Rabbi charged after steps are defaced in front of Israeli consulate in Toronto

A Hamilton rabbi was arrested and charged by police in relation to an investigation involving the Israeli consulate in Toronto being defaced with red paint.

Toronto police service said officers attended a damage call" at 2 Bloor St. E., where the Consulate General of Israel is located. At around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, a crowd of protesters gathered in front of the building and paint was was poured across the steps leading to the entrance of the building," police say.

David Mivasair, 69, was arrested on Saturday and charged with mischief under $5,000.

Mivasair, a member of Independent Jewish Voices, was quoted in that group's news release, which was circulated on Friday immediately after the protest, as saying, It can no longer be business as normal at Israel's consulates in Canada. The death and destruction inflicted by Israel in Gaza, as well as the heightened violence by Israel across Palestine, cannot be washed away."

Greater Toronto has been the site of several protests recently regarding the most recent spate of violence between Israel and Hamas, an exchange of rockets that reportedly left more than 240 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead.

Mivasair had been among 17 people arrested in the West Bank by Israeli military on May 3, 2019.

Zena Salem is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: zsalem@thestar.ca