Multiple Jewish organizations, hospitals across Canada receive identical bomb threats

OTTAWA — More than 100 synagogues, Jewish organizations and doctors in multiple cities across the country were on high alert Wednesday after they received the same threatening email.

RCMP confirmed the threats were made to “a number of institutions, including synagogues and hospitals, across Canada.”

“Law enforcement is also engaging with faith-based leaders to ensure they have the information and support they need,” a spokesperson for the Mounties said in a statement late Wednesday afternoon.

The RCMP said it’s working with local law enforcement to ensure locations are safe, and the Federal Policing National Security Program is investigating the source of the threats.

Several Jewish leaders said police had confirmed there was no imminent concern of physical violence but the impact of the threatening emails was still stark.

The email included threats of death and physical harm and indicated the goal was to cause “terror.”

“It is absolutely chilling to hear of more than 100 Jewish institutions across the country being threatened earlier this morning,” said Michael Levitt, CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The latest threats come amid a significant rise in antisemitism in Canada following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel last fall, and Israel’s subsequent military response in Gaza. B’nai Brith Canada’s annual report in May said reports of antisemitic incidents had doubled in 2023 in Canada, including 77 that were violent.

“For many, many months, Canada’s Jewish community has raised alarm bells about the escalation of rampant Jew-hatred, as incitement and hateful rhetoric have become normalized online, on our city streets and on our university and college campuses,” Levitt said.

“Repeated calls for violence against Jews and Jewish institutions are a stark reminder that extremism and radicalization are thriving in Canada and must be confronted before it’s too late. The time for our leaders to step up is now.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government has been heavily criticized by Jewish organizations for not doing enough to combat antisemitism, said he was “disgusted” by the news about the threatening emails.

“This is blatant antisemitism,” he said in a statement. “The RCMP is in contact with local law enforcement to investigate, and we’re working with them to keep Jewish Canadians safe.”

Police in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary were among those responding to threats, but Ottawa and Montreal police both directed questions to the RCMP. In a statement, Toronto police said they had evacuated buildings in the city’s west end and investigated “for a bomb threat.”

“We are continuing to address the possible impact in Toronto,” said media relations officer Shannon Eames.

A spokesman from B’nai Brith said their Toronto office was swept for explosives as a precaution.

Eta Yudin, the Quebec vice-president for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said there was “no imminent threat” and that the emails appear to be “nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives.”

“Jewish Canadians will not be intimidated — we will continue to take part in Canadian society and Jewish life. We will stay vigilant, but we will never be intimidated,” she said.

Rabbi Nisan Andrews said his synagogue in Calgary received the email but it went directly to junk mail. He didn’t know about the threat until the head of the Calgary Jewish Federation reached out and let him know the RCMP had been called.

The threat he received, sent from a Gmail account, included roughly 150 recipients, he said, and all appeared to be Jewish.

“They all have congregational names that are very identifiable,” said Andrews, the rabbi at House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel. He said some of the addresses are in Hebrew or contain the word “rabbi.”

Police had not contacted Andrews as of Wednesday afternoon but he said he did his own sweep of the synagogue and didn’t find anything unusual.

The experience has left him feeling “profoundly disappointed,” he said.

“It’s a very sad state of affairs. I mean, we’re Canadian citizens,” he said.

While this is the first such email he has received like this since he moved back to Canada from the United States two years ago, threats against Jewish congregations in general have become more common, he said, as have acts of antisemitism.

Just recently, he said he was walking home with members of his congregation on Sabbath when teenagers began yelling at them through their car window and throwing water bottles.

“This is just plain harassment, and it seems that harassment of Jews is becoming a much more widespread phenomenon,” he said.

The email was also sent to several doctors who work at hospitals in the Ottawa area. A spokeswoman from the city’s Queensway Carleton Hospital said the police determined the situation was low risk but did an extensive sweep of the hospital and grounds.

There have been multiple incidents of violence targeting Jewish institutions in the last year, including firebombings of synagogues and community centres in Montreal and Vancouver, and shots fired at Jewish school in Toronto. In December, RCMP arrested an Ottawa teenager and charged him with terrorism activities that targeted Jews, including communicating instructions about an explosive substance and instructing someone to carry out a terrorist activity against Jewish persons.

A second youth was arrested and charged with terrorism offences in the same case in February.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2024.

Mia Rabson and Laura Osman, The Canadian Press