Jewish National Fund of Canada Has Its Charitable Status Revoked

Score a significant victory against apartheid, genocide and Canada’s most significant contribution to Palestinian dispossession. The powerful Jewish National Fund of Canada has reportedly had its charitable status revoked.

Under pressure from Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and others the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) instigated an audit of the JNF in 2018. JNF Canada was eventually forced to differentiate itself from its parent organization in Israel and to stop “co-mingling” its funds with that organization. JNF Canada was also instructed to stop assisting projects in the illegally occupied West Bank and initiatives supporting the Israeli military. But, apparently it failed to fulfill the Revenue Agency’s requests and now the CRA has rescinded its ability to grant donors tax credits.

Revoking JNF Canada’s charitable status has been long in the making and has come at some cost for many individuals.

Born in a West Bank village demolished to make way for the JNF’s Canada Park, Ismail Zayid has been complaining to the CRA about its charitable status for four decades. For years Lebanese Canadian Ron Saba has been “writing to various Canadian government departments and officials, corporations, and media to” denounce what he calls the “racist JNF tax fraud.” During the Liberal Party convention in 2006 Saba was widely smeared for drawing attention to leadership candidate Bob Rae’s ties to the JNF. Saba put in multiple Access to Information requests regarding the JNF, demonstrating government spying of its critics and long-standing knowledge of the organization’s dubious practices. Under the headline “Event you may want to monitor,” Foreign Affairs spokesperson Caitlin Workman sent the CRA a communication about a 2011 IJV event in Ottawa stating: “author of the Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, Yves Engler, will give a talk on Canada and the Jewish National Fund.” At the Green Party convention in 2016 Corey Levine pushed a resolution to revoke the JNF’s charitable status because it practices “institutional discrimination against non-Jewish citizens of Israel.” The effort brought the issue into the mainstream though she, IJV and the entire Green Party were smeared as “hard core Jew haters” for even considering the resolution.

Seven years ago IJV and four individuals filed a detailed complaint to the CRA and Minister of National Revenue over the JNF. For over two decades activists across the country have picketed local JNF fundraising galas and Canadian campaigners have also benefited from many supporters in Palestine/Israel as well as the international Stop the JNF campaign.

Losing its charitable status is a big blow to the 110-year-old organization with powerful allies. In recent years Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper, Irwin Cotler and other top politicians, as well as many titans of corporate Canada, have appeared at JNF fundraisers.

The campaign to revoke the JNF’s charitable status has always been about more than just winning the specific demand. It has drawn attention to the racism intrinsic to Zionist ideology. In control of 13% of Israel’s land — and with significant influence over most of the rest — the JNF openly discriminates against the over 20% of Israelis who aren’t Jewish.

The JNF campaign has also been about exposing Canada’s most significant contribution to Palestinian dispossession. 200+ registered charities send over a quarter billion dollars a year to Israel, which has a GDP per capita equal to Canada’s. Many of these groups assist the Israeli military, racist organizations and illegal colonies in violation of CRA rules and the Revenue Agency has received formal complaints detailing a dozen Israel focused organizations violation of charities’ rules.

The Canada Revenue Agency revoking the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada is an important victory against apartheid and Canada’s contribution to Palestinian dispossession.

A version of this article first appeared on Yves Engler’s blog.