Over the last decade, the CRA has revoked over 30 charities that sent money to Israel in support of occupation and apartheid regime. Welcome to our series highlighting just some of these orgs.
The majority of this information is sourced from Howe & Sylvestre’s 2025 article “Burner Charities and Big Gifters“.
Colel Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Israel
The Background
Charitable purpose: Scholarships / assistance for students to attend courses in Israel.
Registration / audit: Originally registered in 1993, an initial audit occurred in 2006.
Result: Signed Compliance Agreement with the CRA, followed by another audit in 2013.
The Findings
The CRA identified a “donation scheme” where donations receipts were sold to donors for 10-20% of the total receipt value.
- While the charity’s President claimed ignorance, the Secretary (and his brothers) were involved in a wider, international, narco-trafficking / money laundering scheme. The charity’s role is uncertain.
- The scam totaled at least $2.67 million.
- Colel Chabad claimed they were victims and placed sole blame on their Israeli intermediary, Moshe Deutsch.
- Deutsch claimed ignorance. And despite the accusations, Deutsch remained Colel Chabad’s Israeli agent.
- CRA found the charity failed to maintain direction and control over the dispersal of funds by Deutsch.
Conclusions
- Colel Chabad stopped filing tax returns in 2015. In 2022, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the revocation.
- However, Colel Chabad continued as a not-for-profit federal corporation until it was dissolved for non-compliance in May 2025.
To learn more about the Canada to Israel Charity Pipeline, check out our key resources:
To read about more of these revoked charities:
