Beth Jacob Synagogue in Hamilton, Ontario. Photo: Google Maps.

JNS.org – Jewish groups in Canada praised the hate crimes conviction of two men in Hamilton, Ontario, who vandalized a synagogue there back in 2019.

Liam Greaves and Blake Trautman, both 19 at the time of the incident, spray painted a swastika and the words “No Jews” along with anti-black graffiti on the parking lot of Beth Jacob synagogue. The vandalism took place on a Friday night that fell between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Both men said they had been drinking at the time, according to news reports.

In an interview with the Canadian Jewish News, Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraeli said the incident was “unimaginably frightening” and “Our sanctuary was full that day with members of all ages, including Holocaust survivors—people who, 70 years later, thought they had left all of that behind them and had found a new sanctuary in Canada.”

“There is no way to undo the feeling of fear it created to think some of our neighbors still identify with Nazi ideology,” he added. “Even two years later, some Jewish teenagers are still afraid to come to the synagogue because of this.”