Things were running a bit late. When the shooting started, when the bullets were hitting the beautiful old stained glass windows on one side of the Sons of Jacob synagogue, the people - about two dozen of them - were already inside. The congregants were just outside the sanctuary, getting ready to go in for Yom Kippur services. Fatefully, they weren’t in the sanctuary yet. Things had been running a bit late. Had that not been so, Rabbi Oded Peles said, a bullet would have hit

BELLEVILLE — The scourge of violent Jew hatred has seemingly come to the Friendly City. On Sunday night, with Yom Kippur being celebrated as the holiest and most solemn day of the year in Judaism — the Day of Atonement — shots rang out at Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville around 7 p.m. One Belleville police officer was hit and was later rushed to a hospital. While at least two dozen members of the Jewish community gathered for services, shots were heard and went “for at l

Mark Carney famously loved the Clash. So, at least once when he was Governor of the Bank of England, did our Prime Minister ever hum along to the British punk band’s song, Safe European Home? The tune is about the band’s first big trip to Jamaica, which wasn’t everything they had cracked it up to be. On the chorus, Joe Strummer sings: “Sitting here in my safe European home, don’t wanna go back there again.” Strummer was referring to Jamaica, and he didn’t mince words about th

For those who were blessedly unaware of Benjamin Hammond Haggerty’s existence, like me, a refresher. Haggerty performs (checks notes) rap music under the name “Macklemore.” He grew up in a Seattle neighbourhood where homes routinely fetch around $2 million (Cdn.). He went to one high school where the median household income was about $200,000 a year. Coincidentally, the high school Macklemore attended has been sued at least twice for Jewish students being terrorized by others

David Frum has given me a great honour by designating The Hidden Hand as his book of the week. Here is a link to his show - the discussion of the book is at about the 50-minute mark, but I encourage you to listen to all of it, because the show is about the misuse of the word "genocide," an important theme I've written about extensively - and below are some of the things David has to say. Thank you to David Frum for reading the book and recommending it - and to all of you who

At the U of T "encampment," showing how the Hamas red triangle is a symbol marking Jews for death. Review from Australia's Jewish Affairs Council, here. Snippets from their review: "Directed by Kari Hollend and Cristina Bishai, and led by Canadian political strategist, lawyer and author Warren Kinsella, The Campaignexamines the information war that erupted alongside the physical war following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. The central theme of the documentary is not wh

From Quill and Quire: Winners of 2026 Canadian Jewish Literary Awards revealed The winners of the 12th Canadian Jewish Literary Awards have been announced. The annual awards recognize and reward the finest Canadian writing on Jewish themes and subjects. Winners were selected by a jury comprised of writer and broadcaster Edward Trapunski, author Rona Arato, publishing professional Barbara Berson, author and journalist Andrew Cohen, lawyer Mark Freiman, professor Alain Goldschl

Celebration of Hamas attack in Mississauga, Ont., on October 8, 2023. Photo by Efrain Monsanto. The purpose of propaganda is to make some people think that other people aren’t human. Aldous Huxley, the British philosopher, said that. So true were his words, I started my book The Hidden Hand with them. Propaganda comes with differing names: agitprop, disinformation, fake news, falsehoods, frauds, lies. Whatever it is called, whatever the circumstances, that is always its inten