A Jewish Montreal woman says federal officials have offered her only a limited apology after passport office employees told her she could not indicate Israel as her country of birth because of “political conflict.”

Anastasia Zorchinsky is a Canadian citizen but was born in Kfar Saba, in central Israel. However, she says Service Canada officials told her because of the “political conflict we cannot put Israel in your passport.” Alternatively, she was told she could have indicated her birth country as Palestine, and that Kfar Saba was one of several cities that was allegedly caught by this policy shift, including Jerusalem.

She and her lawyer, Neil Oberman, suspect the episode stems from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to recognize the state of Palestine.

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