(JNS) Campaign banners for two Jewish parliament members who are running for re-election in Canada’s upcoming elections were vandalized with swastikas. On Sunday, August 15, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for the current government to be dissolved with new elections to be held on Sept. 20. Among those running for re-election are current ministers of Parliament Rachel Bendayan and Anthony Housefather, both of Montreal. It was their banners that were defaced.

“It is absolutely sickening to see this vile antisemitism targeting Jewish election candidates,” said Michael Levitt, president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. “There’s no place for this Jew-hatred in the city of Montreal or anywhere else in Canada.”

Housefather, a Parliament member for Mount Royal, wrote on Twitter: “Pretty sad to see anti-Semitism hitting the campaign on Day 3. I can assure whoever did this that no swastika is going to scare me or stop me from speaking up for Jewish Canadians.”

“Whatever your political views, spreading hateful and violent messages is not the way to go,” Bendayan posted on social media.

The vandalism comes as Canada deals with high numbers of antisemitic incidents.

“Disgusted by the targeting of Jewish candidates with the most vile of anti-Semitic symbols of hatred–swastikas,” tweeted Irwin Colter, founder and chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. “There is no room for such anti-Semitic hate in Canada, or anywhere, and certainly not in a democratic electoral process.”

Also concerned about the vandalism is Trudeau, whose government recently held a forum on antisemitism in the country and promised to do more to protect Canadian Jews. “It is completely unacceptable,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter. “I stand in solidarity with Rachel and Anthony, and the entire Jewish community, against this type of hatred.”

Main Photo: The election Jewish MPs in Montreal targeted with anti-Semitic graffiti. Credit: Friends of Simon Wisenthal Center.