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OTTAWA — Get the RCMP involved, or it’s only a matter of time before Canada sees bloodshed.

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That’s the message Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskell has for Prime Minister Mark Carney, as Canada reels from a violent week of hate-motivated shootings targeting the Greater Toronto Area’s Jewish community.

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“For the past few days, armed gangs made serious threats to the Jewish community,” she told the Toronto Sun in an interview.

“This is not a Toronto issue — this has been in Toronto, North York, Montreal, so many places — this gang is targeting Jewish businesses, Jewish synagogues, Jewish homes, Jewish buildings, Jewish neighbourhoods, and they’ve sent their last warning before they will spill blood.”

Anti-Jewish radicals using Iran strikes to renew hatred

Much like the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre — which served as a siren call for anti-Israel radicals in Canada to commence campaigns of disruptive protests, university-based intimidation encampments and marches against Canadian Jews — the joint American-Israeli operation to eliminate Iran’s despotic regime has likewise sparked a wave of anti-Jewish hate.

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Just hours after Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in an airstrike, a Richmond Hill boxing gym owned by a prominent anti-regime critic was shot at 17 times by unknown gunmen.

Two days later, gunmen opened fire at Temple Emanu-El on Old Colony Rd. near Bayview Ave. in Toronto.

Over the weekend, gunmen opened fire at two more GTA synagogues — Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT) in Thornhill and Toronto’s Shaarei Shomayim near Bathurst St. and Glencairn Ave. — sparking performative press conferences from politicians and police but little in concrete solutions.

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Bondi Beach-style attack coming, Haskell warns

Haskell, who previously lived in Sydney, says she never would have believed that Australia could be the site of such a horrific attack as December’s Bondi Beach massacre — but said today’s spectre of organized and well-funded anti-Israel radicalism means violent hate can grow anywhere governments let it.

“For the last two years I’ve been warning, I’ve been writing articles and opinion pieces, I’ve had as many interviews as possible, every discussion and every conversation that I’ve had with a diplomat or governmental representative, I’ve warned them that it’s only a matter of time before blood will be spilled in Australia,” said Haskell, who was elected to the Israeli Knesset in 2015.

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“They all thought I was exaggerating, calling me names, and they didn’t take that warning seriously.”

Toronto-born Haskell said she not only fears for the safety of the city’s Jewish community, but also her friends and family who still live in the Toronto.

“(Carney) needs to take this at its utmost seriousness before this turns into another Bondi massacre,” she said.

“This is the time to involved the RCMP and to use everything possible to identify and tack down those shooters. Words are not enough anymore.”

Jewish community urging action on violence

The increased violence has left the GTA Jewish community reeling, and likewise calling for action.

Larry Zeifman, who previously served on the board of Shaarei Shomayim and was once president of BAYT, told the Sun that he agrees with Haskell that words aren’t enough anymore.

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“(Carney) needs to demonstrate true empathy for the country’s Jews, that Jews helped build this country and are needed and wanted here, that he respects and supports Israel’s efforts to defend itself, that he rejects the antisemitic measures of the ICC (International Criminal Court) and the UN, that he is moving Canada’s embassy to Jerusalem, and that (Benjamin) Netanyahu is invited to Canada and that (Carney) will travel to Israel,” Zeifman said.

“Anything less than that will continue to suggest to us that we are not heard and valued like other groups in Canada.”

RCMP needs to be involved

But now, with Canada teetering on the same precipice, Haskell said Carney needs to involve the RCMP before anti-Israel terrorism comes to Canada.

“What else does it need to take for them to step up and find them? Use everything in your capability,” Haskell said.

“They’ve threatened murder, and aren’t joking about it. I don’t understand how long it should take for the authorities, the (RCMP,) the prosecution, to go and get those people and make sure they cannot murder anyone.

“The writing is on the wall.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com

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