Just after 7:00 p.m. on September 20, a man in a truck drove near the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., and opened fire with a shotgun at a police officer who was in a vehicle outside the building.
Around 25 congregants were gathered inside the building for a Yom Kippur service. After an exchange of fire, the police officer and his colleague neutralized the suspect, who later died in hospital. Dozens of bullets hit the synagogue during the shootout.
The officer, Constable Jeff Smith, reportedly remains in hospital with severe injuries but in a stable condition. None of the congregants were hurt.
The suspect, 29-year-old Sean Ward, was an army veteran who was released from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2022 after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Reporting suggested that he espoused anti-immigrant views and COVID-19 conspiracy theories, including some that were antisemitic in nature. According to police, the attack was a pre-meditated hate crime intended to cause mass casualties.
There is currently no public evidence linking Ward to the pro-Palestine movement or any views about Israel or Zionism.
Despite this, pro-Israel voices suggested that anti-Zionism, the pro-Palestine movement and “anti-Israel” government policies were responsible for causing the attack.
Here, we provide a timeline of how journalists, politicians and pro-Israel organizations used the story to attack pro-Palestine activism and government policies regarding Israel.
September 20
Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella published an article titled “‘Devastating’ Yom Kippur synagogue shooting rocks Belleville.”
No information about the shooter’s identity or motive had yet come to light.
Despite this, Kinsella’s colleague, Brian Lilley, tweeted: “This is what globalizing the intifada looks like,” referring to a common slogan at pro-Palestine protests.
Minutes later, Israel’s Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, called the incident a “terror attack” and stated that “Israel has repeatedly offered support, and will continue to avail any kind of assistance required.”
The Canadian Press later reported that police had no further comment about the incident at that time.
September 21
The next day, police confirmed that up to 30 shots were fired during the shootout, and that bullets struck nearby vehicles and homes as well as the synagogue. Ward was identified as the alleged shooter.
Police still did not confirm the alleged shooter’s motive, but a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit said “common sense” indicated the incident was probably a terrorist attack aimed at the Jewish community.
In an interview with CBC News, Liberal MP Chris Malette said of the suspect, “We don’t know this individual,” but that “we do know that he’s from our riding. So, we just know that it wasn’t outside actors who came in to target this.”
CBC News also reported that police visited Ward’s home in Quinte West, Ont., and sources told the broadcaster that he previously served in the Canadian military in Alberta. There was still no official confirmation of Ward’s motive or intended target.
Despite this information, Conservative MP Roman Baber later tweeted: “Fix immigration: Islamists Jihadis shouldn’t come to 🇨🇦!” He also defended Israel’s war on Gaza, claiming: “Civilian casualties of war are not genocide. Israel sends warnings, leaflets & aid to the enemy.”
Baber later made similar comments in the House of Commons, telling the Liberals to “stop dehumanizing Jews by accusing Israel of genocide” among other demands (no Canadian government official has formally accepted the overwhelming conclusion of major human rights organizations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza).
Later in the day, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the incident a “terror attack” and linked it to Canada’s foreign policy, tweeting: “Open incitement that goes unaddressed in the public sphere, along with anti-Israel policies, is fueling antisemitism.” It added: “A change is needed.”
Moed quote tweeted the post, stating: “The antisemitism crisis in Canada is growing unabated! Much more needs to be done to protect the Jewish community.”
Canadian pro-Israel lobby groups also weighed in.
In a joint statement, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) expressed its gratitude to the injured police officer and listed a series of demands. The first demand focused on government policies regarding Israel.
Avi Lewis attacked
On Yom Kippur, NDP Leader Avi Lewis tweeted: “I am reflecting on the fact that we have not done our part to stop an ongoing genocide being committed in our name. There are many other fronts on which I must do work of repair. But nothing on this scale.”
This prompted a barrage of attacks which included suggesting Lewis’s comments helped encourage violence like the Belleville shooting.
When asked about Lewis’s comments, Liberal MP Ben Carr told reporters: “It’s dangerous and it’s the type of narrative that is actually contributing to the type of threats that we’re seeing levied against the Jewish community.”
In the National Post, columnist Jesse Kline took aim at Lewis as well as Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, over an older comment she made about Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Kline denied that a genocide is happening, and wrote:
“When politicians like Chow tell people that Israel’s committing a genocide and the leader of the NDP suggests Canadian Jews should atone for the made-up sins of a foreign country, it’s not hard to believe that some people will blame Jews for the most horrific of crimes and decide to take matters into their own hands.”
Richard Marceau, senior vice-president at CIJA, claimed that Lewis was “making sure Canadian Jews are targets” following the Belleville shooting.
The Globe and Mail columnist Robyn Urback also weighed in, claiming that Lewis’s comments should be “disqualifying.”
CIJA promoted the column via Twitter, and cited “Canadian security experts” who, in their words, claimed: “Extremists weaponize anger over Israeli policies to fuel antisemitism and terrorist violence in Canada.”
In response to the attacks against him, Lewis told reporters: “Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel is antisemitic. I’ve never done it. I think it’s dangerous and that’s absolutely not what I did.”
September 22
On September 22, it was reported that Ward had died in hospital. In an email sent to The Maple and other news outlets, the Department of National Defence acknowledged:
Sources told Global News that Ward was discharged from military service after he refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine. He reportedly believed in a range of conspiracy theories and allegedly blamed Jews for the pandemic.
The same day, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli directly addressed Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking: “How much more must happen before the Government of Canada takes dramatic action against the terror infrastructure, extremist networks and incitement operating in Canada?”
September 23
Despite the lack of any evidence suggesting that Ward’s alleged actions were motivated by the pro-Palestine movement or any views about Israel, pro-Israel groups and individuals continued to focus on Canada’s foreign policy in the Middle East in their responses to the shooting.
In a tweet about Belleville, Conservative MP Shuv Majumdar wrote: “This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged another $100 million, including funds to train Palestinian Authority police […] A government that trafficks in terror funding abroad cannot claim to be fighting it at home.”
In another statement about the shooting, CIJA took direct aim at Canada’s foreign policy, which it claimed has “consequences at home.”
The pro-Israel group specifically took issue with the fact that Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters she was planning to request information about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is subject to an international arrest warrant, planned to fly through Canadian airspace en route to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
CIJA said: “Following the attack on a Belleville synagogue on Yom Kippur, Canadian leaders have a responsibility to protect Jewish Canadians from the domestic consequences of a dangerous double standard toward Israel that gives extremists a green light to target Canadians.”
Israel’s Embassy in Canada also directly addressed the Canadian government, stating that they would “continue to urge Canadian leadership at all levels to take bold, uncompromising measures to restore safety and ensure that Jewish life in Canada can thrive without fear.”
The same day, an editorial in The Globe and Mail admitted that the suspect’s motivations were still not known, but nonetheless claimed that “Anti-Zionism has been the core of the antisemitism problem in Canada and elsewhere since Oct. 7 [2023].”
CBC News later published a story shedding more light on the alleged shooter’s apparent hatred of Jews, but still presented no evidence linking him to the pro-Palestine movement or showing him expressing opinions about Israel.
CBC explained that according to people who knew Ward, he regularly engaged in antisemitic hate speech and also “espoused anti-immigrant sentiments, blaming them for his lack of employment.”
No evidence published to date has suggested that he held any particular views about Israel or Palestine.
September 24-Today
On September 24, Belleville Police Service Chief Murray Rodd told reporters that the incident was a hate-motivated attack directed at the Jewish community. In a short video clip of the attack shared by police, Ward can be heard screaming: “You are going to die for the Jews.”
Rodd made no mention whatsoever about the shooter’s views on Zionism or Canada’s foreign policy regarding Israel.
Still, media commentators continued to link the incident to those issues. In a September 26 article in The Globe and Mail, columnist Marcus Gee claimed that “anti-Zionism” is feeding a “wave of hate” across Canada.
He wrote:
As of the date of publication, there is no evidence linking Ward to the pro-Palestine movement, anti-Zionist beliefs or any opinions about Israel.
