Police in the Canadian city of Victoria have released CCTV footage showing the suspect who vandalized the city’s Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue earlier this month.
The security camera footage shows a white man with gray hair and a red bicycle. Victoria Police asked for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual.
“We've released CCTV footage from which the suspect's image was captured and continue to ask for the public’s assistance in identifying the suspect. The investigation is being led by our General Investigation Services (GIS) section, in collaboration with our Hate Crimes Coordinator,” Victoria Police said.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday, August 2. The suspect vandalized the outer walls of the synagogue with graffiti saying “Jews are evil! Because Genocide is evil! In the future, Palestinians will get their revenge against you child-killing Jew monsters.”
Congregation Emanu-el Synagogue, built in 1863, is recognized as a national historic site in Canada.
Canada has seen a sharp rise in incidents of antisemitism since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the war in Gaza which followed.
Data released at the end of July by Statistics Canada reveal that hate crimes targeting Canadian Jews remained alarmingly high in 2024, with 920 police-reported incidents—making Jews the most targeted religious group in the country.
Jews were found to be 25 times more likely to be the victims of a hate crime than other Canadian citizens.
The number of overall antisemitism hate crimes was down slightly from their high in 2023, when they reached 959. However, they remain well above the figures for 2022, when 527 antisemitic hate crimes were reported.