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Activists celebrate as Canada revokes Jewish National Fund's charitable status

Announcement follows audit revealing JNF used donations to help fund infrastructure for Israeli military
Sign for Jewish National Fund defaced to protest against Israeli occupation in Gaza, in Toronto, Ontario (Nurphoto/Reuters)
By Maysa Mustafa
Published date: 13 August 2024 19:30 BST | Last update: 1 month ago

On 25 July, the Canada Revenue Agency revoked the charity status of two pro-Israel charities, including the Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF Canada). This announcement followed a years-long audit revealing the JNF used donations to help fund infrastructure for the Israeli military, a foreign army, which contravenes Canada's Tax Code.

Up to 25 percent of JNF Canada's budget came from Canadian tax dollars. 

The other organisation stripped of its charity status, the Ne'eman Foundation, has been linked to the "undercover assassination unit", Duvdevan, and lone soldiers including Michael Levin Base (Base for Lone Soldiers) and Brothers for Life, as well as donating to Reservists on Duty.

Ne’eman has also provided funds to Israeli settler leader Daniella Weiss’ Nachla settler movement, Se’u Tziona Nes v’degel. Weiss, who advocates for Israeli settlements in the entirety of occupied Palestine, including Gaza, was placed on Canada’s sanctions list in June of this year.

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This is the second time that Canada has stripped pro-Israel organisations of their charity status. The Beth Oloth Charitable Organization, which aimed to "increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Israeli armed forces", was stripped of its status in 2019.

JNF's mission

Founded in 1901, almost forty years before the establishment of the state of Israel, the JNF is a private corporation that was created “with the purpose of purchasing land in what was then Ottoman-controlled Palestine” with the century-old slogan of “making the desert bloom”.

After the Six-Day War and the subsequent occupation of the rest of what is now occupied Palestine, the organisation shifted its claimed mission to “planting trees, building water reservoirs, preserving natural habitats, as well as building parks and bicycle trails”.

According to the Adalah legal centre, as of 2007, the JNF owned around 13 percent of present-day Israel and occupied Palestinian territories. JNF also claimed that over 70 percent of the Israeli population lived on land it owned. Its policies prevent the sale or lease of land to non-Jews, which is in contravention of international law. 

In 1991, a documentary highlighted an example of the JNF’s work in action, with an investigation on “Canada Park”. The park, which features the Canadian flag at its entrance, was built over the ruins of three destroyed Palestinian villages –  Beit Nuba, Imwas and, and Yalu – which displaced more than 9,000 Palestinians. 

'Setting an example'

Thousands of donations made in Canada and the US are tax-deductible, as JNF is categorised as a non-profit organisation. The main benefit to this classification is that it gives JNF the right to receive tax breaks and ensures donations are tax deductible.

The CRA’s move to revoke JNF's charity status would strip them of these benefits, which could lead to a potential decline in JNF donations.

In response, JNF Canada is contesting the CRA’s decision. The appeal claims that the review process was “flawed and fundamentally unfair”.

“Our position is that it is unjust for CRA to revoke a charity because a charitable object that it accepted almost 60 years ago is now no longer considered to be a valid charitable object. It is simply unjust to close a charity supported by over 100,000 Canadians based on reversing a decision the CRA made in 1967,” said Nathan Disenhouse, JNF Canada's national president.

The announcement of the appeal continued to state that the organisation will continue “collecting and receipting donations and distributing funds while the legal challenge is before the Federal Court of Appeal”.

The leaders of the years-long #StopJNFCanada campaign, who will appear in court for JNF’s lawsuit against the CRA, was spearheaded by both Palestinian and Jewish activists in Canada. Decades of reporting on the JNF's activity have been taken into account with this latest decision. 

Independent Jewish Voices’ Rabbi David Mivasair, along with many social media users are celebrating online.

Others have applauded Canada for setting an example for other countries. “Ethics-based sanctions like this are what is needed to end Israeli criminal activity, as happened with Apartheid South Africa,” academic Rami Khouri posted. 

Mivasair has responded to those that have said the #StopJNFCanada organisers have set a precedent by calling on other organisers to start doing the work immediately. “It took years, but that’s how we did it. Want to do it in your country, DM me.” 

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