Israeli Family Leaves Nfld. Church

ST. JOHN’S — An Israeli woman and her five children who had been living in sanctuary in a Catholic church in Marystown, Nfld., returned to Israel last week.
The family, who came to Canada illegally from Israel in 1996, had been living in the church’s basement since the fall of 2005 after their application to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds was rejected.

Angela Portnoy’s husband, Alexi, was deported to Israel in 2006 after leaving the church to run an errand and was stopped by police for a traffic violation. The family’s lawyer, Lee Cohen of Halifax, told the St. John’s Telegram that the separation was becoming too much to bear, and that they hope to apply to return to Canada.
The Portnoys, two of whose children were born in Canada, were deported in 2000. They returned to Canada in 2001, but were ordered deported again in 2004. The couple say they don’t want to live in Israel because they don’t want their children to face army service and they fear mistreatment due to their Russian heritage.

Parts Contract Signed

MONTREAL — Quebec-based aerospace and industrial products manufacturer Héroux-Devtek Inc. has signed a 10-year contract with Israel Aerospace Industries’ LAHAV division to make parts for F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. They will be made at Progressive Inc., Héroux-Devtek’s subsidiary in Arlington, Tex. The deal, which runs through 2018, is worth $10 to $12 million. Héroux-Devtek has its head office in Longueuil, Que.

Release Baha’is: CJC

TORONTO — Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) is calling for the immediate release of six unofficial leaders of the Baha’i faith in Iran who were arrested this month in surprise raids, along with another Baha’i arrested earlier. “There have been no charges laid to date in these cases, merely baseless inferences that those arrested were acting ‘against the national interest’ as ‘agents of a foreign country,’” CJC said. Iran has previously accused Baha’is of spying for Israel.