MONTREAL (JTA) – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada condemned three anti-Semitic acts of vandalism that occurred in Ottawa.
The city’s hate crimes unit is investigating the incidents, the latest of which was discovered Thursday. It remains unclear if they are connected, police said.
“To the Canadian Jewish community, I stand with you,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter. “Our government denounces recent acts of anti-Semitism in the strongest terms.”
In the most recent incident, anti-Semitic graffiti in the form of two large swastikas were found Thursday morning on a synagogue’s front doors in an upscale neighborhood.
Two days earlier, a similar incident had occurred at a home used as a Jewish prayer center. Its rabbi, Anna Maranta, blamed Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States, saying it “emboldened” racists to act “more in a public way,” she told The Canadian Jewish News.
Former Canadian Jewish Congress head Bernie Farber suggested a more measured, wait-and-see approach before jumping to conclusions.
Another Ottawa synagogue confirmed it was defaced last weekend with graffiti containing anti-Semitic slurs.
Others condemning the incidents included B’nai Brith Canada and Ottawa’s Jewish federation.
