A Toronto man accused of an antisemitic hate crimes spree that spanned greater than eight months allegedly posted statements on-line encouraging assaults on the Jewish neighborhood in help of Palestinians.
Amir Arvahi Azar, 32, who has been charged with 29 crimes together with advocating genocide and inciting hate, allegedly used an X account that posted a name to “seek out” Canadian Jews and have them “lynched.”
“My brothers, it’s time to escalate like Amsterdam,” learn a Nov. 9, 2024, submit on the social media platform, an obvious reference to mob attacks on Israeli soccer followers within the Netherlands.
“Search out each genocidal [J]ew and do to them what they approve of doing to Palestinians. Depart your telephones at house, put on a masks, don’t put on clothes and footwear you’ve worn earlier than.”
Toronto areas allegedly focused by Amir Arvahi Azar in 2024.
One other submit featured an emoji of the Palestinian flag and stated to “deal with each Zionist as a terrorist regardless of their place in society. From police to politicians, from lecturers to medical doctors.”
“It’s our human proper to take action.”
The consumer additionally posted that “peaceable protests and dialogue” had didn’t cease “occupation and genocide,” and “the following step” was to “escalate” to harassment, intimidation, property injury and assaults.
The account has since been suspended for violating the platform’s guidelines, however World Information obtained screenshots from a supply. Two sources stated Azar has been accused of utilizing the account.
Neither Azar’s lawyer nor the Toronto Police Service would touch upon the X account, the place he’s accused of posting the feedback that led to fees of selling genocide and hatred.
They appeared on-line between Aug. 23 and Jan. 11, the day Azar was arrested for allegedly setting fires, smashing home windows and leaving threats at Toronto synagogues and a Jewish-owned restaurant.
Azar was later launched on bail, a call the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs stated was regarding given his lengthy listing of alleged crimes for hate-related incidents in addition to possession of three loaded handguns.
“This isn’t someone who simply occurred upon a synagogue and determined, on a whim, to throw a rock via a window,” CIJA’s interim President Noah Shack advised World Information in an interview.
“That is someone who has clearly, allegedly, taken time and was very deliberate in going from synagogue to synagogue, enterprise to enterprise, inflicting injury, lighting fires, uttering threats and appears to have been in possession of the means to make good on these threats,” he stated.
“And that’s a chilling factor for the neighborhood.”
Israeli hostage indicators torched
Toronto police announced on Monday that Azar had been charged with 19 hate crimes and 10 further counts, notably possession of restricted .38 Particular, Glock and Ruger handguns, ammunition, a switchblade, bank card forgery machine and legal proceeds over $5,000.
The incidents started on April 26, 2024.
Harm to Pleasure of Israel synagogue in Toronto that was allegedly a part of an antisemitic hate crime spree by Amir Arvahi Azar.
B’nai Brith Canada
Among the many alleged targets had been indicators exterior synagogues with the Deliver Them Dwelling Now slogan that refers to hostages kidnapped and brought to Gaza throughout the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Additionally torched was a Stroll for Israel signal belonging to the UJA Federation of Higher Toronto, which stated the case “highlights the escalation of antisemitism and serves as a stark reminder of the pressing must confront hate in all its types.”
Azar is additional accused of leaving a threatening telephone message on the Forest Hill Jewish Centre. The June 3, 2024, voicemail vowed to “do away with you all,” Rabbi Elie Karfunkel advised World Information.
The rabbi stated a police cruiser made a day by day present of pressure exterior the place of worship, and most congregants had been unbowed, however such incidents “make folks assume twice about going to synagogue.”
“We’re not altering, we’re doubling down in our Judaism,” he stated. “However that’s me. What about my congregants which can be nervous, they’re not as emboldened as me? These are the folks that I fear about.”
Following two subsequent arson incidents on July 31, at a Jewish college and a synagogue, the Toronto police issued a information launch alleging the suspect had fled on a darkish bike.
Photographs launched by Toronto police July 31, 2024 displaying a suspect in hate-motivated assaults on a Jewish college and synagogue.
Toronto Police Service
B’nai Brith Canada stated Azar’s arrest, along with a similar case in Winnipeg, underscored the “harmful repercussions of the worsening disaster of antisemitism plaguing our nation.”
The group stated it was grateful to police, “however the well-being and safety of all Canadians can’t proceed to be compromised by the inaction of our civic leaders and elected officers to adequately tackle the devolving scenario.”
The CIJA president stated anti-Israel protests for the reason that Hamas assault and Israel’s lethal reprisals in Gaza had been “translating into the radicalization of people right here in Canada.”
Canada has seen a pointy spike in antisemitic incidents for the reason that Center East battle flared, together with shootings, arsons and vandalism at Jewish college buildings, synagogues, neighborhood organizations and companies.
In December 2023, the RCMP disrupted a suspected plot to bomb a pro-Israel rally on Parliament Hill, and a Toronto student was arrested in Quebec in September as he was allegedly on his option to conduct a mass taking pictures at a Brooklyn, N.Y., Jewish centre.
An indication exterior Toronto’s Tiferet Israel Congregation displaying images of kids held hostage by Hamas was allegedly torched by Amir Arvahi Azar on Aug. 3, 2024.
B’nai Brith Canada
“This can be a public security concern not simply to the Jewish neighborhood however to our neighborhood extra broadly. We now have a severe problem of radicalization and of terrorism right here in Canada,” Shack stated.
“If we don’t all get up to it, and we don’t all stand in opposition to it, and our authorities don’t deal with it with the seriousness that it deserves, one among as of late, one among these assaults will likely be profitable.”
Genocide fees are ‘uncommon’
CIJA stated it was conscious of the alleged social media posts and located them “completely alarming.”
A number of customers pushed again in opposition to them on the time, calling them hate speech and tagging the Toronto police, RCMP and Canadian Safety Intelligence Service of their replies.
Advocating genocide fees are unusual in Canada. Solely 4 suspects had been charged with the offence between 2018 and 2023, in accordance with Statistics Canada information.
Two of the circumstances had been in Ontario, and the remaining had been in Quebec and British Columbia. One of many cases, filed in 2020, concerned alleged on-line statements about former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Muslim community.
A selling genocide cost requires the approval of the Lawyer Basic. Lower than 10 per cent of Canada’s hate crime prosecutions concerned that exact offence, stated Prof. Sunil Gurmukh, Assistant Dean of the Western College’s legislation college.
“Briefly, the reply to your query is they’re uncommon,” he stated.
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