Police are investigating an incident involving graffiti anti -Semitic in a Victoria synagogue that, according to a rabbi, has left the congregation in shock.
The incident in the Synagogue Emanu-El de la Congregation, a place of worship that has remained in the corner of Blanshard and Pandora in the center of the city since 1863, has attracted the condemnations of politicians, Jewish groups and the rabbi of the synagogue.
The photos on social networks show a handwritten message in blacks, capital letters near an entrance to the synagogue.
“It really was a message of real hatred,” Rabbi Harry Brechner said Wednesday, remembering what was written. “That they would avenge; they called us evil and baby murderers and all that kind of thing. It was quite hard.”
We are outraged and deeply disturbed by the hateful graffiti that vandalizes a synagogue in Victoria. Acts of anti -Semitism like this are not only attacks against Jewish institutions, but are attacks against security, dignity and values of our entire community.
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Victoria’s police say they were called to the synagogue on Saturday. Brechner said a congregant found the message next to a set of doors during an employed day, with worship services and a mitzvah bar.
The Police Department said in a statement said that their officers then documented graffiti, collected evidence and then worked with [the] Victoria City to eliminate it. “
They are encouraging anyone with information about contacting them.
Politicians denounce the message
The graffiti drew reprimands of politicians such as the mayor of Victoria Marianne Alto, the Minister of Public Security Nina Kreiger and Prime Minister David Eby.
“I am sad and disappointed when listening to the racist and anti-Semitic graffiti that remained in the Emanum congregation building this weekend,” said the statement of Alto.
“Like the oldest synagogue in western Canada, the Emanum-el Congregation and the Jewish community have been and continue to be a key part of the Victoria community, and this disturbing vandalism is deeply harmful.”
According to the Jewish Federation of the Great Vancouver, 62 percent of Jewish British Colombians have experienced at least one anti -Semitic incident since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel.
Brechner said that despite such incidents that arise in Canada, Victoria has been “quite quiet”, making this incident “a bit shocking.”
“Even things among pro-palestinian protesters and the synagogue have been really cordial. People have been quite respectful. So this guy changed,” he said.
“I think he was a person who tried to take something in his own hands in a very wrong way, but also, beyond the mistake because he was really hateful, right?”
