Nine Israelis face deportation
Abu-Alwafa
September 19, 2003
Nine Israelis face deportation
Spy agency suspects they may be foreign agents
By JOHN STEINBACHS and ANDREW SEYMOUR
Ottawa Sun
NINE Israeli nationals -- who[m] CSIS suspects are possible foreign
agents -- were arrested by Immigration and Ottawa police tactical officers
last Friday, blocks from Parliament Hill.
The nine have all been charged by Immigration for working in Canada
illegally. All are in their 20s and were apparently selling art in Ottawa.
The arrests follow similar takedowns of Israelis in Toronto and Calgary over
the past few weeks.
An Ottawa police source said police were told members of the group were
possible agents from Mossad, Israel's spy agency, but given no further
information by CSIS.
CSIS declined to comment yesterday.
All nine have since been released and are staying in several rooms at a
Lisgar St. apartment-hotel.
Citizenship and Immigration spokesman Rejean Cantlon confirmed that nine
Israelis were arrested last Friday for working in Canada without a permit.
Immigration hearings were held Wednesday and nine exclusion orders were
issued.
No weapons
Ienav Sofer, Amit Yedudai, Rani Rahuhim Katsov, Roy Laniado, Shulamit
Gorelik and Anatoly Belnik received exclusion orders for two years for
working without authorization and misrepresentation. Koby Cole, Sharon
Moskovitz and Yafit Avram were issued exclusion orders for one year.
All will be deported as soon as paperwork is ready, likely within the next
few weeks, Cantlon said.
They were arrested with the help of tactical and patrol officers Friday
between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
No weapons were found in their rooms.
Yesterday, eight were found walking down Lisgar St., but offered no comment
when asked if they were Israeli art students.
This is not the first time students selling art in Ottawa have caused
concern with law enforcement. In 2001, Centrepointe residents complained of
foreign students selling paintings in their neighourhood that turned out to
be fakes.
"We're outraged"
The story of Israeli art students peddling paintings in foreign countries
has been reported in the media and on the Internet in the past.
U.S. reports have alleged that groups of students had been trying to sell
art in federal government buildings, prompting concerns about intelligence
gathering, but no proof has ever been found linking the art peddlers with
espionage.
"I keep seeing these things and looking into them, I really don't know how
credible they are," said former CSIS chief of strategic planning David
Harris. "Certainly it would be extremely surprising if such an outfit would
repeat a (technique) in that sort of way."
Israeli Embassy spokesman Ben Forer said the matter is being treated very
seriously.
"These are illegal workers ... we're outraged by this," he said. "We expect
Israeli citizens that would like to work in Canada to equip themselves with
the appropriate work permits before they come to Canada."
Forer laughed when asked if the arrests had anything to do with terrorism or
if the nine are agents of Mossad -- whose operatives have been known in the
past to favour using bogus Canadian passports.
"We don't know full details about what the paintings were but it was a
completely commercial matter," Forer said.