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Article by Rebel News staff

Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant was on the ground in Belleville today after a gunman opened fire outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue at the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Belleville Police Service Const. Jeff Smith, a nearly 13-year veteran of the force and a member of its emergency response unit, was shot while defending the building. Police say he is recovering in intensive care and his condition has stabilized. Congregants told Rebel News that had the officer not been sitting in an unmarked vehicle outside the synagogue, the attacker could have walked in on two dozen unarmed worshippers.

The suspect has been identified as Sean Ward, a 29-year-old from Quinte West. He has not yet been charged.

Watch the full joint press conference from Belleville police and the Special Investigations Unit.

At a press conference, Ezra pressed the Special Investigations Unit on whether the timing and target point to terrorism. An SIU spokesperson said the incident had "some of those elements" but stressed the agency's mandate is limited to reviewing the officer's use of force, with Belleville police leading the parallel criminal probe into motive. Ezra also asked whether the suspect may have been recruited or paid by others, as has been alleged in the case of the accused attacker at the U.S. consulate.

The local MP Chris Malette, who lives two blocks from the synagogue, credited the officer with saving lives but declined to say whether the estimated 700 IRGC operatives in Canada should be deported, telling Ezra, "I'm not going to discuss IRGC at this point."

Ezra and Rebel News colleague Efrain Monsanto spent the day speaking with residents and congregants. His conclusion: politicians will issue their obligatory statements, but nothing will change so long as mass immigration from countries where antisemitism is endemic remains politically untouchable.