Bagels And Bullets: Antisemitic Terror Wave Hits Jewish Bakery Chain

In yet another series of antisemitic attacks in Toronto, masked vandals shot up and smashed the windows of two Jewish-owned bakeries on Saturday, the latest gut-punch in a relentless run of anti-Jewish violence terrorizing Canada’s largest city.

Cops confirmed evidence of gunfire at the beloved bakery Kiva’s Yonge and St. Clair outpost, while a second location near Bathurst and Steeles also had its window busted out — though without shots fired there. Miraculously, nobody was hurt in either attack.

The kosher-style bagel shop, a Jewish community fixture since 1979, has three GTA locations and is currently run by brothers Ben, Elan and Steve Rafael. Police say they’re probing whether the two hits are connected.

Window broken, gunshot fired at Kiva's Jewish-owned bakery in Toronto, police say https://t.co/VFOEjwAQ6t via @torontostar Kiva’s bakery is kosher-style and known for its popular bagels and baked goods. It has long been a hub for the Jewish community. 
The original bakery opened…

— Israel Heritage Foundation (@IHF_Heritage) July 26, 2026

Mayor Olivia Chow stated,  “We in Toronto will double our efforts. Toronto police through Project Resolute have been guarding synagogues and Jewish community centers and places 24/7, and we’ll see what else we could do.”

The bakery attack is only the newest scar in a years-long surge that’s turned Toronto into ground zero for antisemitic hate crime in Canada. Despite making up under 4% of the population, Jews have been the top target of hate crimes citywide since well before the pandemic — and things have only gotten uglier.

The real inflection point came after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel, when antisemitic incidents in Toronto exploded 80% almost overnight. By 2024, police logged a record 443 hate crimes citywide, with Jews the victims in a jaw-dropping 40% of them and 81% of all religiously-motivated attacks.

That violence has since escalated into a terrifying pattern of gunfire at Jewish institutions. A Jewish girls elementary school in North York was shot at three times in 2024. n March 2025, a suspect was charged for targeting five Toronto synagogues. Vandalism hit Kehillat Shaarei Torah in November. March 2026 brought shootings at three synagogues, prompting a $10M security fund. In May, congregants were literally being shot at with gel-blaster guns leaving Shabbat services, with watchdog group B’nai Brith warning 2026 is shaping up to be the bloodiest year for Canadian Jews in memory.

With no arrests made in most of the recent attacks, Jewish leaders say fear is becoming the defining feature of daily life in Toronto.