The assistant director of pro-Israel media watchdog organization Honest Reporting Canada is facing charges of 17 counts of mischief in Toronto for alleged graffiti vandalism in the Leslieville neighbourhood on Nov. 13, 2024.
Robert Walker’s case appeared briefly before the Ontario Court of Justice on Feb. 26.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario confirmed Wednesday the matter was addressed by that court very early that morning, was in a set date phase, and would next return to court March 14 to be spoken to.
“The previous public appearance was on Jan. 24, 2025. A judicial pre-trial was held on Jan. 30, 2025. No exhibits [of evidence] have been filed in this matter yet,” Keesha Seaton, in the Attorney General’s office, said in a Feb. 26 email to The CJN.
While the original police media release merely described it as “language related to the Middle East conflict,” the graffiti messages documented on social media included “FUCK GAZA” and “Rape ≠ Resistance.” These appeared to have been spray-painted using a stencil along about four blocks of Queen Street East on the city’s southeast side, between Grant Street and Logan Avenue.
Charges laid for anti-Palestine graffiti in Leslievillehttps://t.co/0RrrwLw1gy pic.twitter.com/QNDVQj849P
— Allison Smith (@QueensParkToday) November 15, 2024
The mischief counts for the graffiti were deemed hate-motivated by Toronto Police Services’ Hate Crime Unit.
Two other people who were arrested at the scene are also facing 17 counts of mischief, while the TPS media release described one outstanding suspect as less than five feet tall—and last seen riding a kick scooter.
The CJN has obtained the court filing confirming the 17 counts of mischief for Walker, who has not replied to numerous requests for comment from The CJN since the charges were laid in November.
Leora Shemesh, the lawyer representing Walker, appeared in court Jan. 24 on the 17 counts of mischief under $5,000, according to a report in the Toronto Star. She is also representing the other two people charged with 17 counts of mischief under $5,000.
Shemesh has declined multiple requests for comment from The CJN, including on Feb. 26.
Pro-Palestinian activists and media outlets following Walker’s story have promoted a letter-writing campaign and petition to Canada Revenue Agency, the federal tax regulator, to investigate the pro-Israel media advocacy organization’s charitable tax status in the wake of its employee’s alleged involvement in the incident.
Honest Reporting Canada did not respond to The CJN’s requests for comment (nor to the Toronto Star).
Walker’s name and photo have remained on Honest Reporting’s website, where he is identified as the assistant director. On Jan. 17, he had a letter published in the Waterloo Record arguing in response to earlier reports, that there was no evidence that an Israeli air strike had killed two sisters who were to have started studies at the University of Waterloo.
On Jan 17, HRC was published in @WR_Record in response to a letter writer who spread misinformation, writing that 2 Palestinian women, who were set to begin studies at @UWaterloo, were killed by Israeli airstrikes, when really there is no such evidence.⤵️https://t.co/oNUGekCKJX
— HonestReporting Canada🎗️ (@HonestRepCanada) January 20, 2025
Previously, through a statement provided to the Star—which Shemesh declined to provide to The CJN—Shemesh said the charges facing Walker have been “politicized” due to an “emotionally charged climate associated to the Middle East conflict,” and that her client has since faced “continuous and persistent” harassment at his home.
“My client will be pleading not guilty to the offences for which he is charged and he enjoys the presumption of innocence as we all do,” she wrote, according to the Star.
“This case should not be used by anyone as an excuse to target, harass and or intimidate an individual who at this time has done nothing wrong,” the statement read in part.
Walker has previously spoken about antisemitic graffiti targeting Jewish “bus stop advertisements, a synagogue, and even election signs,” in a podcast from his organization in August 2021, following the previous war in Gaza, which concluded with a ceasefire.
In the podcast, as Jewish Telegraphic Agency pointed out in its report, Walker describes the vandalism of a bus stop ad for the #EndJewHatred campaign—with a blue background and a Star of David, though no direct mention of Israel—had been vandalized with “Free Palestine” and “Zionists aren’t Jews.”
“Speaking out against antisemitic hate is little more than an invitation for more of it,” he said of the bus stop ad graffiti at the corner of College and Dufferin streets in 2021.
Toronto Police made it easier to report hateful graffiti, adding a form to its website, in response to increased reports of signs, stickers, and graffiti after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel’s military response in Gaza.
As reported by The CJN, downtown Toronto areas such as the West End neighbourhood of Davenport have also seen violent and offensive images contained in some of the streetside messages, including “Solidarity Means Attack” and “Fuck Off Zionists,” while posters pasted up near a high school feature ‘resistance’ language alongside illustrations of women bearing assault rifles.
Toronto city councillor and budget chief Shelley Carroll previously told The CJN in an email that the city’s graffiti management plan had been updated “to respond quickly to hate-related incidents.”
Two weeks after Walker’s arrest in November, the city committed to relaunch its anti-hate public education campaign this year, including a city staff-led review of the plan, to ensure there is a rapid response to inflammatory graffiti.
