Anti-Jewish hate in Toronto reaching breaking point, advocate says
'I think it's going to escalate into deadly violence,' Aviva Klompas says
Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Nov 10, 2025 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
Images from Toronto Police after charges were laid after a private off-campus event held by the TMU chapter of Students Supporting Israel was disrupted on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
Images from Toronto Police after charges were laid following a private off-campus event held by the TMU chapter of Students Supporting Israel being disrupted on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
Toronto’s institutional tolerance of anti-Israel activism is putting the city’s Jewish population at risk, according to a prominent international advocate.
And it’s just a matter of time before somebody loses their life in this wave of hatred, said Aviva Klompas, founder and CEO of pro-Israel think tank Boundless.
Klompas told the Toronto Sun the latest antisemitic attack against Kehillat Shaarei Torah on Bayview Avenue — the tenth time the orthodox synagogue was targeted by anti-Israel activists in two years — represents a worrying turning point in Toronto’s antisemitism crisis.
The message these attacks send is clear, Klompas said.
“The message being sent is that Jews can be targeted, and there are no consequences in Toronto,” she said.
“If any other house of worship was vandalized 10 times, it would be a national emergency — it would be front-page news, and the question that every Canadian, every person of conscience should be asking is why isn’t anyone doing anything to stop it?”
Cops have yet to make arrest
Toronto Police have yet to make an arrest in the city’s latest example of anti-Jewish hate, a wave of discrimination and intimidation that both Mayor Olivia Chow and Chief Myron Demkiw have done little to quench.
“That’s the synagogue that I grew up in,” said the U.S.-based Klompas, who was born in Toronto.
“It’s the synagogue where I had my bat mitzvah, where I served as youth director.”
Klompas said the repeated attacks highlight the level of danger Toronto’s Jews face.
“One attack on a synagogue is unacceptable, two is shocking, and then there’s three and four, five and six,” she said.
“By the time you get to 10, I’m left speechless, because that’s not an accident, and it’s not random, it’s not petty vandalism — that is targeted harassment, and it’s escalating.”
Intimidation, attacks in wake of Oct. 7
Toronto, and Canada, have seen an explosion in anti-Jewish intimidation since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks that saw Palestinian terrorists subject Israeli civilians to a campaign of kidnappings, murder and sexual assault.
Far-left and anti-Israel activists used the attacks as a means to hold regular anti-Israel rallies and protests, including frequent intimidation marches through Toronto’s Jewish neighbourhoods.
Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, an all-girl Jewish school in Downsview, has been the target of repeated shootings.
Five people were charged in connection with last week’s attack on an event hosted by a Toronto Metropolitan University student organization that saw far-left activists break a glass door in an attempt to stop it.
Those charged include Nicole Baiton, 25, of Oakville, Kiana Alexis, 22, of Toronto, Fatimah Mugni, 23, of Toronto, Chelsea Wu, 29, of Toronto and Manal Kamran, 21, of Toronto. They face a variety of offences including forcible entry, obstruction, and assaulting police officers.
Someone in power must take responsibility
Klompas blamed the inaction on nobody in power wanting to take responsibility.
“Everybody’s pointing at somebody else,” she said.
“It’s elected officials pointing at law enforcement, and law enforcement pointing at prosecution, and prosecution pointing at political figures saying we don’t have the backing,” she said.
“At the end of the day, the Jewish community is not interested in thoughts and prayers and empty statements — we have enough of those to float Noah’s Ark. What we would actually like is enforcement, and that means arrests, it means, charges, it means prosecutions and it means deterrence.”
She said it’s just a matter of time before lives are lost.
“I think it’s going to escalate into deadly violence,” Klompas said.
“That is the trajectory we’ve seen in England, that’s the trajectory we’ve seen not just in Washington, but also in Boulder, Co. where a holocaust survivor was lit on fire.
“Police, lawmakers, civil leaders need to make it absolutely clear that antisemitic hate crimes are going to be treated with the full weight of the law, and not a slap on the wrist.”
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
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TMU attack, repeated vandalism of city synagogue suggests Toronto's antisemitism shows no sign of abating, Aviva Klompas tells the Sun
torontosun.com