The Jewish community in Victoria, B.C., was stunned to learn that vandals had spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti on the slides and climbing apparatus in Clawthorpe Park last week.

Police estimated the vandals struck between May 10 and May 11, spraying swastikas and misspelled epithets that were speedily removed the next day by Victoria city work crews.

Det. Rhys Wickes of the Victoria Police Department asked for assistance from the public in identifying the culprits and said this kind of hate-filled vandalism is taken very seriously.

“It’s just unacceptable and represents a blow to values important in Victoria,” he said.

The children of Rabbi Meir Kaplan, who heads Chabad of Vancouver Island, are frequent visitors to Clawthorpe Park, particularly on Shabbat mornings.

On his blog, Rabbi Kaplan said each structure in the playground was covered with graffiti. “ ‘No Jews’ it said on the ladder, and ‘Warsaw getto’ on the children’s crawling space. Nazi swastikas were all over the slides. It was very uncomfortable and extremely saddening to see.”

Rabbi Kaplan added that he was confident this graffiti in no way characterizes public opinion of the Jewish community on Vancouver Island.

“I know that this doesn’t represent Victoria,” he wrote. “We know that the general community here is friendly and tolerant. To those people who may be bothered by the stronger Jewish presence in Victoria, we have some news for them: what they have seen is just the beginning. Jewish life will flourish on the island, more people will be returning from synagogue on Shabbat afternoon… and more Jewish children who are proud of their identity will be playing in the parks.”

Rabbi Kaplan said he met with Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham on May 17 and was assured that the Victoria police were taking the case very seriously.

“Graham said they are putting their best people on the job, and that they were confident they would find those responsible,” Kaplan said.

Asked if there were many members of Victoria’s Jewish community who used the park regularly, he said it was primarily his family. “The reality is that we use the park regularly on Shabbat morning when we return from shul. It seems to be that this was directed against us.”

This is not the first time vandals have struck the Jewish community. Just three weeks ago, the wall facing the parking lot at the Victoria Jewish Community Centre was sprayed with graffiti stating “Zionists are Nazis.”

A painter primed and painted the wall, refusing to take any money for his work, and police said they would patrol the area more often. A spokesperson for the JCC said police recognized the graffiti and identified its artist as an agitator who did not target the Jewish community exclusively.
Tim Humphreys, community development officer for Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island, said this was the second time in two years the JCC has been spray-painted with anti-Semitic slogans.

“There have been a couple of incidents of anti-Semitism up-island in the past few years, and we’ve called on the Canadian Jewish Congress to go and do educational sessions in the schools,” he said.

“Usually once they do that, the results are very positive, because the incidents are related to a basic lack of knowledge by students.”

(Source: Canadian Jewish News)