Anti-Semitic graffiti continues to spread across Toronto: Canadian Jewish group

On Wednesday, during the Jewish holiday of Passover, Toronto's Finch Station was vandalized with graffiti calling on onlookers to oppose the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which has been widely accepted by Jewish organizations. The graffiti was signed with the initials "RSM" and included a hammer and sickle.

In another incident, graffiti was spray-painted on a bank in Thornhill, one of the most Jewish areas of the country, calling for "death to Zionism." Associating Jews with banking has long been a trope perpetuated by anti-Semites.

The graffiti further called for the release of a convicted terrorist and Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Sa'adat. The PFLP has a record of murdering Jewish civilians, often using suicide bombings, and Sa'adat himself was convicted for his involvement in the assassination of Israel's tourism minister in 2001.

The RSM has also been connected to anti-Semitic vandalism in Vancouver, where the group openly bragged about vandalizing a synagogue. The RSM, along with the groups UBC Students Against Bigotry and Revolutionary Communists, have additionally been involved in intimidating a Greek Orthodox Church in Vancouver to prevent them from hosting a planned speaking engagement.

"Sadly, Canada's Jewish community continues to face threats from both the far-right and the far-left," said B'nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn. "We are working with our partners in law enforcement, and are confident that this terrorist-admiring cell will eventually be brought to justice."

Mostyn said that those who attempt to justify this behaviour "should hang their heads in shame," arguing that targeting "a Jewish community's neighbourhood with hostile messages is clearly antisemitic."

B'nai Brith noted that communist governments, especially the Soviet Union, have a long history of oppressing Jews.