Toronto (April 5, 2021) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has reached out to the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit following the discovery of astudent group's disturbing vandalism campaign targeting the Jewish community.
On Friday, an FSWC staffer spotted graffiti that read "Zionism is a paper tiger!" in the area of Bathurst St.and Cedarcroft Blvd. in Toronto, which has a significant Jewish population. Just like the graffiti that recently appeared at Yonge St. and Finch Ave. - where the words "Anti-Zionism is notanti-Semitism! Oppose IHRA!" were painted on the wall of a TTC entrance - this one included the initials of the Revolutionary Student Movement, a group that calls itself a“revolutionary, combative, militant, and anti-capitalist student movement.”
FSWC immediately contacted the City of Toronto calling for the immediate removal of the graffiti, and uponfurther investigation into the group and discovering its awful hateful graffiti campaign targeting the Jewish community, FSWC reached out to the Toronto Police Hate CrimeUnit.
On Twitter, numerousposts by the Greater Toronto Area section of the group reveal a series of graffiti attacks committed over the past week, some of which glorified and suggested violence.Statements included "Smash imperialism and Zionism with people's war!" and "Death to Zionism", among many others.
"We know that acts of hate can escalate and spread when left unchecked," said Michael Levitt, president andCEO of FSWC. "These acts of vandalism are troubling and ominous and clearly an effort to intimidate members of the Jewish community in areas where they live, work and play.We expect this group to be held to account for the property damage it has committed, not to mention for the disturbing antisemitic messages it has promoted.”
Media Contact:
Avital Borisovsky
Associate Director, Communications
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) is a leading Jewish human rights foundation in Canada's organized Jewishcommunity. It is the winner of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Best Practices Award. FSWC directly impacts over 100,000 people each year and 500,000+ peripherally.FSWC is committed to countering racism and antisemitism and to promoting the principles of tolerance, social justice and Canadian democratic values through advocacy andeducational programs including workshops, Freedom Day, Compassion to Action, Speakers Idol, Spirit of Hope Benefit, National Policy Conference on Holocaust Education and thewidely acclaimedTour forHumanity. FSWC is affiliated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization headquartered in LosAngeles which has won two Academy Awards, has built two Museums of Tolerance (with a third being built in Jerusalem) and is an NGO at the United Nations, UNESCO, OAS, OSCE,the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament. Visit us atwww.fswc.ca.
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