Posters for Missing Toronto Jewish Teen Torn Down as Search Intensifies

Posters for Missing Toronto Jewish Teen Torn Down as Search Intensifies

The search for a 14-year-old Toronto girl missing for nine days took a chilling turn last week, when posters publicizing her disappearance were ripped down throughout the city—echoing the removal of hostage posters after October 7.

Police and volunteers have been out in full force looking for Esther, known as “Esti,” who disappeared on the night of Friday, May 15th, in North York, home to Toronto’s Orthodox Jewish community.

Esti is a highly intelligent girl on the autism spectrum, something her mother reluctantly revealed out of concern for her safety after she went missing without her shoes and cellphone.

Foul play is not suspected in her disappearance. Nor is antisemitism. A spokesman for Shomrim Toronto[*], a Jewish volunteer safety organization, told JNS that the possibility that the girl’s disappearance is related to the targeting of the Jewish community is “not something of concern at the moment.”

While antisemitism may not be a factor, this is nonetheless an unmistakably Jewish story. Esti comes from a Jewish family, in a Jewish neighborhood, supported by a Jewish community that has mobilized across two countries to bring her home. Shortly after she disappeared, Jewish organizations and community groups shared missing person information on social media, where members of Toronto’s Jewish community came together with “prayers, messages of support, and appeals for information,” The J.CA reports. The response was swift, drawing Shomrim members from Rockland County, NY into the search, which continued at full capacity and by rabbinic mandate throughout the Jewish holiday of Shavuos.

Only now, those efforts are being undermined by someone tearing down the posters put up to help find her, reports Joe Warmington in The Toronto Sun.

Canadian Women Against Antisemitism posted the evidence on Instagram, drawing outrage and questions over whether the vandalism amounts to interference with the Level-1 police investigation:

More evidence of posters torn down throughout the city was posted on X by Dan Levy here:

Posters torn down for a missing 14 yr old Jewish girl in North York in one of the most Jewish neighborhoods in Canada & reportedly happened across the city of Toronto.

Reminiscent of the disrespect of the Hostage Posters. The same exact Jew hate.

Be ashamed, 🇨🇦 Canada pic.twitter.com/c5kG9XVCpQ

— Dan Levy ✡ דניאל אליהו בן מאניש דוד (@TheDanLevy) May 23, 2026

This was just 2 corners of one intersection. They went through the entire neighborhood as well as other parts of the city
Here’s other pics I’ve seen posted in other parts of the city pic.twitter.com/qlDlDLrwCq

— Dan Levy ✡ דניאל אליהו בן מאניש דוד (@TheDanLevy) May 24, 2026

“A missing 14-year-old girl’s posters are being ripped down,” said Matthew Taub of Unapologetically Jewish. “Let that sink in.”

A missing 14-year-old girl’s posters are being ripped down.

Let that sink in.

This is not politics.
This is not activism.
This is a child on the spectrum who is still missing.

If you see someone tearing down Esti’s signs — call it out. Stand up to it. This is not who Canadians… pic.twitter.com/UrOx6KhVYC

— Matthew Taub 🎗️ (@MatthewTaub) May 23, 2026

Warmington says he also witnessed Toronto parking enforcement stop two women trying to tape the missing person posters in Earl Bales Park, where Esti was last seen, citing parking restrictions: “The priority was not the missing girl, but the power and authority of the parking officers. It was all about them. Their rules and their fines, their superior position. It was heartless abuse of power and bullying.”

This “new level of Jew hatred” comes as little surprise in a city that has failed to push back on antisemitism for two years following the Hamas attacks.

Esti is a teenage girl who went missing in the middle of the night. She also happens to be Jewish. Her story should never have become a story about antisemitism. Above all, it is a human story—and every parent’s worst nightmare.

[*] Shomrim have set up a tip line at 647-355-4148. Toronto Police Service missing person updates appear at tps.to/findesther.

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