A 71-year-old man with a documented history of antisemitic social media posts has been charged with a hate crime after stabbing an elderly Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery store known for its kosher selection.
The unprovoked assault happened around 1:35 p.m. Wednesday when the victim, a Jewish woman in her 70s, entered the Loblaws with a friend when the suspect identified as Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario approached the woman and stabbed her in the torso, causing serious injuries.
Store staff immediately assisted until paramedics arrived and was rushed to hospital with serious wounds. Rooke surrendered peacefully to police at the scene and was arrested without incident. The attack occurred at Ottawa’s Loblaws location with the city’s largest kosher food selection – a store that has been repeatedly targeted by anti-Israel protests since October 7.
Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the attack, calling it “deeply disturbing.”
To Canada’s Jewish community: you are not alone,” Carney wrote on social media. “We stand with you against hate and threats to your safety, and we will act to confront antisemitism wherever it appears.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre demanded stronger action. “I am outraged by yet another vile antisemitic attack,” Poilievre said Friday morning, calling on Carney “to ensure there are serious consequences for those who commit or incite antisemitic crimes — including stronger hate-crime laws, and the deportation of non-Canadians who come here to spread hatred.”
Facebook posts matching Rooke’s identity reveal years of escalating antisemitic hatred that intensified after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
“Yes I am antisemitic and atheist,” Rooke declared in a Canada Day post this summer. “Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he wrote, claiming Jews “have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying.”
In an another post, Rooke wrote: “I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”
Court records show Rooke quit his job in 2019 to pursue obsessive legal challenges against religious references in government. He fought cases all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, objecting to judicial oaths mentioning God and demanding Supreme Court justices resign if they couldn’t prove God’s existence.
“If the nine justices of the Supreme Court are unwilling or unable to defend their religious beliefs by forwarding credible and provable facts, then they should do the honourable thing and resign,” he wrote in one court filing. His cases were consistently dismissed.
Rooke appeared in court Thursday and is scheduled to return Sept. 2. He remains in custody facing charges of aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon, with police indicating additional charges may follow as the investigation continues.
Under Canadian law, aggravated assault carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. When classified as a hate-motivated crime, courts can impose enhanced sentences beyond standard penalties.
On Friday, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe joined Federation CEO Adam Silver in the kosher aisles where the attack happened to offer reassurance and discuss next steps on community safety
“I feel upset because this isn’t Ottawa,” Silver told reporters. “People should be able to go to the grocery store without experiencing the risk of violence.”
Multiple police units are involved in the investigation, including the West Criminal Investigations Unit and the Hate and Bias Crime Unit, which has been reviewing Rooke’s extensive social media posts as part of building their case.
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