Posters in Toronto depicting four-year-old Ariel Bibas and one-year-old Kfir Bibas, who were kidnapped to Gaza on October 7 along with their parents Shiri and Yarden Bibas, were vandalized with swastikas on Tuesday.
Kfir Bibas, who was just nine months old on October 7, was the youngest person to be kidnapped during the Hamas massacre. He turned one year old while in captivity.
The photos of the vandalism were posted to social media by several users, including Michael Levitt, President and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who urged Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow to condemn the act.
“What kind of sick monster vandalizes posters of kidnapped and murdered people, including babies and kids, with a swastika? Are there no limits to the hate in our city? No justification for this, not in Toronto, not anywhere. Mayor Olivia Chow please condemn! Toronto Police notified,” wrote Levitt.
Chow later responded to Levitt’s post and wrote, “My office has been in contact with Parks, Forestry, and Recreation. They will quickly remove the vandalized posters.”
“This is a vile act, and I condemn antisemitism in our city,” she added.
Toronto and the area have seen an increase in anti-Israel riots and acts of antisemitism since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas on October 7.
In early November, an Indigo book store in downtown Toronto was vandalized with red paint and posters plastered on its front windows wrongfully accusing its Jewish founder and CEO, Heather Reisman, of “Funding Genocide.”
In January, a Jewish-owned grocery store in Toronto was spray-painted with the words “Free Palestine” and later set on fire.
Days later, Toronto police arrested four people on a highway overpass, located near a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, that has become the site of recurring pro-Palestinian Arab protests.
In February, an anti-Israel protest at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto turned into a display of antisemitism. At least one protester was documented scaling the hospital with a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag.