This Is Not Paranoia -- It Is Terror

"I feel that I'm in Germany in 1937. I know for sure I've been targeted. Somebody came just for my car. And for us, obviously."

"We're all in shock. When I came to Canada over twenty years ago I couldn't realize we would face a real pogrom ... in Canada, where everybody used to talk about multiculturalism and love to each other. Never ever have I experienced so much antisemitism as I'm experiencing now."

"It's hard to verbalize my feelings, my fear. And I've never been a fearful person. I've always stood for the right thing on the right side of history. But today I am scared."

"Because they know my address, I don't know what to expect tomorrow. Maybe somebody will come during the night and set my house on fire. Maybe somebody will wait for me in the park when I'm walking the dog. Honestly I'm shaken."

"I don't know how can we leave the house, how can we go somewhere. I don't know how to live, how to breathe. We are in shock."

Victoria Adamov, Toronto resident

A clip from a home security camera shows one of two vandals breaking the car's windows. Photo by Victoria Adamov

Victoria Adamov lives not in a particularly Jewish section of Toronto but one she describes as a "mixed-culture" neighbourhood. All the more convenient for anyone out to harass and terrify Jews to distinguish her family's presence, particularly with the declaration on her bumper of her alliance with and  allegiance to, Israel as the sticker of an Israeli flag attests. Originally an immigrant from Ukraine, she and her family moved to Israel were they lived for a decade before moving again, to Canada. Where fully half of Canada's Jewish population lives.

And where an ongoing 'pro-Palestinian' protest parked itself over the Avenue Road 401 bridge leading to police closing down access while monitoring a clearly illegal presence of protesters interfering with free access on municipal property to tax-paying citizens. A protest where calls to destroy Israel could be chanted through the phrase  'From the river to the sea' with its transparent message. And where signage could be seen with not only the Palestinian flag, but one of the criminally outlawed PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terrorist group was also on view.

This was no 'pro-Palestinian' protest but an anti-Jew provocation that the Toronto Police Services allowed to go unchecked day after day. A mere one-kilometre distance from nine synagogues serving the Jewish community that was targeted by these hate groups. There also are a number of Jewish schools, community centres, day-cares and Jewish owned businesses close to the bridge location. Where recently one nearby deli-grocery was torched, the message 'Free Palestine' grafitied over its front entrance. One Temple is clearly visible from the overpass.

Ms. Adamov lives near Dufferin and Steele Streets north of Toronto on a quiet cul-de-sac along with her husband, 13-year-old son and two of their pets. Not a Jewish neighbourhood. Their home security camera revealed a dark car driving up at 3:27 a.m. and two masked figures with gloves and hoods leaving their vehicle to approach that of the Adamovs where they smashed the windows of the Toyota in the driveway, then punctured its tires before leaving. None of the house residents were alerted to anything amiss.

 

The vandals broke all the windows on the car but took nothing   Screen shot

 

A neighbour walking by the next morning texted Victoria after noticing the damage to the family car. York Regional Police were alerted and an investigation is now underway. Police, according to a media release, are searching for three suspects, one the driver of a dark-coloured Jeep Grand Cherokee. "The Hate Crime Prevention Unit has been notified and a hate crime investigator is on the case", notes the police release, including a link to the security camera video.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Adamov explained, she placed a Ukrainian flag on her car in solidarity. "And it was absolutely no problem. But as soon as I identify myself as belonging to Israel, here is the problem." She feels singled out as a result of the attack, although she has never argued with anyone online, nor has she ever done anything, she points out, that would make enemies. "I think it's pointless to argue with people who have different opinions." Canada, she feels, is lax in safeguarding the safety of its Jewish citizens.

"I didn't have any conflicts I just had an Israeli flag sticker on the back of my car."

"As long as our prime minister doesn't say anything, it will be worse, and it's getting worse by the minute. They used to talk about Islamophobia all the time but nobody's talking about antisemitism, nobody says it's zero tolerance to antisemitism. What are they waiting for? Till somebody will be murdered?"

"I want my voice to be heard. This nonsense must be stopped. High levels of government must act now. Tomorrow it's going to be too late."

Victoria Adamov

Photo by Buongiorno Principessa/Twitter