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Swastikas spray-painted on Jewish buildings



The Jewish Community Campus and a nearby synagogue in Snowdon were spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti over the holidays.

Sometime during the night of Dec. 27-28, two large swastikas and three slogans in Cyrillic script were spray-painted on buildings that house FEDERATION CJA, the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors and the Saidye Bronfman Centre, attached to the YM-YWHA.

All but one of the marks appeared on the Mountain Sights Avenue side of the structures, said Bram Freedman, the federation’s director of external relations. The other was on Westbury Avenue.

Several blocks to the south, a swastika was discovered at Congregation Zichron Kedoshim.

“In the past, this happened in the back of the synagogue or in alleyways. This time, it was more bold and threatening,” said Leah Berger of B’nai Brith Canada’s Eastern region.

According to Rabbi Reuben Poupko, co-chair of the Montreal Jewish Security Advisory Committee, the presence of Russian-language slogans suggests that the daubs were “probably an extension” of similar incidents in the area dating back a year and linked to neo-Nazi ultra-nationalists of Russian origin.

However, he cautioned that such incidents are usually best fully understood “in retrospect… if it persists from that community. Right now it seems isolated.”

Rabbi Poupko said it was the first time in his memory that anti-Semitic graffiti had appeared at the federation itself.

Berger noted that unlike a year ago, this time the perpetrator(s) left no signature linked to a specific group. In early January, 2006, a rash of swastikas, also large, appeared on several non-Jewish sites close in proximity to the community campus – one of them across the street at Mackenzie King Park. Those seven daubs included Nazi swastikas and the letters “HCO,” the Cyrillic acronym for New Free Society, an ultra-nationalist Russian organization.

This time, the Russian-language slogans this time at the campus, while not including that acronym, did have the phrase, “Death to the dirty Jews,” Berger said.

Another Jewish site was targeted last March. An anti-Semitic daub was found at the C.H.A.I. Centre on de Courtrai Avenue. Also located in the Snowdon area are a number of Jewish schools, synagogues, and community and religious institutions.

Berger said as soon as her organization heard about this year’s graffiti over its hotline the morning of Dec. 28, B’nai Brith was in contact with Police Station 25, which serves the area, as well as with the police’s Hate Crimes Unit and the terrorism unit of the Sûreté du Québec.

Similarly, Freedman said the police were called as soon as the graffiti were discovered early in the morning of Dec. 28. Overall Jewish community security is co-ordinated by FEDERATION CJA. Its security director, Michel Bujold, referred The CJN to Freedman for comment, as did Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec region interim communications director Nili Berner.

“We appreciated the gravity of the situation,” Freedman said. “The police took a detailed report and pictures were taken. Then we erased the graffiti. It was a workday, but very quiet. We’re satisfied with the way things were handled.”

Freedman said no additional security measures have been put into place since the incident, and declined to comment on whether any surveillance cameras used by the campus captured any suspects on video.

Simonetta Barth, commander of Police Station 25, could not be reached for comment. But police spokesperson Melanie Lajoie told The CJN that according to what Barth told her, the investigation was ongoing and nothing concrete had yet developed.

http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=10984