Police have launched an investigation after a Forest Hill Starbucks was targeted with graffiti referencing the Israel-Gaza war.
The vandalism at the Starbucks near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue was first reported early Thursday morning.
Images show signs plastered to a window which read “a cup of coffee? You mean a cup of blood,” and “shame.” The words “blood on your hands” and “free Palestine” were also written on the window in red.
Police have said that officers are on scene and that they will liaise with members of the Hate Crime Unit as part of their investigation.
Waking up to these images from my local Starbucks at Bathurst and Eglinton in Toronto, an area w/ a large Jewish population. 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”.… pic.twitter.com/FjuBL5O1Fh
— Michael Levitt ���� (@LevittMichael) November 16, 2023
In a post to social media, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Michael Levitt thanked police for their “fast response” and “for all they’ve been doing to keep the Jewish community safe and protected in recent weeks.”
“This is the daily reality for Jews in Canada. Pleading with our leaders to do all they can to calm things down,” he wrote.
Toronto police have previously said that the number of hate crime calls have risen by approximately 132 per cent amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The force has increased the size of their hate crime unit as a result.
