Rabbi says Vancouver synagogue members were in the building during the arson attack

VANCOUVER – Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt said people were inside Vancouver’s Shara Tzedeck Synagogue after services Thursday night when they heard a “bang” outside.

But it was a passerby who alerted the congregation that their building was burning, Rosenblatt said, repeating what members told him as he pointed to the charred front door Friday morning.

“One of our members took off his jacket and threw it over the fire to put it out, but it seems the flames had already reached the second floor of the building. And there are some burn marks visible through the door on the other side.”

Vancouver police are investigating the incident as arson and possibly a hate crime. The fire was intentionally set and investigators believe an accelerant was used, the police department said Friday.

The force also “deployed additional officers to Jewish community centers, schools and religious institutions,” it said.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver initially said an “incendiary device” was thrown at the synagogue around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, but a later update on Friday said someone had poured fuel over the front doors and set them on fire.

“This deliberate act of hatred was an attempt to intimidate our Jewish community,” the association said in a statement. “But we will not be intimidated, nor will we hide.”

The damage to the synagogue was minor and no one was injured, it said. Police and a fire inspector searched the building before declaring it safe to reopen.

Rosenblatt said the attack showed that there was a “new approval structure” in Canada for dealing with Jews.

“My grandfather was cantor of a synagogue that burned down on Kristallnacht,” he said, referring to the pogroms against Jews in Nazi Germany in 1938.

“I thought he would be the last rabbi in our family to have to deal with a synagogue that was about to be burned down. I think I was wrong.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby said in a statement that the synagogue had been “firebombed” in a targeted act of hatred and attempted intimidation.

“I urge anyone with information about this attack to report it to police,” Eby said.

“Hate crimes aimed at terrorizing a specific community reduce our safety and security.”

The incident comes after bullet holes were discovered in two Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto in recent days. No one was injured in either incident.

On Friday morning, a police car and an officer were stationed in front of the Shara Tzedeck Synagogue and there was a strong smell of fire. But the burn marks did not appear to have penetrated far beyond the entrance door.

“We are glad we did not wake up in a pile of ashes,” Rosenblatt said, adding that he was surprised that there was no attempt to carry out the attack “secretly.”

“Someone decided it was OK to just walk up those stairs,” he said. “You could have chosen a place at the back of the synagogue.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack a “heinous act of anti-Semitism.”

Trudeau said on social media platform X: “A Vancouver synagogue was attacked last night in yet another heinous act of anti-Semitism. We cannot tolerate this hatred or these acts of violence. This is not the Canada we want to be.”

In a statement, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim called the attack “heinous” and added that police “will not rest” until the suspect in the case is brought to justice.

Canada’s special envoy for combating anti-Semitism, Deborah Lyons, called it “terrible news” and said “inflammatory rhetoric leads to inflammatory violence.”

Lyons said on social media that it was “high time to take a stand against these incidents.”

“Three Jewish institutions in three major cities were attacked this week, and more attacks have followed in the months since Hamas’ horrific massacre on October 7. There is no excuse for silence or inaction,” she said in comments posted online.

The law must be enforced and “hate incidents” must not go unanswered, she said.

“This means that hate speech and violent rhetoric must be punished with consequences. This means that capitulation to unreasonable or threatening demands must end.”

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, a staunch opponent of anti-Semitism, called on his party to amend the criminal code in response to the wave of violent incidents at Jewish gathering places.

“At this point, conviction is not enough,” Housefather said in a speech to the House of Commons on Friday, referring to the incidents in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

“All levels of government must do more immediately.”

He suggested setting up security zones around schools and places of worship where protests would not be allowed, as the government did for hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The idea was also brought into play in Toronto months ago by a local city councilor.

Housefather also called for the Samidoun group and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian military, to be classified as terrorist groups.

The foreign minister has asked Canada’s Department of Public Safety to explore the possibility of designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, but Trudeau expressed concern that this would penalize Canadians who were forcibly drafted into the Iranian army.

The house father’s comments were received with a standing ovation in the house.

The Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement that they are “appalled by the violent attack on a Vancouver synagogue last night.”

“This is the third such incident in Canada in the last six days, following shootings at Jewish schools in Toronto and Montreal. It comes as the country continues to experience a rise in anti-Jewish incidents since Hamas’ atrocities in Israel last October.”

“Absolutely appalled by the violent attack on a Vancouver synagogue last night,” the centre’s president, Michael Levitt, said on X, adding: “When is enough, enough?”

Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed told X he was “angry” when he heard about the incident in his constituency, which includes the synagogue.

“There is no justification for an attack on a synagogue. None,” he said.

Vancouver resident Alex Agulyansky said nervousness in the local Jewish community has grown since last October, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 36,000 Palestinians, including both combatants and civilians, were killed in Israel’s subsequent military response to the Hamas attack.

Although Agulyansky, who is Jewish, is not a member of the Shara Tzedeck Synagogue, he said it is a center for the entire community that offers events and programs for children.

“My first reaction, of course, is about the kids and what comes next,” he said. “It’s not one thing that just happened out of the blue.”

“It’s been developing over the last seven or eight months. And this is the result of it.”

Masha Kleiner, another Jewish resident of Vancouver, expressed fear that rising cases of anti-Semitism would extend beyond Jewish institutions unless governments took stronger steps to protect the community.

“We should not only be concerned as a Jewish community,” Kleiner said. “It always starts with the Jews, it never ends with the Jews. For example, my child goes to a public school, not a Jewish school. But I am still concerned because the violence is always escalating and it can happen to anyone.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2024.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press