Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw has repeatedly vowed to crack down on hate crime.
Hate at our doorstep.
A 30-year-old man has been charged after allegedly stealing an Israeli flag from the same vehicle on two occasions in The Queensway and North Queen Street area, near Sherway Gardens.
Police said the incidents took place on July 30 and August 6 in what is a busy shopping area.
They said in both cases, a suspect allegedly approached the same vehicle and stole an Israeli flag.
Husam Abu Hashem, 30, of Toronto, was arrested on October 10 and charged with two counts of theft under $5,000. He is scheduled to appear in court on November 27.
Investigators say that these incidents are treated as a suspected hate-motivated offences.
Anyone with further information is asked to contact Toronto police at 416-808-3500 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
Police accuse the suspect of stealing Jewish flags from vehicles at least twice.
Toronto Police have repeatedly issued alerts on the record amount of hate crimes taking place in our city, including the recent shooting at a North York Jewish girl school in which a window was shot out for a second time. There has been no charges.
In the last year officers have attended more than 1,556 suspected hate crime calls for service, confirmed 390 suspected hate crimes, made 130 arrests and laid 314 hate crime occurrence related charges.
Last June along police responded to 171 hate crime calls. In July they attended to 113 calls.