Jewish school in Toronto hit by gunfire for third time this year

A Jewish school in Canada's biggest city Toronto was hit by gunfire for the third time this year, though no one was injured in the latest incident, police said Friday.

Shots were fired in the early hours of Friday at the Bais Chaya Mushka elementary school for girls, in the city's North York neighborhood.

"No physical injuries were reported as the school was closed at the time," Toronto police said of the incident, which comes amid persistent tensions linked to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The same school was targeted in similar attacks in May and October. A man and a teen were arrested and charged in October.

"Parents are concerned, frustrated, in fear. Students are afraid, staff are afraid, and no one should be afraid to come to school," Rabbi Yaacov Vidal, the school's principal, told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident a "hateful, anti-Semitic attack on Toronto’s Jewish community" In comments on X.

For Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, "enough is enough. Anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic attacks have no place in Toronto."

On Wednesday, a synagogue was set ablaze in Montreal.

Trudeau called that a "vile anti-Semitic attack," and Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the Canadian government to "act decisively, and show that such hatred will not be tolerated."

A report issued in May by the Jewish organization B'nai Brith Canada said the number of anti-Semitic acts had more than doubled from 2022 to 2023.