Toronto (September 26, 2019) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has taken action after receiving reports of extensive antisemitic graffiti on a street in the North end of Toronto. A long mural spanning a bridge on Wilson Ave. near the Mount Sinai Cemetery was defaced with a series of antisemitic messages and urls to far right websites with antisemitic content.

The graffiti includes false accusations that Jewish families are causing the global opiod crisis and sending the profits to Israel, as well as claims that Jews killed 66 million Christians in the former Soviet Union. The urls promoted in the graffiti feature books and articles on topics such as “Jewish Privilege”and the “Jewish State: How Terrorists formed a Nation.”

According to a nearby resident, the graffiti appeared one month after the area was papered with Neo-Nazi flyers, which the resident says he tore down one by one. 

FSWC contacted Toronto Police, who are now investigating the incidences as suspected hate crimes. Police were unable to confirm whether there are any white supremacist groups operating in the area. They have told FSWC that the graffiti is set to be removed by the City within 24 hours.

A Canadian Jewish human rights foundation, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) is a leading nonprofit human rights foundation directly representing over 30,000 members. FSWC is committed to countering racism and antisemitism and to promoting the principles of tolerance, social justice and Canadian democratic values through advocacy and educational programs including workshops, Freedom Day, Spirit of Hope Benefit, Tools for Tolerance and its widely acclaimed new Tour for Humanity. FSWC is affiliated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization headquartered in Los Angeles, which has won two Academy Awards,Museums of Tolerance and is an NGO at the United Nations, UNESCO, OAS, OSCE,the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament. Visit us at www.fswc.ca 

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