Police have accused the cafe's owners, a family of three, of inventing an assault and staging anti-Semitic vandalism, but the family has insisted they are innocent.
Graffiti inside the BerMax Caffe and Bistro By Meagan Flynn Meagan Flynn Morning Mix reporter Email Bio Follow April 26 at 6:28 AM It was the eve before Passover and the Jewish community in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was on edge.
“It’s the most brazen act of anti-Semitism that we’ve seen in our community, and perhaps ever,” Adam Levy, communications director of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last Friday, the start of Passover. He said it’s possible that the past anti-Semitic vandalism incidents at the business over five months — which included anti-Semitic graffiti or thrown rocks — were also staged.
The Berents, Jewish Ukrainian immigrants who came to Canada from Israel in 2005, founded the restaurant in 2015, Canadian Jewish News reported. The family members did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday night. But earlier on Thursday, they were interviewed on CBC’s afternoon radio show, “Up to Speed,” where Oxana and Maxim Berent denied they would ever fake a hate crime.
After allowing Oxana and Maxim to share their side of the story, the radio host grew more pointed. “Did you fake this?” he asked. The case comes on the heels of actor Jussie Smollett’s alleged hate crime hoax in Chicago. Echoing the Chicago Police Department’s frustration, Smyth said his officers wasted significant resources investigating an explosive crime, only to conclude that it was not real. He said more than 25 officers from three units spent nearly 1,000 hours investigating throughout the busy Jewish holiday weekend.
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