Toronto (June 12, 2020) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is pressing police for a determined investigation after another Toronto synagogue has fallen victim to an attack by antisemitic 'Zoombombers.'

Toronto’s Village Shul has reported that its virtual Kiddush last Friday was interrupted suddenly by a number of individuals, one of whom yelled “Hitler should have killed you all,” horrifying the rabbi and the 150 congregation members in attendance.

FSWC has reached out to the Toronto Police’s Hate Crime Unit urging a thorough investigation in order to identify the perpetrators and lay appropriate criminal charges. The promotion of genocide is illegal in Canada, as laid out in section 318 of the Criminal Code.

“As the coronavirus pandemic has forced us to take our community events online, we have seen a growing and disturbing effort by antisemites to target the Jewish community with online expressions of hate and Zoombombing attacks,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, Director of the Campaign Against Antisemitism at FSWC. “We ask Jewish community organizations to implement all possible precautions to ensure the online security of their members, and we urge police to take appropriate actions when online antisemitic attacks occur in order to bring perpetrators to justice.”

This latest antisemitic Zoombombing incident follows a number of similar incidents that have occurred during online services at Toronto synagogues such as Shaarei Shomayim and the City Shul.

‍