Last update - 00:00 05/09/2006
Montreal Jewish school asks for help repairing damage from firebomb
By The Associated Press
MONTREAL - Officials at a Jewish school are asking for help to fix the
damage from a firebomb attack over the weekend.
School authorities say it will cost $150,000 to repair the damage at Toldos Yakov Yosef-Skver boys school in Montreal after a Molotov cocktail
was thrown through the front entrance windows early Saturday morning.
An anonymous donor has already come forward with a $5,000 reward for
information that helps police catch the culprit.
A surveillance cameras captured images of a man in his 20s throwing the
Molotov cocktail through a window, only 20 minutes after at least 12 young Hasidic Jews had left the building.
Jewish community leaders are meeting this week to discuss heightened security for all schools and community buildings in Montreal.
Today's appeal came as the mother of a teenager convicted of firebombing a Jewish school in Montreal in 2004 appeared in court. Rouba El-Merhebi Faud is facing charges of being an accessory after the fact and will return to court September 25, when she is expected to have a trial date set.
A Quebec court judge ruled in June there was enough evidence at the woman's preliminary hearing to warrant a trial.
El-Merhebi Faud pleaded not guilty in late 2004 and has been free on $10,000 bail.
Her son, Sleiman El-Merhebi was released from prison in May after serving
two-thirds of his 40-month sentence for arson.
He was convicted of torching the United Talmed Torahs elementary school
library in April 2004.
Members of the Jewish community spent several million dollars to upgrade
security equipment at Jewish schools and day-care centers in the Montreal area after that firebombing.