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Antisemitic flyers were found on Thursday outside an Ontario synagogue where a gunman wounded a police officer on Yom Kippur.
The material, discovered at Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, is believed to be linked to the Goyim Defense League (GDL), an American neo-Nazi network.
“The threat the GDL poses to Canadian society can no longer be ignored,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy. “We are calling on law enforcement at all levels to investigate the GDL and take the necessary action to protect Canadians from its hateful, extremist ideology.”
As congregants assembled for the holiday, Sean Ward, 29, repeatedly shot Jeff Smith, the officer guarding the synagogue. Despite serious injuries, Smith kept up the gunfight until reinforcements reached him, stopping an attack that, according to authorities, had the potential for mass casualties.
Ward was hit in the exchange and died the next day. He arrived armed with several firearms and carrying ammunition and gasoline, investigators said.
Flyers reportedly blaming Jews for a host of social problems have also surfaced across the city since the violence. The Belleville Police Service has opened a probe into their distribution and added patrols around houses of worship and community venues.
B’nai Brith’s research traces GDL activity in Canada back to at least 2023. According to that research, the network uses social media and video chat platforms to radicalize users, circulates caricatures and other prepackaged propaganda, and pushes conspiracy theories, including the claim that Jewish people were behind the COVID-19 pandemic.
B’nai Brith had already warned Ottawa in 2025 that the GDL’s influence across the country was expanding, highlighting the case of Pascal Tribout, a Quebec man convicted of willfully promoting hatred against Jews and attempting to manufacture 3D-printed firearms.
“The targeting of this synagogue, which is still reeling from the trauma of the attack during Yom Kippur, is a cowardly attempt to intimidate, terrorize, and taunt the Jewish community,” said Simon Wolle, B’nai Brith Canada’s chief executive officer.
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Read more:
Gunman Opens Fire Outside Ontario Synagogue During Yom Kippur Services
