Toronto police say officers are investigating reports of an anti-Semitic “Zoombombing” incident that took place during a service hosted by a local synagogue.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC), non-profit human rights group, said in a statement on Friday that the incident occurred during a service hosted by Toronto’s Village Shul on June 5.
The statement said the call was suddenly interrupted by a number of individuals with a person allegedly yelling a statement referencing Hitler. A Rabbi and 150 congregation members were on the call.
The FSWC statement said the organization contacted the Toronto Police Service’s hate crime unit requesting an investigation.
Police confirmed to Global News that there is an active investigation, but didn’t provide further information.
“As the coronavirus pandemic has forced us to take our community events online, we have seen a growing and disturbing effort by anti-Semites to target the Jewish community with online expressions of hate and ‘Zoombombing’ attacks,” Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of the campaign against anti-Semitism at FSWC, said in the statement.
“We ask Jewish community organizations to implement all possible precautions to ensure the online security of their members and we urge police to take appropriate actions when online anti-Semitic attacks occur in order to bring perpetrators to justice.”
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