The Sgoolai Israel Synagogue in Canada’s Fredericton was vandalised on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday (Jan 27). According to a report by CBC, Fredericton police said they were investigating whether the vandalism was the result of targeted hostility. Police officials had received a report that someone noticed the damage on Saturday.
Police arrived at the site to find that the synagogue had been damaged. Multiple windows were shattered.
New Brunswick Minister of Public Safety Kris Austin expressed his support for the local Jewish community and said government officials are working with local law enforcement to investigate the incident, reported news agency Reuters.
“It’s a very tense world that we’re living in, on a lot of different fronts and, of course, we see what’s happening in Israel and Gaza, so we understand that New Brunswickers are not going to be immune to some of the tension that is the result of some of the, basically the war that is happening over in Israel right now. However, New Brunswickers, look, we’re better than this. We don’t, we don’t condone this in any way, shape or form,” said Austin said, according to the news agency.
He added that a rally in support of the synagogue was being organised on Sunday.
“I don’t think it represents by any stretch the vast majority of New Brunswickers. I think it’s a few bad actors and again, we offer any support we can to the Fredericton City Police to ensure these folks are caught,” the public safety minister further said on the vandalism incident.
