The Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism said yesterday that it had mistakenly identified Stephane Gendron as the mayor of Montreal.

Gendron is the mayor of Huntingdon, Quebec, and he described Israelis as "modern-day Nazis" in an interview published in the Quebec City daily Le Soleil on August 21, 2006.

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The forum, a partnership of the government of Israel, the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization held a press conference on Monday to present data on anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial around the world.

During the press conference one of the spokesmen referred to the analogy made by Gendron, comparing Israelis to Nazis. The spokesman mistakenly identified Gendron as the mayor of Montreal.

In the data sheet in Hebrew, that was given to the reporters, it also stated that Gendron is the mayor of Montreal.

However, yesterday Haaretz clarified the error and the spokesman for the forum recognized that a mistake had been made.

The mistake, which also appeared in an article of the English edition of Haaretz, stirred a great deal of reaction in Canada for which Haaretz offers its sincere apologies.