Editor’s note: the body and headline of this article have been updated since its original publication.
Toronto police officers were called to a Starbucks in Forest Hill on Eglinton Avenue West early Thursday morning after staff discovered graffiti and signs plastered to the front door and windows.
The posters said “Starbucks kills,” “Stop funding genocide” and “Shame.”
The CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies posted pictures of the vandalism to social media, writing, “In case your struggling to read the hate graffiti, it says, ‘a cup of coffee, you mean a cup of blood’, ‘stop killing babies’ and ‘blood on your hands’. This is the daily reality for Jews in Canada.”
Local resident Dan Tanenbaum said he was alerted to the vandalism by a friend who had sent him a text message with pictures of the graffiti.
“It’s an invasion of our safe space…. It’s just sad to see the hatred that’s out there and how they’re displaying it,” he said. “It’s antisemitic. It’s not just against Starbucks, it’s against Jews specifically.”
In a statement, Starbucks said it was aware of the incident.
“The safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority and we will continue to work closely with local police as investigations continue,” the statement said.
The graffiti has since been removed and the shop reopened.
This is the latest in a string of acts impacting the Jewish community in Toronto. Last week, an Indigo bookstore near Bay and Bloor streets was vandalized with red paint and there were posters of the company’s CEO Heather Reisman with the words “Funding Genocide.”
“There has definitely been an explosion of antisemitism in our city and cities across Canada and around the world since the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7th,” said Noah Shack, vice-president, countering antisemitism and hate, at the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
“Whether it’s your kids going to school, being bullied because they’re Jews, whether it’s kids on university campuses being intimidated … or even people just wanting to stop off and get a cup of coffee on their way to work like we’ve seen here, being confronted with disgusting antisemitic vandalism and hate messaging, this is a really disturbing trend,” he said.
Shack credited the Toronto Police Service for increasing its presence in predominantly Jewish neighbourhoods and making it easier for people to report hate crimes in their communities.
Natalia Birnbaum posted pictures of the Israeli hostages on her business storefront on Eglinton Avenue West, a block from the Starbucks that was vandalized.
“I don’t want something to happen. But if it does, then I’m not going to let that stop me using my voice,” she said.
Her husband, Moshe Birnbaum added, “my grandparents are Holocaust survivors and they’ve seen the worst atrocities happen, and here we are. It’s very concerning.”
A few weeks ago, the couple were returning from a pro-Israel rally in Toronto with an Israeli flag on their car when, they said, they experienced a hate crime.
“Some car pulls up to me, rolled down the window, pointed at my Israeli flag that I had on my car from the rally and said, ‘F you, F your mother,’ pulled gum out of his mouth and threw it at me,” he said.
The Birnbaums reported it to Toronto police.
Advocates say the community needs to stand together.
“It’s so important for people to understand that while what’s happening in the Middle East may be complicated, this isn’t. This is hatred targeting Jewish people in Toronto and there’s one response to that,” said Shack, with the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
“We all have to be standing shoulder to shoulder against it unequivocally. And it’s escalating and it’s rising.”