Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Belleville, Ontario

"There has been some trauma from this [Yom Kippur eve attack on Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Belleville, Ontario]. But we're going to pick up the pieces and we're going to start over and we're going to carry on."

"We will not be stopped by this person, or anyone else."

"We always have police protection. Every synagogue in North America on the high holidays has police protection. We've been doing it for years."

"Whenever there's a large gathering of Jews in a synagogue, there's police protection. That's just a sign of the times."

"For Jews, it's kind of like, who's going in the bad book? Who will not live through this year?"

"I guess we were all in the good book [congregants present during the attack], because we survived." 

Norman Weddum, president, Sons of Jacob Synagogue 

 

"When you're Jewish, you look to the history of your people."

"The people who came here were Holocaust survivors. They escaped Czarist Russia."

"They came to make a better life in this country, just as every Jewish community across this country." 

Shima Viggoda, vice-president, Sons of Jacob Synagogue 

 

"We're resilient, that's why we keep going. We have to fight."

"There was a time when we couldn't have services and we didn't have the people."

"But again, we built ourselves up, and we are standing on our feet now."

Mary Cohen, Sons of Jacob Synagogue board member

Police stand in front of the Son of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario Ontario on Monday Sept. 21, 2026. Ian MacAlpine - The Canadian Press

 

The small congregation of the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario at sundown, Sunday had gathered for Yom Kippur services only to hear gunfire erupt outside. First thoughts were that the sounds were anything but shots; a vehicle backfiring, firecrackers, but no.  When it was fully understood that shots were being fired at the synagogue the doors were locked and everyone looked for shelter as bullets flew over the heads of those sheltering on the floor. 

 

The member of the Belleville Police Service, Corporal Jeffrey Smith, seated in an unmarked vehicle outside the synagogue heard someone shout at him "You're going to die for the Jews!" before he was shot twice, in the neck and back. He emerged though wounded, from the vehicle and engaged with the attacker, as shots rang back and forth until two minutes on another constable appeared and his subsequent shots fully disarmed the shooter, a discharged soldier from the Canadian Armed Forces who had armed himself with a shotgun fully intending to enter the synagogue and murder as many there as he could.

 

That shooter whose plan had gone awry, almost killed Constable Smith, now in recovery though remaining in critical condition, while none of the Jewish congregants were harmed physically. The terrorist attacker, taken to Kingston General Hospital as was Corporal Smith, died the following day. The carnage he  hoped to carry out in a bloody shoot-out at a place of worship during the most holy day in the Judaic religious calendar was not to be. And the heroic action of a severely wounded police officer saved many lives, while endangering his own.

 

In Canada from 2023 to 2026, dozens of reports of gunfire, arson, window breaking, threats and vandalism have taken place at synagogues, parochial schools, community centres, Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish neighbourhoods, with expressions of condolences from the federal, provincial and municipal governments, but little-to-no effort made to enact real solutions through laws already in existence against the promotion of hate in ethnic communities.

 

The Sons of Jacob Synagogue is shown in Belleville, Ontario on Monday Sept. 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sharif Hassan

 

"The rabbi had just started to call us into the sanctuary. We were stepping inside, and we heard this loud bang, and we all stopped. It sounded like someone was banging the window or the door."

"We knew this was going to happen. We’ve been saying as Jews that we’re very concerned with the rise of antisemitism. What did you think was going to happen? People weren’t taking it seriously."

"Some people suggested we should go to the basement, others said we should go out the back door. At the same time, you’re just frozen because you don’t know what’s going on or what to do. Eventually the shots stopped."

"This guy’s a hero. I can tell you the gunman was coming for us inside, and he was trying to take out our armed protection first. We’re praying for [Police Constable Jeffrey Smith’s] recovery."

Doug Warren, 56, Kol Nidre services, Sons of Jacob Synagogue 

 

The tiny Jewish community in Belleville has existed for a century and a half. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe found their way to the town in the late 1800s, located halfway between the major cities of Toronto and Montreal. In 1905, religious ceremonies were held at a rooming house in service to Jewish workers; representing the earliest appearance of what would become in time the Sons of Jacob congregation. The synagogue was finally built and open for services in 1956, on a residential street astride the small Jewish community when sufficient funding had been raised for the project.

 

Some 55 families comprised the congregation which by then had opened its own Hebrew school, and services were planned by a rabbi; a shochet to ensure ritual kashrut was employed, and the synagogue became a hub for fundraising through organized bazaars dances, lectures  -- where it hosted area  marriages and Bar Mitzvah ceremonies. The congregation dwindled in time as the community's younger generation left to pursue their futures in larger cities. The synagogue no longer had its own rabbi, but yearly for that solemn occasion, raised the funds required to fly in an Israeli rabbi to officiate. 

 

The congregants throughout the years had their random experiences with local  antisemitism, with Jewish children attending public schools exposed to it from within the general population. In 1925, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland who became a local prominent businessman, found a large cross on fire on his front lawn one morning. Now, recovering from the most recent traumatic event, synagogue leaders plan to reopen its doors shortly and carry on the traditions of their forefathers in this small Ontario town. 

 

Police Officers at the scene of a shooting where a police officer was shot outside a Yom Kippur gathering at Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, September 21, 2026.

(photo credit: REUTERS/PATRICK DOYLE)

 

"We’re still in a state of shock. How could this happen, especially in Belleville? It’s insulting on top of it all."

"It’s bad enough when you read it in the news, but when you hear about it from somebody directly affected that you know, it was very distracting. Yom Kippur is a day of atonement, so you think back on how you can make yourself better and how you’re going to improve and move on. It’s a very contemplative day."

"How sick is it that you need armed police to enter your place of worship? But it’s a fact of life."

Debbie Fitzerman, president, Kingston Jewish Council 

 

"This is what we’ve been experiencing for the last, at least three years, but definitely has been compounded since October seventh." 

"Most of the coverage about Israel is negative and spreading lies and libels about Israel and Jews, and people are getting radicalized because of it."

"I’d like to see Hamas people being called terrorists, not combatants or warriors. I’d like to see true accounts of the humanitarian efforts that are being waged and have been waged for the benefit of the Palestinian people by the Israeli army, and not only unfortunate statements that some very right-wing members of the Israeli government have uttered, which do not represent the philosophy or the policies of the Israeli government or the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]."

"The Jewish people have survived thousands of years with similar opposition and similar attacks and we’re still here. This is one of the miracles of the Jewish people is that we’re survivors. We’re not going to let anybody take our traditions away from us."

"What starts with the Jews doesn’t end with the Jews. We are the canary in the coal mine. We’re the first ones to be hated and vilified, but then it extends to others and the ball keeps rolling until everybody is finding a scapegoat that’s not them and pointing fingers at others. That’s how society in a democracy disappears and disintegrates."

Rabbi Erin Polansky, Beth Israel Congregation, Kingston

 

Islam Quite Simply Incompatible with Gay Rights

"Around 2015 we were worried about this person. We have followed him, to a degree."

"In more recent times, he was not one of the people we were the most worried about."

Roger Berg, acting head of PST (Norwegian Domestic Security agency)

 

"We are sorry that once again we have to say that a Pride event must be cancelled."

"It is wrong, as the police claim, that this was meant to be a small event. We understand that people are now frustrated and still want to gather."

Oslo Pride

 

"I know how many of you felt when it turned out that the perpetrator belonged to the Islamic community. Many of you [Norway's Muslim community] experienced fear and unrest " 

"You should know this: We stand together, we are one community and we are responsible for the community together."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere

People bring flowers and rainbow flags to pay tribute to the victims as they take part in a spontaneous Pride parade, following a shooting at the London Pub, a popular gay bar and nightclub, after the official event was cancelled, in Oslo, Norway, June 25, 2022. Haakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB/via REUTERS

Another shock in Norway. The country's right-wing (Anders Brevik) has already made it abundantly clear how much they fear and detest the entry to the Nordic country of people from the Middle East, people practising a different religion linked to a different history, culture and set of laws, not secular like that of most Western democracy, but theocratic, linked to and a mainstay of Islam which regulates every aspect of the Muslim faithful's lives.

Norway insists that it is open to immigration and migration from the Middle East, prepared to welcome and absorb people radically differently socialized than indigenous Norwegians. And the country's political elite make it a point of pride that their welcome is unconditional. Native Norwegians are not so sure. There has been a lashback of anti-Muslim sentiment, with a hefty third of Norwegians uncomfortable to say the least with the presence of Muslims among them.

The 42-year-old suspect in the attack that took place during an LGBTQ festival in Oslo, was no recent immigrant. He was brought by his family to Norway while still an infant, so he has lived in Norway all his life. He is considered to be a radicalized Islamist, and was recognized as such from 2015 onward by Norwegian police authorities, but not considered to be a high-value threat. As with most of these terrorist actions, he has been described as mentally ill.

 

2 dead, 21 wounded in Norway LGBT nightclub shooting  (photo credit: REUTERS)

 

Married, children, he has lived on the dole for years. Iranian by birth, he was arrested after a shooting in the nightlife district of the country's capital early on Saturday, held on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and terrorism. It was actually people on the scene who followed him after the shooting and took him into initial custody until the arrival of police. Two people were killed and another 21 were injured in what has been named an "Islamist terror act".

Clearly, he was 'radicalized' while a long-time citizen of the country. Clerics established in mosques throughout the non-Islamic world are known to be involved in introducing impressionable young Muslims to the concept of jihad and violent missions in the glories of martyrdom. Police in Oslo have thus far had no luck in their attempts to question the man identified as Zaniar Matapour.

He has made his own demands, however, that he would make a statement to be recorded and videotaped only if it were to be released to the public "with no time delay so it won't be censored or manipulated", his defence lawyer explained. Clearly, a type of 'manifesto' that he believes will deliver a welcome message that Gay Pride and LGBTQ festivities are sinful and not permitted by Islam. Punishment is their due and he assigned himself to deliver that punishment; death to the unbeliever.

The killer opened fire at three locations; outside and inside the London Pub, a popular gay bar in Oslo. Despite which police investigators feel confident in stating it was yet too soon in their investigation to determine whether the man had specifically targeted the gay community. Police found two weapons at the scene, one a fully automatic gun. Despite which, police recommend that all further LGBTQ events be cancelled for the present, not ruling out further and ongoing threats.

 

 

A Repulsive Terrorist Attack

A Repulsive Terrorist Attack

"During the last 24 hours, we arrested 14 people,. Now we will find out in the next days if he is part of a broader network or not."

"What we know is that he is a supporter of the Islamic State."

"We all know in our country this is not a fight between Christians or Muslims or Austrians and people from other countries."

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz

 

"We have brought several special forces units together that are now searching for the presumed terrorists."

"I am therefore not limiting it to an area of Vienna because these are mobile perpetrators."

"[Several] heavily armed and dangerous [attackers are still on the loose with large parts of central Vienna shut down and sealed off in a manhunt]."

Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer

Police cars and ambulances in central Vienna on Monday night.

"We are living in the compound of the synagogue. Upon hearing shots we looked down [from] the windows and saw the gunmen shooting at the guests of the various bars and pubs."

"The gunmen were running around and shooting at least 100 rounds or even more in front of our building."

Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister, Stadttempel synagogue

 

"I was cleaning up and suddenly I heard shots. A lot of them, from a machine gun. I looked outside, someone ran past and probably shot someone in front of the synagogue."

"He was wearing a white jogging suit or something similar and he kept shooting."

Owner of a restaurant on the Seitenstettengasse, close to the synagogue

Screengrabs of footage appearing on various social media sites showing terrorist attack in Vienna, Nov. 2, 2020. Photo by Screengrab

The attack began at around 8:00 p.m. local time in a central area of Vienna, the Austrian capital. The country  prepared to go back into lockdown, and this night before lockdown, people were out in droves at local bars, hotels and restaurants on the street, in close proximity to the city's central synagogue. It was immediately assumed that the synagogue was the initial target. It might have been, no one can now interrogate the sole attacker, he is dead, one of five who died last night, the four others victims of Fejzulai Kujtim, a 20-year-old Austrian man from the town of St. Poelten, 33 miles west of Vienna. 

 

Immediately the attack began, bedlam prevailed. Six discrete sites were declared to be under attack, each by different gunmen, professionally organized and equipped with high-powered rifles, shooting at random, shouting out 'Allahu Akbar!' as they consigned total strangers to death in their mission to shock and terrorize, and likely avenge the Prophet Mohammad whose image had been mocked in neighbouring France, where two deadly knife attacks had just taken place in the past several weeks stemming from a French teacher using Mohammad cartoons illustratively in a middle-school class on civics and freedom of speech.

 

As the evening wore on it was assumed that the attacker, by then shot dead by police, had an accomplice, perhaps more than one, and whoever they were, they were escaping, armed and dangerous.  Police urged the population to remain indoors, sheltered, that danger stalked anyone unaware and vulnerable out in the open. Borders were closed, a massive search was launched for the co-perpetrator or perpetrators, the henchmen who had been involved in the murder spree alongside Fejzulai Kujtim.

 

Until, finally, it was determined that in all likelihood he had acted alone in a powerful frenzy of religiou-inspired fervour. There was no one else. He also happened to be a convicted felon, imprisoned on a charge of terrorism, he had attempted to leave Austria for Syria to join the Islamic State. While in prison he had undergone deradicalization training and was deemed by authorities to have passed with flying colours, earning him an early release from detention. Presumably, Austrian security is too man-short keeping tabs on its identified extremists to fully cover them all and obviously Eajzulai Kujtim, as a public threat, was overlooked.

 

He had succeeded in wounding another 15 people, among them a police officer, with seven of the total wounded remaining hospitalized in critical condition.Not that the manhunt for possible Islamist collaborators is over; thus far 14 people have been investigated as possible conspirators with the attacker, and are in custody while their suspected links to the atrocity are being probed. The witnesses too were convinced that a number of attackers were involved, steering their excited narratives.

 

Armed police stay in position at the scene of the attack in the Austrian capital.

 

 

Last night the Vienna police tweeted an alert to the general public: "There are several injured persons. We are on site with all available forces. Please avoid all public squares in the city". The army, assured Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, would see to the protection of vulnerable capital sites leaving the police to focus on anti-terror operations. Today is another day. There have been other revelations, chief among them that this was a sole-actor terrorist event. There was but one active shooter. A man with Macedonian-Austrian citizenship, although he was born in Austria.

An empathetic and terrorism-seasoned French President Emmanuel Macron gave his full and unstinting support to Austria; it is debatable whether the compliment had been initiated in reverse weeks earlier. "This is our Europe. Our enemies must know with whom they are dealing. We will not retreat", stated President Macron, of the destructive malevolence of the extremist Islamists harbouring in safety in progressive-minded Europe.

In Austria, as in the United States, private gun ownership is fairly high, though not in competition with U.S. numbers. Although Austria has of late not been the recipient of large-scale terrorist attacks such as Paris, Berlin and London have been vulnerable to in recent years, in August a 32-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested, suspected of trying to attack a Jewish community leader in Graz, one of Austria's larger cities. 

 

Armed police stand outside the Vienna State Opera amid a terrorist attack in the Austrian capital. Photograph: Michael Gruber/Getty Images