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Early Wednesday morning, more than 100 Jewish institutions across Canada received a bomb threat via email.
The Beth Jacob Synagogue in Regina said it was among those that received the threat.
“Basically referring to our identity as Jews,” said Sapir Atiya, the program director for the synagogue. “Referring to us being Jews and to the war. And that we should be unalived.”
Atiya said they called the police, and they were quick to respond. She said they evacuated the building while officers performed a sweep.
“They came fairly quickly. Made sure it’s just empty threats. And left,” said Atiya.
“At this time right now, it’s very hard for the Jewish people and the Jewish community. To say that it’s something new that we’re facing would be a lie. I know that many Jewish communities across Canada at the moment (are) facing the same thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re in support for the war in Gaza or not. The fact that you’re Jewish, you’re a target, sadly,” said Atiya.
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“We are not telling people to stay away from the building. It’s safe. We made sure this building is safe. We saw it, we called the police. This building is locked and guarded, and there’s no reason to stay away from it,” said Atiya.
“We’re here, and we will keep telling our community members, and friends, and family to come and work. We always want to spread love and work things through together. And we’re not going to let people with hate in their heart drive our responses,” said Atiya.
“It’s sad. It’s upsetting. But overall, we’re here to live by each other. To be good neighbours. Being Jewish is a struggle right now, but it’s nothing that we can’t deal with. Hopefully other people will let love and peace rule their hearts rather than hate,” said Atiya.
She said this is the first major threat Beth Jacob Synagogue has received. And she said it’s not surprising to her that this happened.
“It happened already in many places: Ottawa, Montreal. Jewish facilities and organizations are being targeted daily,” said Atiya.
“It’s sad that it’s come to these places. When you have to stop your day of work to evacuate and go and evacuate to make sure there’s nobody that really wants to harm you,” said Atiya.
“Although we have rising anti-Semitism, at the same time we have also people that do show up to show their love.”
The Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Centre of Regina said they did not receive a threat but were troubled by the news.
“It’s definitely worrying and troublesome,” said Rabbi Avrohom Simmonds.
“We encourage everyone to be vigilant… Be proud and strong of who they are. We will not cower in fear. And we will continue doing what we’re doing and encourage everyone in the community to be proud of their identities,” said Simmonds.
Simmonds said there have been isolated incidents in Regina where Jews are targeted. But said he feels the general community in Regina is very encouraging.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say it’s surprising anymore at this point. The extreme that things are going to and anti-Jewish hate that’s been floating around. It’s unfortunately not surprising, but certainly very bothersome.”