Did a menorah get deliberately knocked down on December 19, 2024, in Toronto, as a social media post implied? No, that's not true: Toronto police confirmed to Lead Stories that a car accident resulted in the menorah being knocked down that day. They said there were no other incidents that day involving menorahs.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on December 20, 2024. It read:
BREAKING: The menorah in Toronto was knocked down last night. Canada continues to resemble 1930s Germany, with its current leadership doing nothing to protect the Jewish community.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Dec 24 17:59:30 2024 UTC)
The Toronto Police Service published a post (archived here) on X, also on December 20, 2024:
Police responded to a three car collision last night near Bathurst and Cedarcroft Blvd. An impaired driver of a van lost control while making a left turn and struck the Menorah. The driver was arrested and taken to hospital with minor injuries.
This is what their post looked like:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Dec 24 18:11:48 2024 UTC)
The Toronto Police Service confirmed with Lead Stories that the video in the post making the claim is of this incident. A spokesperson told Lead Stories on the phone on December 24, 2024, that no other menorahs were knocked down on December 19, 2024, the day of this incident.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning Jewish people and subjects can be found here.
