A family that claims it could be killed if it is deported to Israel in the midst of a feud will make a third attempt to convince the Canadian government to let it stay in the country.
Fuad Zawawi, 43, said he made a refugee claim when he arrived in Canada with his wife, three children and mother in May 2012, arguing they were the target of violence by the Kordi family in Israel after his cousin had an affair with a married woman.
"If they don't kill me, something bad will happen," Zawawi said. "They can shoot me, they can stab me."
A Jan. 9 Immigration and Refugee Board decision said that the family's evidence was not reliable and its members weren't in need of protection.
The decision said that there were discrepancies between the family's written statements and testimony during the hearing.
Zawawi wrote that his family received four to five phone calls in which they were verbally threatened or could hear the sound of gunshots, the decision said.
In the hearing, Zawawi testified that they received more than 20 threatening phone calls before they left Israel.
Zawawi testified that the discrepancy was because he anticipated being able to to provide a fuller account at the hearing, the decision said.
The decision also noted that Zawawi's then 14-year-old daughter, Farah, adjusted her testimony about being spat on and pushed to the floor by members of the other family to include that her face hit the wall and the staircase during the alleged assault.
"For all of the above reasons, the Tribunal concludes, on a balance of probabilities, that the claimants are not credible in their allegations of being targeted by Faez (Kordi) and his extended family in Israel," the decision wrote.
Zawawi said the decision was appealed to the Federal Court, which this month upheld the Immigration and Refugee Board's decision.
Now, Zawawi 's lawyer will apply for a stay of his deportation until his third attempt to convince Canadian authorities to allow him and his family to stay in Canada can be heard.
He has made a claim based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds in an attempt to stay in Canada for the sake of his children who are in school, including his 18–year-old son who is studying to become an architectural technician at Algonquin College. Zawawi has worked at Milano Pizza and at a construction company since he came to Canada.
Zawawi does not yet have a deportation date but was told he will be forced to leave Canada after his children are finished school for the semester.
Zawawi claims that the feud between the families started in 2011 when his cousin's ex-fiancée professed her love to the cousin, even though they were both married at the time.
The feud over the affair escalated to a shootout at the cousin's store on Sept. 25, 2011, in which three people were injured, he says.
Another cousin was beaten so badly by members of the Kordi family on Oct. 1, 2011, that he was hospitalized, Zawawi claims.
Zawawi said another family member was jailed and then ordered to leave the city of Akko in August 2014 for attacking a member of the Kordi family with a knife.
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