 per cent of the Canadas population in 2021, they faced 61 per cent of all police-reported hate incidents against religious minorities, according to Bnai Briths most recent annual audit of antisemitic incidents.

Ontario recorded 821 antisemitic incidents in 2021, which includes harassment, vandalism and acts of violence, down from 1,130 such incidents in 2020.

The one caveat that I have is before everyone congratulates themselves the number of violent incidents in the province went from three to 25, Rotrand said.

In other parts of the country, the number of overall incidents increased, including in British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta. Nationally, the total number of antisemitic incidents rose from 2,610 in 2020 to 2,799 last year.

Kirzner-Roberts lamented the kind of fear these incidents create in the Jewish community, whose members sometime feel like theyre perpetually living on edge.

It speaks to this moment of fear that I guess has become a reality for those of us in the Jewish community, she said.

In our community, its normal to have armed guards outside of our religious buildings, community buildings and outside of our schools and its just so unacceptable that this has become necessary.

Police have charged Kyle McLeod, 21, of Toronto, with causing disturbance, uttering threats, assault, assault with a weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 28.

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Originally posted here:

Police charge man who allegedly showed up to North York Jewish school with weapon and said I want to kill Jews - Toronto Star

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