German police investigating hateful Google reviews of synagogue

German police are investigating a growing number of hateful and anti-Semitic comments being left in online Google reviews of the Jewish synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle.

Almost exactly five years ago, on October 9, 2019, a far-right extremist attacker attempted to storm the synagogue on Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, and cause a massacre. When he failed to get inside the building, he murdered two people nearby.

A police spokeswoman on Saturday confirmed the investigation into the Google comments.

Many of the reviews, posted in recent weeks, have a clear connection to the deadly attack, including some that posted photos of the attacker.

Google has since deleted the comments.

"As soon as we were informed of the case, we took immediate action to remove content that violated our policies," a Google spokeswoman said.