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Police have arrested and charged a third suspect in connection with the March shootings that targeted two shuls in the Greater Toronto Area, completing the roundup of all known suspects. The announcement comes as Jewish community leaders continue urging investigators to determine whether foreign actors played a role in orchestrating the attacks.

York Regional Police announced that a 23-year-old Barrie resident has been charged in connection with a string of shooting incidents that occurred across Toronto and York Region in March, including attacks on two shuls that took place about an hour apart, CityNews Toronto reported.

The first shooting occurred just before midnight on March 6 after residents near York Hill Boulevard and Clark Avenue West in Vaughan reported hearing gunfire. Officers responding to the scene found bullet holes in the front entrance of the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto shul. Two people were inside the building at the time, but neither was injured.

Shortly after midnight on March 7, Toronto police were called to another shooting at the Shaarei Shomayim shul, located near Glencairn Avenue and Bathurst Street. Investigators found damage to the building’s entrance caused by gunfire. No one was inside the shul when the shots were fired.

The two attacks, carried out within roughly an hour of each other, sent shockwaves through Jewish communities across the Greater Toronto Area and prompted a joint investigation by Toronto Police and York Regional Police.

Earlier this year, York Regional Police charged two individuals in connection with the shootings. Continued cooperation between the two police services ultimately led investigators to identify and charge the 23-year-old suspect as an alleged participant in both shul attacks.

Police noted that the suspect had already been facing charges stemming from two additional shooting incidents in Vaughan and Aurora.

Investigators now say there are no remaining outstanding suspects in the shul shooting investigation. The accused faces numerous charges, including two counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offense, four counts of reckless discharge of a firearm, two counts of mischief relating to religious property, two counts of possession of property obtained by crime valued at more than $5,000, as well as several weapons-related offenses.

Authorities emphasized that the joint investigation remains ongoing and encouraged anyone with additional information to come forward.

Following the announcement, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) welcomed the latest arrest while stressing that major questions remain unanswered.

“The laying of charges against the third and final suspect in connection with the March shootings targeting GTA shuls marks an important development in this investigation. With no outstanding suspects, we commend Toronto and York Regional Police for their work to identify and apprehend all those alleged to have carried out these attacks.”

CIJA argued that investigators must now determine who may have orchestrated the attacks from behind the scenes.

“However, the important question remains: who or which ‘foreign entities’ directed those accused of carrying out the shootings? Last week, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw again raised concerns about local youth and criminals being hired to commit acts of violence on Canadian soil.”

The organization pointed to broader national security concerns involving possible Iranian involvement.

“This announcement comes within the broader context of Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre warning of a ‘realistic possibility’ that Iran’s Islamic regime is directing local criminal elements to target Canadians. As well, the federal government’s Secretary of State for Combatting Crime has acknowledged that a ‘foreign entity’ is behind attacks against shuls in Toronto.”

CIJA also referenced recent developments in the United States, saying they add to those concerns.

“Recent charges brought by US prosecutors add further urgency to these concerns, with prosecutors alleging that an Iranian-proxy Kataib Hezbollah directed attacks in Canada through local criminal networks, including the shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto,” said CIJA.

The organization concluded by urging investigators to continue pursuing anyone who may have planned or financed the attacks.

“With the alleged perpetrators now in custody, investigators must continue working to identify and hold accountable anyone or any foreign actor who may have recruited, directed, or financed these attacks. And governments at all levels must ensure security services and police have the tools they need to confront the dangerous trend of a growing convergence between international terrorism, Iran’s Islamic regime, youth radicalization, and local criminal elements,” the organization concluded.

The arrests come amid a significant increase in antisemitic incidents across Toronto and the surrounding area since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.

In early March, gunfire struck Temple Emanu-El in North York while congregants were celebrating Purim. Although no one was hurt, the shul sustained damage.

Later, in April, a man allegedly attempted to force his way into an Orthodox shul in Thornhill, just north of Toronto, assaulting one individual before fleeing.

The following day, someone threw a rock through the window of a Judaica store in Toronto, marking the third attack on that business.

More recently, two separate locations of a Jewish-owned bakery in Toronto were targeted in attacks that occurred within an hour of one another.

{Matzav.com}

New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji will travel to Syria and Lebanon next month accompanied by members of her taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail, despite both countries remaining on the US State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list, according to a report by the New York Post.

Sources told the Post that Duwaji is scheduled to depart for the Middle East on Sept. 20, visiting Syria and Lebanon, both of which the State Department warns Americans to avoid because of ongoing security risks.

According to a source familiar with the arrangements, Duwaji—whom Mayor Zohran Mamdani has frequently described as a “private person”—requested police protection for the trip after traveling overseas last month without an NYPD security detail.

Duwaji, a 29-year-old Syrian-American artist, has longstanding family ties to the region. On her personal website, she describes herself as a “Syrian Illustrator,” and her parents are Syrian Muslims originally from Damascus.

The mayor’s office confirmed both the trip and the decision to assign NYPD officers to accompany her.

“Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon,” said mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec.

City Hall declined to provide additional details about the itinerary or say whether the trip has any purpose beyond visiting relatives.

A source familiar with the plans insisted the journey is entirely personal.

“It’s not official business. It’s not doing anything for the city.”

Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, criticized the decision to send NYPD officers into what he described as dangerous conflict zones, arguing that the officers—not Duwaji—would face the greatest risks.

“We’re putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones,” said Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism and a former Brooklyn Assemblyman.

Hikind also argued that Duwaji herself would not face threats because of her political positions.

“Duwaji doesn’t need security. She will get a hero’s welcome and be protected by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis,” Hikind said, referring to Islamic terrorists and militants.

“Duwaji will be fine.”

Duwaji previously participated in a 2019 artist residency at Haven for Artists in Beirut, a feminist cultural organization that describes its mission as operating at “the intersection of art and activism.”

Earlier this summer, she co-hosted an all-female pro-Palestinian spiritual retreat on the French island of Corsica. The event was organized by Women Sanctuary, a travel organization focused on Muslim women and led by Paris-based designer Rym Nur.

She also skipped America’s 250th anniversary celebrations to attend an earlier Women Sanctuary retreat in Mallorca, Spain, where she served as the event’s “artist-in-residence” and led a sold-out workshop titled “Plants Of The Quran.”

At the time, the mayor’s office said no NYPD officers accompanied Duwaji during that overseas trip.

Like her husband, Duwaji has drawn attention for her outspoken pro-Palestinian activism and criticism of Israel.

Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, reports surfaced that Duwaji had curated Spotify playlists featuring songs with explicit anti-Israel lyrics.

She also came under scrutiny after reportedly liking Instagram posts celebrating Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, as well as a separate post claiming that reports of rapes committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli victims and hostages were a “mass hoax.”

Weeks before Mamdani assumed office, a profile in New York magazine highlighted a number of Duwaji’s past social media posts. Among them was a 2015 message asserting that Tel Aviv “shouldn’t exist in the first place” and referring to its residents as “occupiers.” Another post from her teenage years included the use of a racial slur.

In April, Duwaji issued an apology for the “hurt” caused by her past online posts, although she stopped short of specifically apologizing for her anti-Israel statements.

Mayor Mamdani has defended his wife throughout the controversy, arguing that she is a “private person” who should not be subjected to intense public scrutiny over old social media activity.

Duwaji has also been active in Democratic Socialist political causes. She produced artwork for the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America during the group’s “PalestineOnTheBallot.com” campaign, which promoted Democratic primary candidates who refused funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and pledged support for the Not on Our Dime Act, legislation aimed at penalizing or dissolving registered charities found to support what the bill defines as “Israeli settler violence.”

{Matzav.com}