On February 4, 2026, we shared the following post:
In response, the Ontario Camps Association released a public statement (read here or below) and various Israeli and Zionist media outlets published articles. Based on the responses, we sent the following to OCA Members:
Dear OCA Members,
We are reaching out regarding a statement from the OCA Board of Directors last week. We, as organizations, were deeply concerned to learn that not only has the OCA Executive Director repeatedly posted anti-Palestinian racism and support for Israel’s genocide on Instagram, multiple OCA accredited camps have hired Israeli military veterans. This work, as outlined below, is not about Jewish camps, nor is it about endangering children—in fact, it is the opposite. We have shared publicly available information from camps themselves, camps that are supporting a foreign state and foreign military engaged in occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
As you will have seen in the OCA’s statement to Members, they identify the ongoing genocide (as confirmed by the UN and nearly every human rights organization worldwide, including B’Tselem, an Israeli organization) only as the “current conflict in the Middle East”. The OCA also clearly upholds the IHRA definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition has long been critiqued by organizations like Independent Jewish Voices, and many others. As they say, “Israel and its supporters” use the IHRA definition of antisemitism as a “primary vehicle” to “equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.” “Their goal is to suppress — and even criminalize — criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights…according to a [2019] survey, almost half of Canadian Jews believe that accusations of antisemitism are “often used to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.” Because of this conflation, the IHRA definition “fuels anti-Palestinian racism and distracts from real antisemitism.”
The OCA fails to respond to these and other similar critiques. For instance, a group of Jewish Faculty Network Members released the “CIJA Report” in October 2025. This report “shines a light on how the current discourse about antisemitism in Canada serves to manufacture consent for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” Notably, the OCA Board only refers to the IHRA definition and pro-Israel organizations like B’nai Brith, and therefore inherently rejects the perspectives of various other Jewish groups.
The statement goes on: “OCA has consistently and categorically condemned antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination and remain unwavering in that position.” However, we see no evidence that the OCA has ever condemned anti-Palestinian racism (APR), let alone taken action against it.
As clearly defined by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA), “Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism takes various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathizer or opposed to democratic values.”
The Palestinian Canadian Congress (PCC), a co-organizer in this work, notes that “[t]oo often, governments have politicized and mischaracterized APR due to fear, bias, ignorance, and/or a denial of Palestinian history and experience…This mischaracterization has led to the disregard, or lack of acknowledgment, of APR within many Canadian institutions and sectors.” In their study, PCC found that 81.4% of participants reported APR. Notably, the response to our work is APR itself. “At its core, APR aims to censor and erase Palestinians and their narratives from the public sphere either directly through punitive measures or indirectly by eliciting fear of punitive measures to deter anyone from sharing Palestinian narratives.” The tactics used are vast, but here we clearly see attempts to defame and falsely accuse us of promoting hate, violence, and antisemitism. This is a characteristic of not just APR, but also anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia. The assertion that we are threatening children is categorically false. Our only call to action is to send emails to representatives of responsible associations. The narrative being spun is a clear example of APR.
Further, while the statement is signed off from the OCA “Board of Directors”, The Jerusalem Post noted that Joy Levy released the statement on behalf of OCA. This raises questions about Board independence as Levy is the subject of allegations herself.
Since this statement was shared, several articles have been published claiming the post and related calls to action are targeting Jewish children’s camps, putting Jewish children’s safety at risk, and fueling antisemitism. The basis of all these arguments is not unusual, rather it is the conflation of Zionism with Judaism. It is the weaponization of antisemitism to defend an apartheid State. Even The Jerusalem Post clearly acknowledged the purpose of this work, by quoting our original post where we made clear that the camps are not problematic “because they encourage connection to Jewish identity” but because “they encourage support for a genocidal, settler-colonial State.”
The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto claims that “anti-Israel agitators seeking to bully and harass” some camps is a “direct targeting of Jewish campers and staff” and “deliberate act of intimidation.” In fact, we argue that this work is about protecting children. It is about protecting children from being taught, mentored, and cared for by staff who have been part of a military that is actively committing genocide (and has illegally occupied Palestine for decades, and enforces an apartheid state). To credibly claim that camps are supporting a foreign state and/or even hiring/supporting the military of said state, we must show proof. The camps themselves have chosen to make this information public and therefore, we are simply sharing the information they have already publicly made available. Our goal is to ensure that camps are safe for children. When camps hire foreign military members and support a state committing genocide, those spaces are not safe spaces. Meanwhile, the response by pro-Israel groups has resulted in hateful and violent messages [content warning: suicide] directed at us, including calls for us to kill ourselves.
We share this to correct the misinformation shared by the OCA Board. This work is not about Jewish camps, it is about support for the State of Israel, namely its military. While we have received hate mail and threats, we remain steadfast in our fight for justice. It is nothing compared to what Palestinians have and continue to endure. We welcome you to be in touch if you are interested in learning more.
Until liberation and return,
Just Peace Advocates, Palestinian Canadian Congress, Canadian BDS Coalition & International BDS Allies, Palestinian and Jewish Unity, Ontario Palestinian Rights Association
As part of this work, we have submitted a letter to the Attorney General regarding potential violations of the Foreign Enlistment Act and sent a complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency regarding potential violations of CRA policy.
In response to our post regarding camps supporting Israel and its military, the Ontario Camps Association (OCA) Board of Directors sent the following to their Members:
Dear Members,
In recent days, the Ontario Camps Association (OCA) Board of Directors became aware of correspondence circulating online related to the current conflict in the Middle East. That correspondence contains statements and expressions that the Board finds deeply concerning and in certain characterizations and claims, we believe reflect rhetoric that is discriminatory and antisemitic in nature. The accusations, aimed at our Executive Director, members of the OCA team, and several member camps draw directly on stereotyped libels and tropes related to Israel, Zionism and Jewish people – including ‘genocide’ and ‘colonizers’, symbolic categories that are so often spread with specifically malicious intent.
Our understanding of this particular campaign, based on publicly available information, is that this correspondence forms part of a coordinated campaign directed at provincial camping associations in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. The stated objective of that campaign is to pressure accreditation bodies to revoke or reconsider the standing of Jewish camps and to seek disciplinary action against staff. The campaign has been implemented through organized email actions targeting association boards. Campaigns such as these can be a dangerous expression of the singular demonization and wholesale attempt at the delegitimization of one minority group and have no place in camp culture or elsewhere. Campaigns of this nature are part of a widespread insidious attempt that seeks to:
- Undermine the welfare and safety of Jewish children, including at camps
- Undermine the legitimacy of the leadership of the OCA (and elsewhere), Jewish camp
- Administrators in Canada, and Canadian Jewish life in general
- Apply a bigoted litmus test on which Jews are considered ‘acceptable’ based on an external and false paradigm;
- Distract from and disparage a long history of meaningful Jewish contributions to Canadian, and Canadian camp life; and
- Undermine the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism which was adopted by both the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.
OCA is a provincial standards and accreditation body. We do not adjudicate international geopolitical conflicts, nor do we evaluate member camps based on their religious or cultural identity. Our role is to support camps across this province through standards, accreditation, education, and community leadership, and to ensure that camps meet established standards for safety, governance, and quality of programming. That mandate remains unchanged.
We recognize the broader environment in which our members operate. Jewish camps and Jewish community members across Ontario are functioning in a heightened security environment. Antisemitism is not abstract. It has a real human and operational impact. We will not allow antisemitism, intimidation, discrimination or harassment to take root within Ontario’s camp community. OCA has consistently and categorically condemned antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination and remain unwavering in that position. Camps must be places where children, staff, volunteers, and families feel safe, respected, and protected. That includes our Jewish community, without exception.
The Board has convened to review the current situation and is taking steps to strengthen our governance and issues-management protocols to ensure that we respond to complex matters consistently, transparently, and in alignment with our mandate. The Board continues to have full confidence in the professional conduct of the OCA team, including our Executive Director, in fulfilling the association’s mandate.
We are engaging with community partners, including B’nai Brith Canada (Canada’s oldest human rights organization with extensive expertise in the fight against antisemitism), to better understand the evolving environment and to ensure our approach reflects best practices in community safety and institutional resilience.
We welcome respectful dialogue, discussion and even disagreement, but will not tolerate harassment, intimidation, antisemitism, or discrimination.
Our immediate priority remains the safety and well-being of everyone connected to Ontario camps. We will continue to keep members informed as this work progresses. If you have questions or concerns, we encourage you to reach out directly.
Thank you for your continued leadership in providing safe, welcoming camp experiences for children and youth across Ontario.
Sincerely,
The Ontario Camps Association Board of Directors
