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“This is an extremely serious incident, and we trust that law enforcement will give it the attention that it deserves,” said Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. JDL Canada has called an emergency meeting.
By United With Israel Staff
B’nai Brith Canada and JDL Canada are decrying an attack on two 14-year-old Jewish boys who were assaulted in the Greater Toronto Area.
The attack occurred at York Hill Park in Thornhill – the heart of the Jewish community.
“It is inconceivable that Jewish families will be afraid to send their children to the park, in a heavily Jewish neighborhood, on the Jewish Sabbath,” said B’nai Brith in a statement.
JDL Canada has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday night and is looking for volunteers to assist in patrolling the park.
“On Saturday afternoon, two boys wearing kippot, or Jewish skullcaps, were walking near the Garnet A. Williams Community Centre in Thornhill when another youth approached them and began swearing at them from behind. As the Jewish boys tried to leave the area, the youth punched one of the Jewish boys in the face and proceeded to follow him and his friend for some distance before fleeing the scene,” says B’nai Brith Canada.
The organization notes that “the victims were unable to record the incident because it took place on the Sabbath when observant Jews do not carry electronic devices such as cellphones,” adding that “one of the victims later visited the emergency department to seek treatment for his injuries.”
The assailant, a black youth in his late teens, “ran up behind the boys and struck one of them over the head, hard enough to knock him down. He then told the other boy, ‘You’re next,’” reports VosIzNeias, a news site catering to the orthodox community in North America.
Witnesses stated that the assailant said he wants to come back and shoot Jews, JDL Canada said, adding that the York Regional is investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Meir Weinstein, head of JDL Canada, said last week that “a kosher restaurant in Toronto received an anti-Semitic threat of a shooting. There is a police report. I have the details.
“According to the owner of the restaurant,” he continued, “an unidentified caller asked to place an order for a gathering to honor the German Nazi party and said that they are going to shoot up the place when it will be full of Jews. The owner of the restaurant reported the threats to the police.”
B’nai Brith Canada notes that its “2018 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents found that overall incidents, including violence, vandalism, and harassment, increased from 1,752 in 2017 to a new high of 2,041 last year.”
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