Toronto man shaken by assault, B’nai Brith Canada says Jewish community ‘scared’

Sam Brody, 29, said a man approached, stopped and body checked him into the fence near his residence at around 9 am. "I fell down to the ground," he said, adding that the attack came suddenly. He believed he was targeted for his Jewish skullcap, according to CP24.

"I was scared, like I don’t know what he was going to do after that," Brody said. "Someone to hit me like that out of the blue, knock me to the ground, say something like that," continuing, "I don’t know what he was going to do next."

"I’m just scared, I’m still kind of scared now, shaken up." Brody also expressed concern that the man responsible lives in Yonge and Eglinton where he and his wife recently moved.

Following Toronto police coming to his residence to take down his account of the event, they confirmed that they have officially launched a file of the alleged assault. "The investigation is active and ongoing," said a police spokesperson.

"This brazen assault comes amid an unprecedented surge of physical attacks on Canadian Jews," wrote B'nai Brith Canada in a statement. "A recent assault on a Jewish man near his home in broad daylight is just the latest in a disturbing trend of attacks on Jews stemming from anti-Israel sentiment."

B'nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said that the Jewish community is growing increasingly anxious and scared. They report 154 incidents of harassment, 51 incidents of vandalism and 61 incidents of violence in May alone.

"It is not acceptable and that is why we trust that the police will find the perpetrator and that the person will be prosecuted under the law," said Mostyn: "There needs to be consequences and individuals need to know that there is a red line when it comes to hate, hateful acts, hateful rhetoric will not be tolerated in this country."