Ottawa Jewish leaders decry 'brazen act of desecration' at National Holocaust Monument

Before the Ottawa Police Service confirmed that graffiti found at the National Holocaust Monument on Monday morning would be investigated as a hate crime, the vandalism had already drawn condemnation as an antisemitic attack. Lawrence Greenspon, co-chair of the monument’s governing committee, said the words “FEED ME” painted on the wall and red paint splashed elsewhere left little room for interpretation. “This is not graffiti,” he told National Post. “This is a hate message and it comes from the hatred that is generated because of the consensus of many that Israel is to blame for the plight of the Gazans.” Greenspon, the son of Holocaust survivor Stan Greenspon, said waking up to news of the defilement was painful and personal. In a statement, Jewish Federation of Ottawa CEO and President Adam Silver called it “a brazen act of desecration” that was more than just vandalism. “The Monument was built as a permanent reminder of the consequences of unchecked hatred, bigotry, and antisemitism,” he wrote. “To see it defaced is to witness, once again, the persistence of those very forces in our own society.” Both expressed shock that such a crime would occur in the nation’s capital. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), meanwhile, labelled the vandalism as “absolutely disgusting” in a post to X. “Is this what the ‘pro-Palestinian movement has come to? Targeting victims of the Holocaust.”

Ottawa, 2025 pic.twitter.com/pZdeT7Fr4S— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) June 9, 2025

Crews are in the process of removing the graffiti. The incident is one of the latest to underscore growing antisemitism in Canada and Western nations in general, as hostilities between Israel and Hamas have escalated since the terrorist organization’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023. “As a son of a Holocaust survivor, I never expected that my daughter would be living in a world where antisemitism is at the level that it is at,” Greenspon said. Silver said the growth “underscores the urgent need for education, vigilance, and action,” not just remembrance. The hate and bias crime unit is handling the investigation, according to OPS, which said in a statement it “treats incidents of this nature seriously and recognizes the profound impact they have on the community.” Witnesses or anyone with information are encouraged to contact the authorities. Greenspon said that while he appreciates OPS’s quick response and celebrates prosecutions for crimes like these, it will take more than the usual condemnation from political leaders if they truly hope to address the root cause of antisemitism. Canada, he said, needs “to stop blaming, along with England and France, Israel for a situation that it did not create.” “They need to stop blaming Israel for the food and water and medical aid that is much needed but is not getting through to the Gazans because of Hamas, and that’s been the case for years.” Greenspon also said Canada and other nations should no longer contribute money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East because he alleged those funds are being appropriated by Hamas to support their terrorism. Last year, the outreach agency fired nine employees with suspected ties to Hamas and the Oct. 7 attack. Israel had sent UNWRA a list of 108 employees it deemed to be Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, demanding that they immediately be fired. In a post to X earlier Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said “we can’t look away” from the rising antisemitism in Canada after visiting the Nova Music Festival Exhibition in Toronto, a travelling display dedicated to the victims of Oct 7.

The Nova Music Festival Exhibition tells the story of the brutal massacre carried out by the terrorist entity Hamas on October 7, 2023. Young Israeli revellers came together that day to dance and celebrate, and were targeted by inconceivable violence. I came to witness… pic.twitter.com/g0jZL57gfN— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) June 9, 2025

“Young Israeli revellers came together that day to dance and celebrate, and were targeted by inconceivable violence,” Carney wrote. “I came to witness accounts of the atrocities committed — and hear directly from survivors and families of those murdered and taken hostage.” Also on X, Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre said “antisemitic thugs…  should be caught and locked up” while deputy leader Melissa Lantsman called it “a disgusting cowardly act.” “Parliament is just steps away — that’s where dissent belongs. Defacing sacred ground in honour of the millions of victims of the Holocaust in the middle of the night with spray paint isn’t protest, it’s vandalism,” she posted to X Monday morning. Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he was shocked and disturbed to see the memorial defaced. “Protests and demonstrations are an essential part of our democracy,” he wrote on X . “Disfiguring a sacred monument in a way that will traumatize victims, survivors and their families is not.” Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, vowed to immediately contact authorities about the “ disgusting display of Jew Hatred” in the capital. 

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