An incendiary device was thrown at the front door of a Vancouver synagogue, the Jewish federation claims

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said Friday that an “incendiary device” was thrown at the front door of a synagogue, in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “disgusting act of anti-Semitism.”

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

The federation said in a statement that the incident occurred at the Schara Cedeck synagogue on Thursday around 9:30 p.m., and that the damage was minor and no one was injured.

The federation calls the alleged incident a “conscious act of hatred” and an “attempt to intimidate” the Jewish community.

Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt said people were in the synagogue after services on Thursday around 9:20 p.m. 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 federation said the Vancouver Police Department and a fire inspector searched the building before determining it was safe to reopen. Additional police patrols are deployed at local Jewish institutions.

The incident came after bullet holes were found in two Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto in recent days.

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