Jewish groups expressed relief and thanked police after a teenage boy was arrested in connection with several anti-Semitic and racist acts of vandalism that occurred in Ottawa.
READ: OTTAWA POLICE INVESTIGATE THREE INCIDENTS OF VANDALISM TARGETING JEWS
The arrest was confirmed by Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau Nov. 19 in a local synagogue, Congregation Machzikei Hadas, that had been victimized, during a solidarity event and prayer service Shabbat morning attended by more than 600 people, including Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi.
The teen, who can’t be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared in court Nov. 19 and was indicted on several charges including uttering threats and mischief to religious buildings, according to reports.
The teen was caught after the Solway Jewish Community Centre in west Ottawa was vandalized on the night of Nov. 18, the sixth incident of racist graffiti in less than a week.
Two synagogues and a rabbi’s home in the city’s Glebe neighbourhood that was also used as a prayer centre were spray-painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic messages in the last week, and a mosque and a church with a black pastor also were spray painted with racist graffiti.
Surveillance video from some of the buildings helped to identify the teen.
“It is absolutely never acceptable to have that kind of hate expressed in communities,” Wynne said during the solidarity event. ”By doing these things, by defacing people’s property and religious sacred sites really to instill fear in communities, it’s reprehensible.”
Andrea Freedman, president and CEO Jewish Federation of Ottawa, thanked the Ottawa police, saying they “made this investigation a top priority and it was their dedication to increasing patrols at religious institutions that led directly to this arrest.”
She also thanked “the greater Ottawa community who have stood by us and other faith communities who were similarly targeted, throughout a troubling week. It is reassuring to know we have such close friends and allies. They have joined us in standing strong against these acts of hatred and we are grateful.”
Early on Nov. 17, anti-Semitic graffiti was found spray-painted on the side of modern Orthodox synagogue Machzikei Hadas, located on Virginia Drive in Ottawa’s Alta Vista neighbourhood.
The attack came on the heels of one in the early hours of Nov. 15, when Rabbi Anna Maranta, leader of the city’s Glebe Minyan, woke up to discover a swastika and the anti-Semitic slur “kike” spray-painted on the door of her home, which is where the minyan meets.
Kehillat Beth Israel, a Conservative synagogue located on Coldrey Avenue, also confirmed Nov. 17 that it had been vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti the previous weekend, and although shul officials had called the police, they had chosen not to publicize the incident.
Other Jewish leaders also praised police following the teen’s arrest.
“We commend Ottawa police for working diligently to apprehend and arrest the suspect they believe is responsible for the spate of racist and antisemitic vandalism that hit the city [last] week,” B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement.
York Centre Liberal MP Michael Levitt said he was “greatly relieved” that a suspect had been apprehended, while Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, said it “comes as little surprise that the assailant is presumed to be a young offender. This brings in line our philosophy of educating young adults about anti-Semitism, hate and bigotry.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said it was “very grateful” to police and, referring to other anti-Semitic graffiti across the country, said the “recent series of shocking incidents of hateful, anti-Semitic vandalism in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto remind us of the need for tougher hate crime laws.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his support last week: “To the Canadian Jewish community: I stand with you. Our government denounces recent acts of anti-Semitism in the strongest terms.”
