A 31-year-old man, Gezim Topalli, has been arrested and charged in connection with a series of antisemitic graffiti incidents in the Canadian city of Halifax, CBC News reported on Wednesday.
The vandalism, which included swastikas and the phrase "Jews did 9/11," targeted multiple Jewish institutions and public spaces.
Halifax Regional Police responded to six reports of racist graffiti on Sunday. Among the locations defaced were the Beth Israel synagogue and the Shaar Shalom synagogue. Additionally, a building associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch of the Maritimes Rohr Family Institute was marked with the hateful slogan "Jews did 9/11."
Following the incidents, police released a photo of the suspect, leading to his identification and subsequent arrest at his home on Tuesday.
Topalli faces a litany of charges, including three counts of mischief related to religious property, three counts of property damage, and one count of public incitement of hatred, according to CBC News.
In a press release, Chief Don MacLean commended the collaboration between law enforcement and the public. "I am pleased with the outcome of this investigation," he stated. "The swift and seamless collaboration between police and the community represents our city taking a strong and unified stance against the promotion of hatred." The police department is encouraging the public to continue reporting all instances of offensive or intimidating behavior.
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.