Incidents increase by 9.4%: B’nai Brith

By KATHERINE WILTON

A few weeks after thugs vandalized several Jewish-owned summer cottages in the Laurentians, a human rights organization says anti-Semitic incidents were on the rise in Montreal last year.

There were 303 incidents reported in Montreal, a 9.4 per cent increase from the 277 cases documented in 2010, according to the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, which released its annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents across Canada.

Vandalism against Montreal’s Jewish community jumped from 51 cases in 2010 to 75 in 2011. The incidents include attacks on synagogues and cars being vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs.

Montreal has one of the largest Jewish populations in Canada and “an increase in immigration, in part, brings prejudice from other countries,” said Moise Moghrabi, the League’s Quebec chair.

“When there is a flare up in the Middle East, they hold the Jewish population responsible.”

Harold the jewellery buyer pistol-whipped during robbery

Global News

Harold the jewellery buyer

TORONTO – A well-known Toronto jewellery buyer says he feels lucky to be alive after being pistol-whipped during a negotiation on Friday.

Harold Gerstel, better known as Harold the jewellery buyer, tells Global News that he was in negotiations with 29-year old Khan Facey on Friday over rings that Facey was trying to sell.

Facey then allegedly pulled the gun – allegedly unprovoked – and beat Gerstel with it.

Gerstel suffered a black eye and numerous stitches.

According to police, Facey also made a demand for jewelley and fled the scene with an unknown amount of jewellery.

Gerstel tells Global News reporter Catherine McDonald that he feels lucky to be back at work after the ordeal.

Police were able to make a quick arrest with information provided by Gerstel. Facey had been in the store numerous times in the preceding days, and –surprisingly to Gerstel – openly provided his name, the jewellery-buyer told Global News.

 By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter

Two Israeli nationals have pleaded not guilty to immigration charges stemming from a sweep of illegal workers in the Halifax area in December.

Immigration lawyer Lee Cohen entered the pleas Monday when he appeared in Halifax provincial court on behalf of Iftach Jacob, 23, and Nissan Shitrit, 22.

Both men are charged under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with working in Canada without authorization.

Jacob also faces charges of employing foreign nationals without authorization and failing to adhere to the conditions of a visitor permit.

The two men are living in the Toronto area while they’re out on bail.

Retarded vandals broke into and defaced about 15 of 50 Jewish-owned summer homes in Val David. In one home, at least one of the vandals defecated on the floor, said Pinkas Feferkorn, director of the Val Morin synagogue. Photograph by: Pinkas Feferkorn

Vandals paint swastikas on Jewish-owned summer cottages in Quebec
By Andy Riga, Postmedia News April 16, 2012

Vandals broke into and defaced about 15 of 50 Jewish-owned summer homes in Val David. In one home, at least one of the vandals defecated on the floor, said Pinkas Feferkorn, director of the Val Morin synagogue.
Photograph by: Pinkas Feferkorn

MONTREAL — Vandals broke into several Jewish-owned summer cottages in Quebec in recent days, defacing at least two of them with anti-Jewish hate messages and swastikas.

The Quebec provincial police is investigating the break-ins in Val Morin, 90 kilometres northwest of Montreal in the Laurentians, but could not confirm Sunday that anti-Jewish graffiti was present.

No one was in the homes during the incidents.

Some break-ins occurred Thursday and others were reported Sunday, said Surete du Quebec spokesperson Ingrid Asselin. The vandals broke into about 15 of the 50 Jewish-owned homes in the area, said Pinkas Feferkorn, director of the Val Morin synagogue.

(…)
Furniture was damaged, clothes and toys were thrown out windows and in one house, at least one of the vandals defecated on the floor, Feferkorn said.

Swastikas were spray-painted on the outside of one house. In another, swastikas were painted all over the interior, along with at least one phrase: “F–k Juif.”

Lawyer-turned-rabbi pleads guilty to immigration fraud
4/2/2012

NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) – A suspended attorney who became a rabbi pleaded guilty on Monday to running a New York law firm that made millions of dollars in an illegal immigration scheme.

Earl David, 48, fled New York for Canada in 2006 when he heard his law firm and colleagues were being investigated. The dual Canadian-U.S. citizen was arrested in Canada in October and extradited to New York in January.

David pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges. Federal prosecutors said they would recommend the judge sentence him to anywhere between six years and five months and eight years and three months in prison.

David also agreed to pay $2.5 million in forfeiture.

Montreal borough votes to ban religious processions
Giuseppe Valiante, QMI Agency
First posted: Friday, April 06, 2012 07:16 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, April 06, 2012 07:22 PM EDT

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MONTREAL – Relations between the orthodox Hasidic Jewish community of a wealthy Montreal borough and certain residents have gotten so bad that the council voted Monday to ban all parades and religious processions until June.

The borough of Outremont, located in the centre of Montreal, said the “moratorium” was put in place to make bylaws “more precise and easier to enforce.”

However, the Outremont residents QMI Agency spoke with said the real reason behind the ban was to calm rising tensions that culminated in a nasty altercation in March between a councillor and members of the Hasidic community.