The Media Line: ‘GTA to IDF’ Database Draws Fire for Mapping Toronto Jewish Schools, Synagogues, Camps 

‘GTA to IDF’ Database Draws Fire for Mapping Toronto Jewish Schools, Synagogues, Camps 

By The Media Line Staff 

A Canadian activist who built an online database of nationals who joined the Israel Defense Forces has expanded the project to include the schools, synagogues, and summer camps they attended in the Greater Toronto Area, drawing sharp criticism from Jewish advocacy groups. The new site, “GTA to IDF,” is published by The Maple, a Canadian digital news outlet known for left-leaning investigative reporting, and links seven Jewish institutions to 206 Canadians listed on an earlier Maple-backed project, “Find IDF Soldiers,” launched in February 2025 by investigations editor Davide Mastracci. 

The Maple presents the initiative as an effort to examine how local institutions shape support for Israel and the Israeli military. Mastracci says all entries are taken from open sources such as institutional websites and social media, and maintains that the database was not created to encourage harassment. 

To be listed, an institution or its head office must be based in the Greater Toronto Area and be associated with at least four people in the “Find IDF Soldiers” database. The resulting roster names three Jewish day schools—Associated Hebrew Schools, Bnei Akiva Schools, and TanenbaumCHAT—two Orthodox synagogues, Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto and Shaarei Shomayim, and two Zionist summer camps, Camp Moshava Ennismore and Camp Ramah in Canada. All describe strong ties to Israel, and several promote trips, study programs, or long-term moves there. 

Jewish leaders argue that publishing such a directory at a time of heightened threats against Jewish sites in Canada is reckless. The Jerusalem Post quoted Austin Parcels, manager of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, as saying, “Publishing a directory of Jewish schools, community centers, and communal organizations framed as if their ties to Israel are incriminating is inciting and dangerous.” Parcels called it “a catalogue for hostile actors who are looking for targets.” He warned that treating routine Jewish affiliations as suspicious “is an attempt to manufacture suspicion around Jewish identity itself” and gives those who want to harm Jewish institutions “the ammunition they are looking for.”