After the Shots, the Paper—and a Community Asked to Endure Again

There are wounds that heal slowly, and then there are wounds that are reopened before the first layer of scar tissue has even formed. In Belleville, Ontario, a community still tending to the injuries of a violent attack during Yom Kippur has been confronted with a second act of aggression, this one delivered not with weapons but with paper—folded, printed, and scattered through the night like seeds of a poison that requires no cultivation to spread. The flyers appeared on the grounds of the Sons of Jacob Synagogue and in the surrounding neighborhoods, their messages steeped in the familiar libels that have haunted Jewish communities for centuries .

Norm Weddum, president of the synagogue, woke to find the materials plastered across the building and nearby streets. "We wake up yesterday morning to find these flyers plastered all over the synagogue and in the surrounding neighbourhoods too," he said. "It's disgusting that they would target us this way" . The distribution came less than two weeks after a gunman attacked the synagogue on September 20, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Police have described that attack as a thwarted mass killing. The shooter, Sean Ward, had multiple guns, large amounts of ammunition, and gasoline; he was fatally injured after exchanging fire with officers. Constable Jeff Smith, stationed outside the building, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and remains hospitalized .

The flyers themselves are not random expressions of anonymous malice. They promote conspiracy theories that blame Jewish people for the COVID-19 pandemic, for abortion, for gun control and immigration policies. One flyer names past and present Jewish American lawmakers; another targets specific Jewish organizations . Deborah Hoskin, a resident of Jewish heritage, found one on her lawn just after 6 a.m. Her husband collected others from neighbors' properties. She described the content as "a disease that's spread all over the world" and wondered whether there might be a local base of neo-Nazis or white supremacists in the area .

B'nai Brith Canada has called for an investigation into a U.S.-based neo-Nazi group, the Goyim Defense League, which it believes either influenced or directly distributed the flyers. The organization's CEO, Simon Wolle, described the targeting of the synagogue as "a cowardly attempt to intimidate, terrorize, and taunt the Jewish community" . The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto released a joint statement warning that "libels and conspiracies about Jews and Israelis are fuelling hate and violence against Canadians," and that such acts, when they become frequent enough, create an environment that can influence extremists toward more violent pathways .

For the congregants of Sons of Jacob, the flyers have brought back the fear and grief of that September night. Doug Lobel, who was inside the synagogue during the attack, said the sight of the flyers near the building "brought that night and all those emotions rushing back" . Weddum has said the community is trying to return to the building, to hold services, to reclaim the space that was violated. "They were traumatized, and it's going to be a long healing process," he said. "But we are working on it, and we are not going to be stopped by it" .

Belleville Police say they are actively investigating and have increased patrols around places of worship and community gathering spaces. They have asked residents for security footage and information about who might have distributed the materials . Weddum noted that the synagogue's security cameras have not yet been installed, and that the number of flyers distributed suggests more than one person was involved . The investigation continues, but for a community still learning to feel safe again, the question that lingers is not only who left the flyers, but what such acts say about the world that surrounds them.

AI Image Disclaimer: The images accompanying this article were generated by artificial intelligence and are for illustrative purposes only.

Sources: The Canadian Jewish News, National Post, CityNews Toronto, Toronto Sun, St. Catharines Standard