After keeping quiet for more than two months about a major arrest made related to the spike of antisemitic attacks and threats to Toronto’s Jewish community in the year after Oct. 7, Toronto police announced on Monday March 17 that they have charged a Toronto man with 29 crimes, many of these “allegedly motivated by hatred towards the Jewish community.”
Toronto police have also charged this suspect with three much more serious hate crimes involving planning and urging terrorism activities in Canada against Jews and supporters of Israel, according to court documents. If convicted, the suspect could face a life sentence for the combined three terrorism-related charges.
These three charges were specifically approved by Ontario’s Attorney General’s office on March 10. They are: advocating genocide and wilful promotion of hatred, which normally carry prison sentences of up to five years and up to two years, respectively. The suspect was also charged with public incitement of hatred, under Section 319 of the Criminal Code. However, the Criminal Code allows the combination of these three charges together to be eligible for the much longer life sentence since the Attorney General felt they “also constitute terrorist activities” pursuant to Sections ll 83.01(b), and 83.27 of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Bringing these hate speech charges are “rare”, Toronto police noted in their press release.
Officers arrested a man on Jan. 11 at his Willowdale home, and charged him with 29 criminal offences.
The suspect is Amir Arvahi Azar, 32, of Toronto.
Aside from the three hate speech charges, the remaining charges include five counts of arson at synagogues, two counts of mischief, seven for mischief to cultural property, uttering threats, criminal harassment, possession of illegal firearms, possession of stolen credit card data and of credit card forgery equipment, and possession of other stolen goods.
Suspect released on bail
The suspect appeared in the Ontario Court of Justice at 10 Armoury St. in Toronto for a bail hearing on March 17.
A justice of the peace ordered the suspect released from custody—he has been held at the Toronto South Detention Centre–as long as he wears an ankle monitoring bracelet and lives under house arrest.
“We know that these charges are very serious and that people are concerned,” deputy police chief Robert Johnson said in a one-minute prepared video statement on Monday. “I want to assure everyone that we will continue to do everything we can to keep our community safe.”
The Crown prosecutor’s office immediately filed a motion with the provincial Superior Court of Justice to review the decision by Justice of the Peace Kevin Madigan to order the suspect released on bail.
The CJN asked Azar’s defence lawyer Kim Schofield whether her client is a Canadian citizen, and why he was deemed fit to be released on bail, in the wake of such serious charges.
“Due to the ongoing publication ban, our office is not in a position to comment,” her office told The CJN in an email.
Court documents show that the suspect is alleged to be behind a string of frightening arson events and vandalism directed at Jewish buildings, especially synagogues, and against supporters of Israel in the city, over a period of nine months dating back to April 2024.
Some of these incidents over this period of time include setting fire to wooden billboards with posters calling for the return of the kidnapped Israeli hostages, such as what happened outside Beth Tikvah Synagogue on Bayview Avenue on April 26.
The Kehillat Shaarei Torah (KST) congregation, further south on Bayview Avenue, was repeatedly vandalized eight times, including windows broken and several pro-Israel community signs outside the building were burned.
On June 30, Toronto police reported a man riding a motorcycle seen near Kehillat Shaarei Torah, throwing projectiles into a window of that building. A month later, on July 31, a man on a motorcycle was seen there again, this time torching three pro-Israel signs on the property.
This past January, staff at KST told The CJN they’d been informed the Toronto police had made an arrest, but were given no details, as the investigation was continuing.
Although the Bayview corridor south of Finch Avenue saw many of the attacks, they weren’t confined to the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto.
Rocks were thrown into the glass doors at the entrance to the Pride of Israel congregation on Bathurst Street during the Canada Day long weekend. At the time, witnesses told police they saw a man on a motorcycle speed away around 3 a.m.
The vandalism cost the Pride of Israel congregation $13,000 to repair the damaged glass windows and doors, according to the chairman, Steven Bloom, in an interview with The CJN in July 2024, during a community rally hosted by his synagogue.
Later that same month, a sign in support of Israel was damaged by fire outside Temple Sinai synagogue on Wilson Avenue in the wee hours of July 31, according to Rabbi Michael Dolgin.
A pro-Israel sign was damaged by fire at the Tiferet Israel synagogue on Sheppard Avenue West on Aug. 3. And in December 2024, a window was shattered at a branch of the Israeli-owned Café Landwer restaurant located at 5000 Yonge St. Previously, the Forest Hill Jewish Centre received a barrage of threatening phone calls in June 2024.
Several Jewish pro-Israel activists were also targeted, including Robert Walker, of Honest Reporting Canada, who himself had been charged with spraying anti-Hamas graffiti on city property. Those mischief charges were recently dropped after Walker and two other suspects paid restitution to the Hospital for Sick Children.
Even the Friends of Jesus Christ church, affiliated with the Jews for Jesus movement, on Nugget Avenue, was caught up in the attacks.
The suspect’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 28.
