Canadian police looking for suspect in Vancouver synagogue arson attack

Vancouver police searched Friday for an arsonist who set fire to the entrance of a synagogue, while stepping up security at other Jewish facilities following two other anti-Semitic attacks in the country in the span of a few days.

The incidents come as the bloody Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grinds into its eighth month.

The perpetrator poured fuel on the front doors of the Schara Tzedeck synagogue and set them on fire Thursday night, causing minor damage, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said.

No one was hurt and the blaze was quickly put out by members of the synagogue.

“This fire was intentionally set at a place of worship for the Jewish community,” police Constable Tania Visintin said in a statement.

“While we collect evidence to identify the person responsible, we’re also working closely with faith leaders and community members to ensure everyone’s safety.”

The statement said additional officers were dispatched to Jewish community centers, schools and religious institutions.

“A synagogue in Vancouver was attacked last night in another disgusting act of anti-Semitism,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on X.

“We cannot let this hate or these acts of violence stand. This is not the Canada we want to be.”
The arson came less than a week after two Jewish schools — in Toronto and Montreal — were targeted by gunfire.

In November, a Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire twice in one week.

No one was injured in any of those incidents.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.