North York residents hit with anti-semitic messages

Property robbed, vandalized in Beecroft Road apartment building

Residents in the building were subject to anti-semitic vandalism.
A local walks by 233 Beecroft Avenue in Willowdale. Residents in the building were subject to anti-semitic vandalism. Ahmed-Zaki Hagar / Toronto Observer

Residents at 233 Beecroft Rd. in North York received anti-semitic messages and had their property robbed or vandalized.

Police were called Sunday at about 9 p.m. after residents received notes with obscenities and swastikas, and their mezuzahs (doorposts with Torah verses inscribed) were vandalized or stolen. One of the notes left on a resident’s door read, “No Jews.”

Rabbi Moshie Steiner of the Uptown Chabad synagogue in North York visited the victims of the incident and provided them with frees mezuzahs. He said they were “very thankful” for the community’s support.

“We are coming together in our resolved to continue to live as proud Jews,” he said.

Police are investigating what they consider a “hate bias” crime. In a statement, they said they have seen no increase in hate-based crimes.

“Our Jewish residents should not have to face hatred on their doorsteps,” Mayor John Tory said in a statement about the incident.

“Anti-semitism has no place in Toronto,” he said. “These acts, and the people who carry them out, do not represent Toronto or Torontonians.”

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Posted: Feb 24 2017 1:00 pm
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