Vandalism at Toronto synagogue condemned as ‘normalized’ antisemitism

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B’nai Brith Canada has condemned “normalized” antisemitism after new vandalism at a Toronto-area synagogue.

Toronto police are reportedly investigating after B’nai Brith Canada and others shared photos on Friday of broken windows at Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue on Bayview Avenue in Toronto.

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“It is heart breaking to think that antisemitism has become so normalized that a Synagogue can be so blatantly targeted. Such callous hate cannot be tolerated in our society,” B’nai Brith Canada said on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

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“Our civic leaders must do everything they can to prevent further incitement. Acts of vandalism like this are the bottom of the slippery slope. They do not occur at random, rather they are the result of the emboldening silence on the part of our authorities.”

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The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre said a “masked person” was caught on camera smashing the windows with a hammer. The centre and Toronto city councillor James Pasternak both said Toronto police are investigating.

“I strongly condemn this hateful act of vandalism against Kehillat Sharei Torah synagogue,” Pasternak wrote on X.

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The photos were shared widely on X, drawing condemnation.

“I can say with certainty that Israel’s war cabinet does not run the war from this tiny synagogue in a Toronto suburb, and so the vandalism was a clear hate crime meant to intimidate Canadian Jews for no other reason than they are Jews,” said Aviva Klompas, a former Torontonian who is associate vice president at Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston.

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Dr. David Jacobs, president of the Ontario Association of Radiologists, shared photos of jokes previously displayed on a sign on the synagogue’s front lawn. “In happier times, they post funny messages on the sign out front. Today the sign reads, ‘Bring all of the hostages home.’ For that, they got a rock through their window.”

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