UPDATE (8/2/24): Toronto Police Services arrested a 34-year-old man and charged him with arson in connection with the fire at the school. Police say the school had noticed the suspect was storing belongings in a shed and removed them on July 29. The man returned on July 30, at about 3:30 a.m. to find his belongings removed. He was observed leaving the shed and shortly afterwards the fire started.

The Leo Baeck Day School, an elementary Reform-movement school tucked into a residential neighburhood in midtown Toronto, was the scene of a fire in the early hours of July 30, resulting in a firestorm of controversies and conspiracy theories.

Toronto Police Services said in a statement that police responded to a call at 3:46 a.m. reporting a fire at the school. The fire started in an exterior storage shed, which was being used by a homeless person for shelter.

“The cause of the fire is undetermined, with no suspicious circumstances noted at the scene,” TPS stated. “The Hate Crime Unit has been consulted and there is no evidence that this evidence was motivated by hate,” police said.

By 10 a.m., when a reporter from The Canadian Jewish News visited the school, workers were putting plywood over the broken windows and cleaning up damage caused the fire and the sprinkler system. Scorch marks were evident on the building. A security guard was posted at the school’s parking lot entrance but no police were on site.

Eric Petersiel, head of school, was supervising the cleanup. The windows had been shattered by the heat of the fire, he said.

As the news about the fire at Leo Baeck spread, so too did a wave of conspiracy theories and false information. First on the scene at the school was Ezra Levant, publisher and anchor of Rebel News, who reported the windows were smashed.

Petersiel refuted that claim in an interview with The CJN.

“I said it’s simply not true. Why would you say that? You can only be saying that to make people more upset because you think that’s better for you. The windows were not ’smashed’. I think that’s irresponsible,” Petersiel said.

“The truth is people have a right to be anxious and nervous, because there really are horrible things happening, but when they tie things together in order to sensationalize them, it completely undermines our ability to deal with the situation rationally.”

Some Jewish community organizations are doing “wonderful work” in the community, Petersiel said, “but I’ve learned over the years that, in order to keep their funding alive, they have to sensationalize and create more furor when sometimes it’s not there.”

The first report on social media came from Levant, whose social media stated: “Today a large Jewish school called Leo Baeck Day was smashed and torched. It’s an antisemitic crime wave.”

Later in the day, Levant said on social media that a security recording from a neighbour’s home showed a man approaching the school shortly before the fire broke out.

The school also has security cameras mounted on the outside walls. Those recordings are now part of the police investigation, Petersiel said.

Other organizations were quick to pick up the same theme that the fire was motivated by antisemitism. B’nai Brith Canada tweeted, “Last night the [Leo Baeck] Jewish Day School was vandalized in a heinous act of arson. This attack is now part of a deplorable pattern of rising hate crimes against Jews in Toronto.”

The advocacy group called out Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, saying she has “failed to take any substantial action to protect our community.”

Toronto city councillor Brad Bradford noted, “This attack on a Jewish school is utterly and completely despicable. We cannot accept this as Toronto’s new normal.”

After TPS issued a statement on social media stating “we understand there is concern about a fire that occurred last night at Leo Baeck Day School,” and reiterating that the incident was not believed to be motivated by hate, Bradford spoke out again. “Relieved to hear there is no immediate cause for alarm,” he stated, thanking the police.

Avi Benlolo, founder of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI), also recorded a video in front of the scorched school and called the act a “firebombing.”

Benlolo, who stood with Toronto city councillor James Pasternak, asked the larger community to stand with the Jewish community against “hateful incidents”, gesturing to the school behind him, while acknowledging “we’re not yet sure if this is one of them.”

The AGPI also issued a press release entitled “Two days of Hell,” referring to an overnight spree of antisemitic graffiti in York Region, the “torching of a children’s school bus belonging to the Orthodox Bobov community” and the fire at Leo Baeck.

Toronto Police say they attended a bus that was on fire in a grocery store parking lot at the corner of Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue early in the morning on July 29. The bus had been parked there “for an extended period of time, destined for the scrap yard.”

The fire is considered an arson but there is no evidence the incident was hate-motivated, police stated.

Conspiracies take root during anxious times

The fire at the Leo Baeck Day School comes as the Jewish community is deeply anxious about security. In late May, shots were fired through the windows of Bais Chaya Mushka, an Orthodox girls school. A month later, two synagogues had rocks thrown their windows on the same night. Video revealed both synagogues were attacked by the same person. No arrests have been made in any of the incidents.

Later in the day, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto issued a press release about the fire at Leo Baeck, repeating the police message that “there is no evidence that this incident was motivated by hate.”

“We remind community members of the importance of relying on trustworthy and verified sources when it comes to our collective security,” the press release stated.

At the same time, UJA reminded their supporters, “In a time of rising antisemitism, this is a time to exercise healthy vigilance. If you see something, please say something to police.”

As the head of a Jewish school, Petersiel has also spent the year worrying about security after antisemitic incidents skyrocketed in the city and around the world after Oct. 7.

“It’s hard. Our job is to keep kids safe and at the same time respond to parents, who turn over their children to us to care for them for eight hours a day, to convince them that they’re as safe as can be. It’s a hard balancing act between doing what is the right step of security versus just trying to calm people’s fears. It’s very hard.”

Today’s incident will make even harder. “It’s going to be tough, no question,” he said.  

“People are not careful enough with the sources of their information, and that’s very disappointing. It really should teach people to check themselves and check their sources before they repeat information that makes people more and more upset.”

Another Toronto city councillor, Josh Matlow, posted a reminder of the “critical” importance in such incidents “to be guided by the facts, and not jump to conclusions, especially when a community is feeling vulnerable,” while still acknowledging that “the alarming rise in antisemitism in our city is completely unacceptable [and] when an incident occurs at a school it’s incredibly concerning.”