Threatening anti-Semitic message left on Winnipeg porch, B'nai Brith says

A Winnipeg family had a shocking end to the year after a rock covered in anti-Semitic slurs was left on their front steps.

At around 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve, the family arrived at their home in the Wolseley neighbourhood and found a red gift bag. Inside was a large rock wrapped in a ribbon, according a news release from B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish organization.

• Vandals paint swastikas on North Kildonan elementary school
• Racist graffiti on Winnipeg community centre upsets parents

On the ribbon were the words, "Jude bitch get out of the nighberhood."

When the family took the ribbon off, they found the rock was painted with a swastika and another message "Die Jew bitch."

The bright red paint also said, "Einsatzgruppen," referencing paramilitary death squads in Nazi Germany.

The homeowners were shocked and horrified to find the message, according to B'nai Brith.

They called the B'nai Brith's hotline to report the incident, said media officer Marty York.

"It is unpleasant. It's very disturbing. We hear about anti-Semitic incidents on a regular basis, unfortunately," he said, adding Winnipeg isn't a place they hear from as often as some others.

York said he spoke to the couple who received the package and they were distressed.

"It was a feeling of invasion and also I think a really uneasy feeling about why this would happen," he said.

Winnipeg police, including the service's hate crimes coordinator, are investigating the incident, according to York.

"We will continue to work closely with the family involved, as well as Winnipeg police, to ensure that this incident is treated with the seriousness that it deserves, and that this does not result in a general increase in anti-Semitism in Winnipeg," Amanda Hohmann, national director of B'nai Brith's League for Human Rights, said in the news release.