Protecting the Jewish Community in Canada

"This will never stop me from protecting the Jewish community, ever."

"I don't want them to think hey got a win, because they didn't. It's laughable." 

"They said, 'We've had complaints'. I said, 'So outside sources basically pressured you to audit me, is what you're telling me', and they basically admitted it."

"They're going after Jewish charities, one after the other -- just because."

"Money, no money, pennies, millions. It makes no difference to me. I’m really not sure what’s going to happen with the charity, but the work will always continue."

"[The plan is to remain] steadfast until we can get a proper government in place that actually does something about it [threats and harassment against Canadian Jews from 'pro-Palestinian' mobs] and directs the police to be able to do their job." 

Aaron Hadida, national director, Magen Herut Canada Charitable Foundation

 

"We are pressing the federal government for transparency and fair, consistent processes."

"At a time when extremists have a coordinated campaign to delegitimize our community and our organizations, this development understandably raises serious concerns."

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs  

 Canada Revenue Agency

 

Once again, after having issued charitable status revocations against the Jewish National Fund and the Ne'eman Foundation of Canada a year ago, both Jewish charities, Canada Revenue has revoked charitable status from yet another Jewish charity. This one, of a modest size, and a specific function, to send out volunteers at sites targeting the Jewish community in their places of residence, their synagogues, their schools in support from aggressive, threatening, and generally abusive mobs of 'protesters' decrying Israeli reaction to the 7 October 2023 Palestinian terrorism assault on southern Israel that slaughtered 1,200 Israelis.

 

Jewish groups have in the past, alerted Revenue Canada to the presence of some Islamist charities with charitable status which have direct links to terrorism, and which transfer funds to terrorist groups abroad. Islamists never hesitate to recognize Jewish initiatives in any sphere of human relations, historical antecedents, jurisprudence, to reproduce any such initiatives that might further their own agendas. And, having the example of Jewish groups reporting terrorist links to Islamist charities in Canada, appear to have strategized similarly.

 

The vast difference, however, is that Jewish charitable groups have no link to terrorism. Canada has latterly been overtaken by a type of Liberal progressivism tainted with woke politics, Critical Race Theory and DEI, and with a large and growing Muslim population many times more numerous at the ballot box than the long-established Jewish-Canadian population, influencing government at many levels, in a comprehensive invasion reflecting the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood along with its multiple tentacle offshoots.

 

And so anti-Israel advocacy groups, among them one calling themselves laughably Just Peace Advocates have campaigned and lobbied Canada Revenue Agency for an audit of this third Jewish charity of Canada's Jewish population's self-protection. A joint online statement representing these Islamist groups note their having made "two submissions to the CRA requesting an audit", accompanied by supporters' letters.

Juno News

When Jewish Member of Parliament Melissa Lantsman posted "CRA going after a third Jewish charity", she added Service Canada "scrubbing Israel off passports" -- referring to a Montreal woman of Israeli-Canadian background having been informed she would not be permitted to place Israel as her birthplace on a visa application; ergo "Global Affairs listing the embassy address in 'Palestine'." "But don't worry, I'm sure this is just one big, totally innocent coincidence", she went on. All of it stemming from the top; with Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney issuing a formal statement of Canada recognizing a 'Palestinian state' in lockstep with France and the UK. 

Describing itself as "unapologetically Zionist", the charity, registered in 2021, dedicates itself to a number of Jewish causes, among them providing security and  teaching self-defence to the Jewish community. The November 15 edition of the Canada Gazette stated that the CRA was revoking charitable status for Herut Canada as a result of "failure to meet the parts of the Income Tax Act". Total revenue for the charity in 2024 amounted to $56,111, with expenses of $42,565 according to the CRA. And while Herut kept all receipts and other documentation, it was cited for not having kept a 'logbook'.

CIJA, the Jewish advocacy group Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs was "pressing the federal government for clarity and will continue advocating for full transparency". 

The CRA's Review and Analysis Division responsible for terrorism financing investigation, conducted a multi-year audit of the Muslim Association of Canada. On that occasion auditors recommended revocation related to ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the charity denied. Lengthy appeals saw the Muslim Association of Canada permitted to retain its status, while paying a fine and agreeing to implement remedial measures.

 

"For more than 60 days, protesters occupied King’s College Circle, demanding the university divest from any ties to Israel. Herut volunteers offered patrols after October 7, including patrolling the perimeter of Jewish neighbourhoods. Their presence enraged activist groups."

"Just Peace Advocates, a pro-Palestinian organization, launched a public campaign labeling the volunteers a “militia” and “vigilante group,” urging the Canada Revenue Agency to revoke the charity’s status."

"Herut director Aaron Hadida rejects the characterization entirely."

"“We put out volunteer patrols to help the police, not replace them,” he told True North in an interview. “We’re a volunteer community security team.”"

"He says the CRA’s audit was not based on any compliance issue."

“There’s a website with a barcode and a script telling people how to complain about me,” he said. “I asked the CRA if that’s why I was being audited. They said, ‘We’ve had several complaints.’”

Juno News  

 

Charitable Status: Financial Support to State Military Versus Terror Groups

"Our position is that it is unjust for the Canada Revenue Agency [CRA] to revoke a charity because a charitable object[ive] that it accepted almost 60 years ago is now no longer considered to be a valid charitable object[ive]." 

"It is simply unjust to close a charity supported by over 100,000 Canadians based on reversing a decision the CRA made in 1967."

Nathan Disenhouse, national president, JNF Canada

 

"In keeping with our mission of improving the quality of lives of Israelis, we have in the past funded projects of a charitable nature that indirectly involved the IDF. These projects were built on land owned by the IDF primarily for the benefit of children and youth. When it came to our attention several years ago that supporting these types of projects may not be in keeping with CRA policies, we stopped funding them."

"The last project we funded was in June 2016 and it was directed to the Hatzerim Airforce Base for a playground/soccer field for the children living on the base."

"To be clear, we no longer fund projects located on IDF land and JNF Canada operates in accordance with CRA regulations governing its status as a charitable organization."

JNF CEO Lance Davis

Israeli air force cadets toss their caps into the air during a graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim air force base in southern Israel in 2014. A Canadian charity that funds projects in Israel has faced claims that some of its charitable donations have gone to support projects on Israeli military bases in violation of Canadian tax rules. (Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press)

 

The century-old Jewish National Fund has been advised by the Canada Revenue Agency that its charitable status in Canada is set to be revoked in view of the charity's financial support for Israel's military structure. In response, the Jewish National Fund has made it clear that its intention is to challenge that decision in a court of law. Its contention is that the rules of charitable donations have been altered by the CRA, and that after the organization's work had been approved for charitable status under those same rules 60 years earlier.

It  is more than slightly likely that this move by the CRA was developed in the wake of Jewish groups bringing to the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency, and to Canadian media, that there are Canadian Muslim charities in good charitable status with the CRA known to financially support terrorist groups abroad. There is an obvious difference between a state's military apparatus and that of a terrorist militia. The latter's purpose is objectively offensive, while the former's is, by necessity, defensive.

A state that has been forced by regional circumstances throughout its history, to build an army for the specific purpose of self-defense is certainly not to be conflated with scores of militias formed for the single purpose of destroying an internationally recognized, legitimate, sovereign state. Differentiating between the two; state military/non-state militias, legitimate fighting force and purposefully terrorist entities shouldn't be too difficult to determine even by third-state functionaries.

"The CRA assesses all concerns about registered charities against a clear regulatory  and risk framework designed to prevent bias in our decision-making process", responded the agency spokesperson Nina Ioussoupova. Which has led the Jewish National Fund to embark on a legal journey with the intention of proving that the tax agency erred in making its decision; that not only is there an evident bias in its decision-making, but it has upended its own prior agreement with the charitable status and purpose of the Jewish National Fund.

And nor is the JNF the only Jewish organization that has come afoul of the CRA's shift to de-registering charitable status for other Jewish groups focused on financial aid used for the building of military infrastructure for the Israel Defense Forces. Simply put, their case is that "Canadian charities are not allowed to fund foreign militaries", explained Mark Blumberg, a Canadian lawyer whose specialty is Canadian charity law. 

In any event, although the CRA decision means a loss of status as a registered charity for the Jewish National Fund, its supporters and donors comprised for the most part of members of the Canadian Jewish community, should be able to overlook the loss of charitable receipts used for income tax purposes, since as a taxable relief they don't amount to very much. The principle of supporting a dedicated military tasked to protect civilian life in Israel should represent sufficient philanthropic motivation.

On the other hand, since the Jewish National Fund has attested that since 2016 it no longer funded IDF infrastructure, something is definitely awry with Canada Revenue Agency's audit and the decision that arose out of it. Not revealed was whether Islamic groups in Canada appealed to the CRA to rescind the charitable status of the JNF on the basis of its having funded said IDF infrastructure, but it is not entirely unreasonable to assume that this kind of incitement did have a desired effect in retaliation for the spotlight on Muslim charitable groups sponsoring terrorism.

A JNF Israel webpage describes Canadian-sponsored projects on Bat Galim Naval Base and Palmachim Airbase in Israel. (KKL-JNF)

"Unfortunately, our overtures to have a dialogue in order to negotiate an agreement were rejected --- CRA officials refused to meet in person with JNF Canada officials throughout this ordeal -- and the CRA confirmed its intention to revoke on June 25th."

"[Our appeal intends to illustrate that the Canada Revenue Agency's findings are flawed; the federal agency's taxation arm's processes are unfair, that there] is a reasonable apprehension of bias in the audit."

Jewish National Fund letter: Nathan Disenhouse and JNF CEO Lance Davis