Over 100 Jewish Institutions in Canada Receive Bomb Threat

Roughly 125 organizations across Canada received an e-mail at 5 a.m. on Wednesday stating explosives were placed in black backpacks around their buildings and that they would “go off in a few hours.”

The e-mails were sent mostly to Jewish institutions, such as synagogues and Jewish centers, but they were also sent to hospitals and medical centers in some of Canada’s major cities, like Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

A portion of the e-mails read:

You will end up in a pool of blood; none of you deserve to keep living. Everyone inside the building will lose their lives.

Some locations were evacuated. Authorities quickly responded and searched the locations, but no bombs were found. Officials later said the e-mails were merely intended to “disrupt lives.”

Rising anti-Semitism: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the threats “blatant anti-Semitism.” Others also condemned the incident.

In a country where all citizens should feel safe, these cowardly threats aim to terrorize our communities and erode our Canadian values. The incitement we have been seeing almost daily in every city, on all our streets and in all our campuses across Canada have created this permissive environment.
—B’nai Brith, Canada’s oldest independent Jewish Human Rights organization

They want to scare us in a way that is quite emotional, quite visual. By referencing disgusting things, the goal is to intimidate so that the Jewish community does not feel safe where it is supposed to feel safe. It’s unacceptable, and it is also proof of the rising anti-Semitism in our country.
—Julien Corona, spokesperson for the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs

But anti-Semitism isn’t rising in Canada only. This is a worldwide problem, and attacks are becoming increasingly blatant.

To learn why, read “One Minority Society Loves to Hate.”