Man arrested in Ontario after antisemitic threats made online: police - National Post

A Waterloo Regional Police officer in 2010. Photo by STEPHANIE LAMY /AFP/Getty ImagesArticle contentA Kitchener, Ont. man has been arrested after police say he made antisemitic threats online.

The 33-year-old man, identified as Justin Arnold-Galvez, posted a video of a livestream “that contained threats and antisemitic comments directed at members of the Jewish community,” Waterloo Regional Police said on Sunday.

He was charged over the weekend with uttering threats to cause death.

The arrest comes on the heels of a “hate-motivated” shooting in Belleville, Ont. at a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. On Sept. 20, Const. Jeff Smith was stationed outside the building and was injured in a shootout with 29-year-old gunman Sean Ward, police said.

Police continue to investigate a shooting outside of Belleville’s Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Tuesday September 22, 2026. Photo by Peter J Thompson/National PostArticle contentNP PostedGet a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.

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Police said evidence showed that the Jewish community was the intended target and Ward had brought more resources — including ammunition and gasoline — for a larger attack.

Smith, who returned fire after Ward shot at him, is in critical but stable condition. None of the roughly 25 congregants inside the synagogue, and no other police officers, were injured.

A day before the Belleville shooting, there was another arrest linked to antisemitism in Ontario.

A 19-year-old Whitby man identified as Alexander Parfitt was charged with making threats motivated by hate, according to Durham Regional Police. He allegedly made online threats to carry out a shooting at a synagogue in Durham Region.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York said it alerted its partners in Ottawa to threats made by Parfitt by identifying them on social media.

FBI New York alerted our international partners after identifying social media threats by an individual to attack a synagogue. FBI New York quickly notified the FBI’s Law Enforcement Attaché Office in Ottawa, and the individual was swiftly arrested. Read more at:… pic.twitter.com/UYdLbZiwqW

“The increase in inciting hateful rhetoric has the capacity to embolden, and that is exactly what we’re seeing play out in real time now,” said Richard Robertson, the director of research and advocacy at B’Nai Brith Canada, a Jewish advocacy group that produces an annual report on antisemitism.