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Jews Targeted in 57% of All Reported Toronto Hate Crimes Since Oct. 7: Police Data
Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters, primarily university students, rally at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on Oct. 28, 2023. Photo by Sayed Najafizada/NurPhoto
Jews have been the victims of 57 percent of all hate crimes in Toronto since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel despite comprising just 3.6 percent of the Canadian city’s population, according to newly released police data.
The Toronto Police Service (TPS) reported on Tuesday that 56 of the 98 hate crimes that have occurred in the city from Oct. 7 to Dec. 17 were antisemitic incidents. Compared to the same period in 2022, the number of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community this year has more than tripled.
Overall, police say 338 hate crimes have occurred in Toronto so far this year since January, with those targeting Jews accounting for 43 percent of the total. The 147 antisemitic incidents this year has nearly doubled the totals of 81 in 2022 and 82 in 2021.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw told reporters that the statistics do not represent hate crimes that law enforcement prevented.
“It is almost impossible to measure what you prevent,” Demkiw said, according to Canadian press reports. “We know that communities feel safer for our efforts. In instances where, despite our best efforts, crimes have been committed, our dedicated teams of highly trained investigators have worked tirelessly to bring those responsible to justice.”
Muslims have also been victims of hate crimes in the city. TPS disclosed that 20 such incidents targeting Muslims and Arabs have occurred since Oct. 7, and that 37 have been reported all year.
“We are steadfast in our resolve to ensure that Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish — all communities for that matter — are kept safe from acts of hatred and violence,” Demkiw added on Tuesday. “While the Jewish, Palestinian, and Muslim communities have demonstrated tremendous resiliency during these incredibly challenging times, as a police service we continue to be resolute, committed to ensuring public safety and security, while also ensuring that the constitutional right to free speech is maintained. This is a delicate balancing.”
Last September, the city launched the “Toronto For All” campaign to encourage citizens to “confront” and “eliminate” antisemitism and other bigotries. Literature stressing the importance of reporting hate crimes and supporting victims of antisemitism was distributed to the public while city officials put up messaging in high traffic locations.
The initiative followed disturbing incidents throughout the city.
In May 2022, an Uber Eats deliveryman drove up to Toronto’s Yeshiva Gedolah, accosting students and saying he would “kill 30 Jews today.” The disturbing scene was witnessed by the school’s cook, who was punched in the face after asking the man to leave. Just two months later, in July, Toronto police arrested a man for spraying near York University a graffiti image of a Jew with sidelocks and a Star of David inside crosshairs next to a message that says, “Shoot a Jew in the head.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Jews Targeted in 57% of All Reported Toronto Hate Crimes Since Oct. 7: Police Data first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.