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March 26, 2004/Nisan 4 5764, Vol. 56, No. 27
Anti-Semitic acts rise in Toronto
BILL GLADSTONE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
TORONTO - The Jewish community here is trying to rally after a rash of anti-Semitic incidents.
Unknown perpetrators broke seven stained-glass windows at the Pride of Israel Synagogue and spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic messages at various locations along Bathurst Street.
United Jewish Appeal signs in the city also were defaced and swastikas were painted on a clothing donation box.
The damage was discovered the morning of March 20.
In a separate incident discovered early the next day, 22 cemetery tombstones were toppled in the nearby Bathurst-Lawn Jewish Cemetery.
"We had a weekend of hate in Toronto," said Bernie Farber, executive director of the Ontario region of Canadian Jewish Congress, after inspecting the damage at the cemetery with police on the morning of March 21.
Members of the Jewish community and supporters gathered at one of the vandalized homes the morning of March 21 to remove swastikas and hate messages.
The Jewish community is considering posting a reward, according to Farber, and a community rally was scheduled for the evening of March 24.
"We're not intimidated but we're certainly angry," he said. "The community is on edge. We've faced adversities for countless generations. We're a strong people. We'll deal with this and we'll do what we have to do to protect our community."
The incidents took place only days after vandals spray-painted swastikas and hateful messages in a Jewish neighborhood in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill.
Canadian officials were quick to express their outrage.
"As prime minister, I condemn them," Paul Martin wrote in a letter to the Canadian Jewish Congress. "As a Canadian, as a human being, I condemn them."
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