A rabbi says members of a Vancouver synagogue were inside during the arson attack

VANCOUVER – Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt said people were at the Schara Tzedeck Synagogue on Oak Street in Vancouver after services around 9:20 p.m. Thursday when they heard a “bang” outside.

But it was a passerby who alerted them that their building was on fire before a synagogue member extinguished the flames with his jacket, Rosenblatt said, pointing to the burned front door Friday morning.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said the fire was an arson caused by “an individual who poured fuel on the front door and set it on fire.”

It was previously reported that the damage was caused by an “incendiary device.”

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

Vancouver police said the case was being investigated as arson and a possible hate crime.

There was a strong burning smell in the synagogue on Friday, but the charring did not spread far to the front door.

“We’re glad we didn’t wake up to a pile of ashes,” Rosenblatt said outside the building.

He said he was told the flames reached the second floor of the synagogue before they were extinguished.

Rosenblatt said he was struck that there was no attempt to label the attack as “clandestine.”

“Someone decided it would be okay to just walk up those stairs,” he said. “You could have chosen a seat at the back of the synagogue.”

He said the attack showed there was a “new permission structure” in how Jews were treated in Canada.

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

“I thought he was the last rabbi in our family who had anything to do with the synagogue that was about to be burned down. I guess I was wrong.”

In a statement posted online, the federation said there was minor damage to the Schara Cedeck synagogue and no one was injured.

She called the incident a “conscious act of hatred” and an “attempt to intimidate” the Jewish community.

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

Canada’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Deborah Lyons called it “terrible news” and said on social media that “inflammatory rhetoric leads to incendiary violence.”

The Jewish Federation said the Vancouver Police Department and a fire inspector searched the building before determining it was safe to reopen.

Vancouver police said in a statement that authorities had “mobilized additional officers to Jewish community homes, schools and religious institutions.”

“This fire was deliberately set in a place of worship of the Jewish community” – Const. – Tania Visintin said in a statement. “We are gathering evidence to identify the person responsible, but are working closely with religious leaders and community members to ensure everyone’s safety.”

She added: “We are doing everything we can to solve this crime while providing the community with reassurance, comfort and safety.”

On Friday morning, a police car and officers were parked in front of the synagogue.

The federation stated that additional police patrols had been established at local Jewish institutions.

The incident came after bullet holes were found in two Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto in recent days. In no case was anyone injured.

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

“Three Jewish institutions in three major cities were attacked this week, and even more have been attacked in the months since the terrible Hamas massacre on October 7. There is no excuse for silence or inaction,” she said.

She said the law must be enforced and “incidents of hate” must not go unaddressed.

“This means that incitement and violent rhetoric must be met with consequences. This means that there must be an end to capitulation to unreasonable or threatening demands.”

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is a vocal opponent of anti-Semitism, has called on his party to change the criminal code in response to a series of violent incidents targeting Jewish gathering places.

“Condemnation is not enough at this point,” Housefather said in a speech to the House of Commons on Friday, citing events in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

“All levels of government must do more immediately.”

He suggested creating safe zones around schools and places of worship where protests are not allowed, as the government did for hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The idea was also raised in Toronto a few months ago by a local city councilor.

The father of the house also called for the designation of the Samidoun group and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian army, as terrorist groups.

The foreign minister asked Canada to consider listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization, but Trudeau expressed concerns that this would punish Canadians forcibly conscripted into Iran’s army.

The father of the house’s remarks were received with a standing ovation in the House.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center released a statement saying it was “horrified by the brutal attack on a synagogue in Vancouver last night.”

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

“I am absolutely horrified by the brutal attack on a synagogue in Vancouver last night,” center president Michael Levitt said on X, adding: “When is enough, will enough be enough?”

BC Premier David Eby issued a statement condemning the incident, which he described as “arson.”

“This veiled act of anti-Semitism is reprehensible (and) has absolutely no place in British Columbia,” the statement said, adding that Eby was relieved to hear that no one was hurt.

Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed told X that he was “furious” when he heard about the incident in his constituency, which involves a synagogue.

“There is no justification for attacking the synagogue. None,” he said.

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

Chuck Chiang, Canadian Press