Hoax Alert: The IDF Arson of North York (2024)
All of a sudden on 3rd January 2024 a delicatessen and small grocery store named ‘International Delicatessen Foods’ (or IDF for short) was the subject of an arson attack. Immediately there were predictable shrieks of ‘anti-Semitism’ and attempts to link to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip that has been going on since 7th October 2023.
Warren Kinsella in the ‘Toronto Sun’ was extremely quick to make such a connection shrieking that:
‘And, this week, a Jewish-owned business in the Toronto area is fire bombed. The supermarket had a sign out front, calling itself “IDF “– International Delicatessen Foods. Was the supermarket fire bombed, and its windows smashed, because of the sign?
Well, whoever was behind the attack erased any doubt: they spray-painted the words FREE PALESTINE on the walls.’ (1)
We can already see how the equation is being made: the name on the sign ‘IDF’ and the ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti but the important thing to note is that the ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti is actually on the back of the unit not near the front door which is where the arson attack occurred. (2)
We are further told that North York is a predominantly jewish neighbourhood of Toronto (3) and that the owner of the shop is a Russian jew named ‘Igor’. (4) The problem with all this being an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ is implied by Staff Superintendent Gray when he claims that the ‘graffiti isn’t ordinary graffiti on a bus stop’. (5)
The problem – as Gray implies by trying to claim special circumstances in order to make the case - is that you cannot automatically link the graffiti which isn’t very close to the site of the arson attack especially as the graffiti is on a heavily white-washed window which – as anyone who has seen graffiti knows – is a common target for graffiti artists.
When we get into more detail of the claim, we note that Toronto police appear to have no real evidence for asserting this to be an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ at all other than the assumed link between the ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti, the anacronym of the store ‘IDF’ (which was on the front entrance) and the arson attack.
There is no evidence of these being connected despite what jews want to tell you since we don’t know when the ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti appeared as it is just assumed it appeared at the same time and if it didn’t then it completely demolishes the idea that this was an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ because it means the graffiti and the arson attack are almost certainly not linked.
There is also circumstantial evidence that this isn’t anything to do with ‘anti-Semitism’ not least in fact that ‘Igor’ is completely unwilling to reveal his identity which is decidedly odd given the authorities are fully engaged in protecting him, the fact that there is no published footage or stills of the attack from inside the store (what store doesn’t have security cameras?) and perhaps more importantly – and buried in the detail of Tristan Higger’s article on the arson at the ‘National Post’ – is the fact that the IDF deli actually sold primarily Russian not Israeli delicacies and often posted fliers in Russian not Hebrew. (6)
Is then not more likely this has had absolutely nothing to do with the owner’s jewishness but rather more to do with the fact that it was perceived as a Russian store and/or it had nothing to with the jewishness or Russianness of the store at all and it was simply a piece of vandalism or a robbery gone wrong?
The other possibility is that it is a case of ‘Jewish Lightning’ – which the lack of security camera footage and stills from said footage suggest but don’t prove – and that ‘Igor’ was trying to get sympathy and/or the insurance money for an enterprise that just wasn’t profitable or just not profitable enough anymore.
We don’t know but we’ll see.
References
(1) https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/kinsella-not-enough-being-done-by-cops-to-deal-with-rise-in-anti-semitic-crime
(2) https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/jewish-owned-grocery-store-in-toronto-hit-by-suspected-antisemitic-arson-attack ; https://www.northernnews.ca/news/local-news/toronto-police-chief-calls-north-york-deli-arson-hate-motivated/wcm/566f8c0a-6d28-4658-b854-951c6996808e
(3) https://collive.com/toronto-grocery-store-named-idf-firebombed-by-anti-israelis/
(4) Ibid.; https://www.northernnews.ca/news/local-news/toronto-police-chief-calls-north-york-deli-arson-hate-motivated/wcm/566f8c0a-6d28-4658-b854-951c6996808e
(5) https://collive.com/toronto-grocery-store-named-idf-firebombed-by-anti-israelis/
(6) https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/jewish-owned-grocery-store-in-toronto-hit-by-suspected-antisemitic-arson-attack