"Mais on ne devrait pas être surpris. M. Slimovitch est le matamore du B’nai Brith, il n’hésite jamais à taxer ses cibles de racisme, d’intolérance ou d’antisémitisme. Même quand il n’y en a pas. M. Slimovitch n’hésite jamais à lancer la bombe nucléaire du racisme." - Patrick Lagacé, Cyberpresse 2007

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Texte également publié sur le site du B'nai Brith le 24 mars 2011 sous le titre "B'nai Brith wants police to probe 'anti-Semitic' pro-sovereignty website"

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Marianne White QUEBEC -- The B'nai Brith called Thursday for a police investigation into a pro-sovereignty website that posted content the Jewish anti-defamation league calls anti-Semitic.

The site Vigile.net is an open forum on sovereignty and Quebec politics run by a group of volunteers headed by Bernard Frappier. Dozens of contributors post news stories and commentaries every day on the website, which is financed by public donations.

A handful of Parti Québécois members in the provincial legislature have made donations to the site amounting to, in recent years, about $1,000.

Recently, some of the commentaries published on the site were deemed anti-Semitic by the Jewish community.

For instance, on Jan. 6, Ivan Parent wrote Jews "control nearly all states through international banks" and hinted they are to blame for recent financial turmoil. On Feb. 17, he wrote Jews "suck the lifeblood out of the countries in which they live" and that "it's no surprise they were hated wherever they lived."

Contributor Robert Barberis-Gervais said in a Dec. 13 post that "Montreal Jews treat Quebecers like the Palestinians."

B'nai Brith said such remarks are "totally unacceptable" and go beyond the limits of freedom of expression.

"I think we can almost call this promotion of hatred," said Steven Slimovitch, national legal counsel for the organization.

The Canada-Israel Committee also condemned Vigile.net for publishing "disgusting" material.

Frappier, who runs the website, first reacted to the controversy by issuing a defiant press release preaching freedom of expression. He later took down the content deemed offensive -- notably the comments from Parent -- and apologized.

"I'm going to be a more careful moderator in the future," said Frappier. "I'm not anti-Semite," he added, noting, however, that the website has a clear anti-Zionist editorial stance.

On Vigile.net, Parent defended his writing and said he can't be called an anti-Semite for criticizing the "blunders of some Jews."

Slimovitch said the actions taken by Vigile.net are not satisfactory for the B'nai Brith and said the matter should be investigated by police.

"We believe that these types of repetitive comments merit an investigation under the wilful promotion of hatred section of the Criminal Code," he said.

Quebec's justice minister declined Thursday to say whether the matter warrants a police investigation and instead urged the Parti Québécois to stop giving financial support to the site.

"The site publishes awful and appalling things. This has to stop, it doesn't make sense," said Jean-Marc Fournier. "One way to make this stop is to cut the funding."

PQ legislators said they would no longer offer funding if the website continues to publish "anti-Semitic" material.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 25, 2011 A18