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B.C. realtor disciplined for sending Hitler image and 'anti-Semitic' message to Jewish-owned Toronto restaurant
A British Columbia realtor who used his personal Instagram account to send a message wishing Germany had finished off the Jews and an image of Adolf Hitler to a Jewish-owned restaurant in Toronto has been disciplined by the province’s financial services regulator.
Nima Alizadeh-Gharib sent the “anti-Semitic, violent and hateful” message in December 2024 while licensed with a numbered B.C. company doing business as Coldwell Banker Prestige Realty. He signed a consent order, which the regulator uses to resolve disciplinary matters, with the B.C. Financial Services Authority last month after its superintendent of real estate approved his proposed punishment.
The superintendent recently reprimanded Alizadeh-Gharib and ordered him to “register for and successfully complete the custom educational course, including four immersive workshops and all assignments, as provided by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.”
The order notes Alizadeh-Gharib must pay for the $3,000 course himself.
He must also “pay enforcement expenses to (the B.C. Financial Services Authority) in the amount of $2,350 within two months, said the consent order dated March 19.
If Alizadeh-Gharib “fails to comply with any of the terms of this order, the superintendent may suspend or cancel” his real estate licence without further notice, it said.
According to a complaint sent to the regulator last year from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, Alizadeh-Gharib’s message said: “F–K UR JEW ASS RESTAURANT, LAND STEALING C–ts, TURN YOUR OVENS ON N GO HOME! WISH (GERMANY) FINISHED ALL OF YOU PARASITES.” This written message was followed by a picture of Hitler, said the organization.
“Promoting hatred and advocating genocide are criminal matters,” Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director of policy and advocacy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote in the complaint letter, which noted the organization filed a report regarding Alizadeh-Gharib’s actions with the RCMP.
“Alizadeh’s hateful conduct is also beyond the pale for any professional, let alone a licensed real estate agent, who is entrusted by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) to uphold ethical standards and serve the public with respect, fairness, and integrity.”
In the complaint letter, she called the message to the Jewish-owned restaurant in Toronto: “a vile attack on the Jewish community but also a direct violation of the ethical obligations required of real estate professionals in British Columbia.”
The family that owns the restaurant, which is not identified in the consent order, could not be reached for comment.
“This is a totally random Jewish family,” Kirzner-Roberts said Tuesday. “They have no public politics to speak of.”
People need to realize that their online behaviour has real consequences, she said. “Unfortunately, there are people out there that think that they can direct any amount of hate at random Jewish citizens with complete impunity. So, we are glad in the end to see the regulator support our case and validate that, indeed, something egregious has taken place.”
Alizadeh-Gharib has been a licensed realtor in B.C. since 2011.
He sent his “hateful message” in December 2024 from his personal Instagram account, said the consent order.
“On January 6, 2025, N. Alizadeh-Gharib delivered a written apology to the restaurant. In his apology letter, he stated … ‘I take full responsibility for my behaviour and the harm it caused to everyone affected. I am committed to taking immediate and meaningful steps to educate myself, grow and ensure nothing like this ever happens again.’”
The message “was not sent anonymously but was from a regulated professional,” said the order.
Alizadeh-Gharib told investigators with the regulator that he “had consumed a significant amount of alcohol and was intoxicated” when he sent the message that landed him in trouble, and “had viewed a social media post alleging that the restaurant was financially supporting the Israeli Defense Forces with their operations in Gaza,” said the order.
Mounties later advised Alizadeh-Gharib “that any further contact with the restaurant owners would result in criminal charges,” it said.
Alizadeh-Gharib “has made a donation of $1,000 to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre as a gesture of goodwill, intended to represent a meaningful act of reparation that contributes to an organization devoted to promoting the values that were undermined by his singular action,” said the order.
He waived his right to an appeal.
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