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The Greater Toronto Area has been shaken to its core after gunshots were fired into two more synagogues.

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Toronto Police and neighbouring York Regional Police were sharing information Saturday morning following two disturbing early morning Jewish synagogue shooting incidents in those jurisdictions.

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This is a war on Jews!

“Synagogues should never be targets of fear or violence,” Toronto Police Deputy Chief Rob Johnson said. “These incidents are deeply concerning, and we remain committed to working closely with the Jewish community to ensure their safety and to confront hate wherever it emerges.”

There has been a lot of that this week. The antisemitism is out of control. Three GTA synagogues have now been shot up in just six days.

Details are still emerging on what transpired with the latest two. There have been no reported injuries.

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Full police investigations are underway.

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What is known at this point is residents near the Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue on Glencairn Ave. – near Bathurst St. and Lawrence Ave. W. – in Toronto reported gunshots there in the early morning hours.

“Police are all over the area,” said Meir Weinstein, of Israel Now.

Toronto Police later confirmed the front entrance of the “building” was hit with gunshots and “bullet holes” had been found.

The sequence of events was not immediately clear, but soon after there were reports of a second synagogue shooting. This time at Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT) synagogue on Clark Ave. – near Bathurst St. and Steeles Ave. W. – in Thornhill.

“Clark is closed and there are lots of police,” Weinstein said.

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York Regional Police posted to X: “Officers responded to reports of shots fired in the area of Clark Ave. and York Hill Blvd. and “located evidence of gunfire directed at the building” but “no injuries reported.”

York cops added that “a dark sedan was seen in the area at the time.”

York Regional Police Const. Lisa Moskaluk also told the Toronto Sun that “additional patrols have been and will continue to be deployed across the region,” which “includes near faith-based institutions, community centres, schools and other public gathering places.”

“The patrols are proactive and are intended to deter any potential criminal or hate-motivated activity prompted by events overseas,” she added.

Toronto Police have also added additional patrols in Jewish neighbourhoods in recent times.

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Deputy Chief Johnson said Toronto Police and York Regional Police are coordinating their efforts in these latest, violent antisemitic attacks.

But the investigations are still in their infancy and it was not yet known if the synagogues were shot up by the same shooter or shooters.

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These are very terrifying times for Jewish Canadians in the GTA.

“Call this what it is,” Conservative MP and party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said, adding this is “an attempt to terrorize the Jewish community.”

She is not wrong.

Toronto area Jews have faced dozens of incidents from vandalism of their businesses to shootings into their schools and now gunshots into synagogues– this time on the Sabbath.

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On the Everything Jewish Toronto Facebook page, members wrote of what transpired overnight.

“We heard gun shots at Bathurst and Glencairn just after midnight,” wrote Allison Linzon-Smith.

David Lee Rosenberg added, “Two synagogues have been shot at in the last hour” and “this has been confirmed by police.”

On social media Victoria Blond wrote, “There was a shooting” and “we could not enter the townhouse complex near Bayt (sic) as police blocked it off.”

More will come on this as police gather information and the investigations unfold. But this being the third shooting at or near a synagogue this week has many very concerned as it’s clear Toronto and the surrounding area appears to be enduring echoes out of the war in Iran.

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The Temple Emanu-El synagogue on Old Colony Rd., south of Bayview Ave. and Hwy. 401, was struck with 19 bullets and 20 shell casings were found at the location on Monday, the day following the American bombing deaths of the ayatollah and his senior Iranian government officials.

It’s also not lost on anyone that these latest two synagogue shootings come on the very day those mourning Ayatollah Khamenei’s death in Tehran are planning to gather in protest of his death and the American Operation Epic Fury campaign in front of the U.S. consulate on University Ave.

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A heavy police presence is also expected for this event.

When three synagogues have been targeted by bullets, as well as Jewish-owned restaurants and a boxing gym owned by a prominent Iranian-Canadian anti-Islamist regime activist, one starts to wonder how much more dangerous this could all become and when there may end being a fatality?

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This is already a crisis situation.

Three synagogues shot at in less than a week is unprecedented.

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Canada has a dilemma – does it wait for a Bondi Beach type attack similar to what happened in Australia or does it try to prevent one?

If someone is killed in any of these antisemitic shootings, or at one of these protests or counter protests, it may come to a situation where Prime Minister Mark Carney will be forced to invoke the Emergencies Act, which will curtail people’s rights to gather and assemble.

It’s not there yet but it’s a possibility if this violence continues.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

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