Toronto, Ontario
Toronto, OntarioiStock

A synagogue in Toronto, Canada was defaced with a swastika and other graffiti that was discovered Thursday morning.

The anti-Semitic vandalism was found on the entrance to Beth Sholom Synagogue in midtown Toronto.

The hate graffiti has been reported to the police, according to B’nai Brith Canada.

The incident followed an earlier anti-Semitic hate crime this week when campaign signs for two Jewish politicians running for re-election in Montreal were defaced with swastikas.

MPs Rachel Bendayan, who represents Outremont, and Anthony Housefather, who represents Mount Royal, both shared photos on Tuesday of their vandalized election signs.

“Whatever your political views, spreading hateful and violent messages is not the way to go. We’ve seen the road that the politics of the far right leads us to in the US and around the world. That is not us. That is not our Canada,” tweeted Bendayan.

Canadian Jewish groups quickly denounced the vandalism.

"It is absolutely sickening to see this vile anti-Semitism targeting Jewish election candidates in Montreal," said Michael Levitt, president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, on Tuseday.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said that the defacement of the signs was “totally unacceptable.”

“Every candidate, regardless of their party affiliation, has a right to run for office without having to face hateful symbols and messages,” they said.

A B’nai Brith report found record levels of anti-Semitism in Canada during 2021, especially during May, in which more antisemitic assaults were reported to B’nai Brith than in all of 2020, 2019 and 2018 combined.