CBC journalist says protesters tried to ‘taunt and intimidate’ him from attending Yom Kippur service
National Post StaffUpdated 5 hours Ago4 Mins read
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CBC National Radio News Reader Neil Herland recounts the intimidation he faced when trying to enter a building to attend Yom Kippur service in Toronto on Monday night, adding that he may have to leave Canada amid rising antisemitism.
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“On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building,” wrote Herland in a post on X, where he identifies himself as a journalist and a Jew. His post came a day after a synagogue came under attack in Belleville, Ont., a city about two hours to the east.
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Video taken by Herland shows a group of about 20 people milling about, blowing horns and waving Palestinian flags in front of the Meridian Arts Centre at Yonge and Sheppard, where The Song Shul holds annual events to mark Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement. The synagogue doesn’t have its own building but rents different locations to hold services.
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“My late father was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania. And came to Canada as a refugee. This year I got an Austrian passport, in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew. I fear that moment is approaching, here in Canada and elsewhere.”
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In the video by Herland, the shouts of the group are hard to make out, but at one point someone yells: “Palestine will be free.” As Herland moves through the crowd, someone shouts in his face several times with a megaphone: “You’re going to hell!”
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At another point he turns to look behind him — some distance away are two individuals with a placard that says “Where’s your humanity?” One of them shouts “Zionist alert” through a megaphone before waving at the camera.
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I’m a journalist. And I happen to be Jewish. On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building. 1/5 pic.twitter.com/2eH3MaC9QB
— Neil Herland (@NEWSneil) September 22, 2026
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He added that the cantor (singer) at the event revealed that his nephew had been murdered on Rosh Hashana in Ukraine, in a suspected hate crime. The event listed Simon Spiro as the cantor.
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“And this morning the Toronto synagogue announced there had been an attack outside a synagogue in Belleville,” Herland continued.
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The Belleville shooting happened Sunday night outside a synagogue in the city of 55,000 where worshipers had gathered to mark Yom Kippur. Const. Jeff Smith, a nearly 13-year veteran of the Belleville Police Service, was in critical but stable condition after exchanging gunfire with a shooter outside the building. No one else was injured in the attack.
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“Jewish Canadians are living in a parallel world,” Herland wrote in his post. “Where police stand guard with guns outside synagogues. And Jewish schools, religious sites and businesses are targeted with bullets. And most Canadians have no awareness or understanding.”
Dedicated police protection has become commonplace at synagogues across Canada, particularly during Jewish holidays, in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel.
Multiple synagogues in Ontario, and specifically the Greater Toronto Area, have been targeted in shooting attacks in recent years. In March, three GTA synagogues were struck by gunfire in the space of five days — Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto in Thornhill, and Temle Emanu-el and Shaarei Shomayim in North York. York Regional Police have charged three suspects in connection with two of the shootings.
Toronto police were present at Monday’s protest, and kept protesters about five metres away from the door.
Herland noted that the guest speaker was an Australian-born university teacher who lives in Israel, identified by the Song Shul as Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the U.K. A Canadian group called Just Peace Advocates had submitted a complaint demanding that Regev be barred from entering Canada. National Post has reached out to the group for more information.
“His speech was about making peace in the Middle East. Let’s hope that happens this year,” Herland wrote.
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