A Jewish-owned Toronto café’s windows were smashed twice in mid-March, Goldstruck Coffee said, the third time the coffee shop chain was vandalized this year.
The glass door of the café’s Richmond Street branch was broken on March 15, the shop said on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
The café had just finished repairing the damage last Sunday when the door was smashed again.
Security footage published by the café showed a hooded figure looking both ways before striking the door with a hammer and then running off.
“We work hard every single day to create a warm and safe space. Seeing it violated like this hurts deeply,” Goldstruck said.
View this post on Instagram
The United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto and Conservative Party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said that a Star of David had been painted on the location of the chain’s future branch last month.
“We have a problem in the country. The hateful mob attacked another local Jewish business in Toronto,” Lantsman said on X/Twitter. “These thugs should face full consequences for their brazen lawlessness.”
'Antisemitic scum'
MP Kevin Vuong also ascribed the vandalism to “antisemitic scum.”
Israel’s Toronto Consul General Idit Shamir connected the incidents to al-Quds Day, an Iranian-backed protest day against Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, which is associated with increased violent rhetoric.
“When antisemitism moves from chants to broken glass, we’ve seen this story before,” Shamir said.
Goldstruck said it refused to give up and would have the grand opening for its new Carlton Street location on April 10.