A consortium of anti-Zionist groups operating in Canada has launched a campaign to discredit five charitable organizations supporting Israel. At a press conference held in Toronto this past Friday, Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV Canada) and Just Peace Advocates released a report accusing pro-Israel charities of aiding and abetting terrorism and war crimes.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, spoke at the event alongside the report’s co-author, Miles Howe, assistant professor of critical criminology at Brock University; Khaled Mouammar, Palestinian-Canadian founder of the Canadian Arab Federation; Anver Emon, professor of law and history at the University of Toronto; and Alice Klein, a member of IJV Canada.
The report, titled “Under the Guise of Charity: Canadian Funding for War Crimes in Occupied Palestine,” targets five Canadian charities that support Israel, including the Mizrachi Organization of Canada and the Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada. It alleges that these groups are violating Canadian tax law by using funds to engage in settler violence and land expropriation and to incentivize military enlistment in Israel.
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Pro Palestinian demonstration in Canada earlier this week
(Photo: Alexis Aubin / AFP)
Richard Marceau, vice president and general counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Ottawa, said that the event was part of an attempt by left-wing organizations to smear mainstream Jews. “The thinking goes that if you are pro-Israel, you are pro-genocide,” he said.
Marceau described IJV Canada, which supports the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, as a fringe organization associated with antisemites. The ultimate aim of IJV and similar groups is to “scare Jews from engaging with the Jewish community and organizations through bullying and harassment,” Marceau said.
Canadian laws regarding charitable giving are significantly more stringent than equivalent laws in the United States. This week, the Jewish National Fund’s Canadian branch (JNF Canada) lost an appeal to retain its charitable status, prompting jubilation in pro-Palestinian circles.
An audit by the Canadian Revenue Agency, the local equivalent of the IRS, found that JNF Canada was illegally supporting the Israeli military and Israeli activities in the West Bank.
For as long as any Canadian charities are allowed to fund illegal settler groups and the Israeli army, we’ll be continuing to push on this file
Corey Balsam, national coordinator of IJV Canada, said that 1,200 people tuned into the livestreamed press conference. He said that the media has been reluctant to cover the investigation of pro-Israel charities. “We’re hoping this will serve as a bit of a turning point,” he said.
IJV Canada has been working on getting its report into the hands of public officials and pursuing policy options, Balsam noted. “For as long as any Canadian charities are allowed to fund illegal settler groups and the Israeli army, we’ll be continuing to push on this file,” he said.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, who serves the Beth Tzedec Congregation not far from where the press conference was held, said that antisemitism has been on the rise in Canada. “Increased security measures are costing us $200,000 more a year. We see what’s happening in the streets,” Wernick told The Media Line.
He said it was “disconcerting” that Jews were involved in the leadership of some of the anti-Zionist groups attempting to delegitimize Jewish charities. “It will be a test of the CRA to see if it falls prey to insidious attacks,” he said. Wernick noted that 90% of Jews in Toronto identify as Zionists.
Canada is currently home to around 390,000 Jews, making it the fourth-largest Jewish community in the world after Israel, the US, and France. About 200,000 of Canada’s Jews live in Toronto, including a particularly high concentration of Holocaust survivors.
Canada rally in support of Israel and the hostags
(צילום: גלעד ילון)
Lynda Kraar, one Jewish resident of Toronto, recalled learning the lesson from her Holocaust survivor parents that antisemitism never disappears but only goes underground. “With antisemitism, it’s not a question of if but when,” she said.
You want to attack me because I’m a Jew? I’ve got news for you. I know what antisemitism is and I’m not willing to allow it to happen again.
A Holocaust memoir written by Kraar’s mother was published by the Azrieli Foundation, an organization that is now vulnerable to having its charitable status revoked in Canada. “You want to attack me because I’m a Jew? I’ve got news for you. I know what antisemitism is and I’m not willing to allow it to happen again,” Kraar said.
Marceau said that Canadian antisemitism has three main sources: the far right, the far left, and Islamism. One form of antisemitism in some left-wing circles involves denying that antisemitism is a real form of oppression, he said.
This past July, lawmaker Anthony Housefather was appointed as special adviser on Jewish community relations and antisemitism. Housefather has been a vocal and relentless defender of Canadian Jews and Israel, sometimes opposing stances taken by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “There has been no time in my lifetime when Jewish Canadians have felt as threatened as they do today,” Housefather said in his acceptance speech.
Trudeau, who has often upset the Canadian Jewish community with his harsh statements about Israel’s actions in the ongoing war, described Canadian antisemitism as “terrifying” in a statement last month.
“We have seen Jewish schools in Montreal shot at, synagogues firebombed, Jewish community centers picketed, bomb threats in Jewish schools in Toronto,” Marceau said. “The Montreal Jewish community asked and got an injunction for 34 institutions to have demonstrations not allowed within 100 meters from them. For an injunction to be granted is quite an extraordinary thing.”
Anti-Israel activists also picketed Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and displayed Hamas and Hezbollah flags at various educational institutions, Marceau added.
He said his organization is ready to take on IJV Canada and Just Peace Advocates. “The Canadian government should be looking at those groups in Canada that are openly racist, preaching violence, spreading toxicity and hate, and tearing apart the social fabric,” he said.
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