Police in the Canadian city of Halifax on Monday released a photo of a suspect in the antisemitic vandalism that targeted synagogues and a Jewish center in the city over the weekend.
Police asked for the public’s assistance in identifying the suspect, asking anyone with information that could identify the suspect to call 902-490-5020.
Halifax Regional Police Chief Don MacLean said in a statement, “On Sunday morning police responded to six incidents of racist graffiti throughout the city. In three incidents the graffiti was written directly on Synagogues. In three other incidents graffiti was written on sidewalks nearby. All incidents took place in central Halifax.”
“Halifax Regional Police have a hate crime investigator that was engaged right away. He is reviewing video and other evidence. When the person or people responsible have been identified, they will face charges,” added MacLean.
He stressed, ”I want to be clear that hatred will not be tolerated in Halifax Regional Municipality. Our constitutional right to free speech does not mean we live in a society where we can spread hate.”
“We are a growing city and becoming more diverse every day. For those who feel so strongly that diversity is a problem - let me be clear - it’s not. Our community would be a much stronger place if we celebrated our differences together instead of allowing it to divide us.”
MacLean also stated, “Directing hate to an entire section of our community is against the law, but most importantly, it does not represent the views of our city.”
He noted, “These incidents are being investigated as hate crimes and further updates will be shared as the investigation progresses. As well, our officers are conducting extra patrols of Synagogues and other religious buildings.”
The antisemitic graffiti was scrawled on the Beth Israel and Shaar Shalom synagogues, as well as on a nearby Jewish teachings center. The graffiti at all three locations included the vile accusation, "Jews did 9/11." A swastika was also discovered at the entrance to the Shaar Shalom synagogue.
Yoram Abisror, Executive Director of the Atlantic Jewish Council, and Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, released a joint statement in response to the attacks.
"On the same weekend that extremists silenced fans from cheering on Team Canada, with protestors even publicly displaying the severed head of the Halifax mayor, a Halifax synagogue was defaced with hateful graffiti," the statement read. “Whether intimidating sports fans, threatening elected officials, or targeting people at their places of worship, this is absolutely unacceptable in Canada — an assault on our core Canadian values. And requires an unequivocal and urgent response from police and political leaders."
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.