Hamilton police investigating note left at home with pro-Palestine sign

Hamilton police are investigating a note left at a home with a pro-Palestine sign as a hate crime.

Const. Indy Bharaj said the incident was reported online on Wednesday.

The next night, Moussa said the sign was stolen and a note was left in a Ziploc bag where the sign was.

The note called the sign antisemitic and read, "if you don't like my country, go back to where you came from."

Moussa, who has no family in the Gaza Strip, shared the note online.

"Both my wife and I are born and raised in Canada," he said in an interview on Thursday morning.

"Canada is our home. Both of us identify fully as Canadian. We don't have any other country that is a home that we would go back to, so to see somebody telling us that really hateful statement ... that we're somehow not welcome in Canada is really quite appalling."

While he said the note was shocking and concerning,  Moussa also tweeted that he bought another sign and put it back on their lawn.

"We will not be silenced," he tweeted.

Bharaj didn't disclose any more details about the incident as the investigation is ongoing. He added that there hasn't been an increase in hate crime incidents this month.

This comes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Friday, after almost two weeks of war that caused destruction in the Gaza Strip and brought life in much of Israel to a standstill.

At least 254 Palestinians, including at least 66 children, were killed in the 11-day conflict; one Israeli soldier and 12 civilians in Israel were killed, including two children, Reuters reported this week.