For decades, Canadian charities have funneled taxpayer-subsidized funds to Israel. Some send money directly to support State activities, including illegal settlements and military operations. Others give indirectly to pro-Israeli organizations that spread zionist propaganda and anti-Palestinian racism.
We call this the Canada-to-Israel Charity Pipeline, and we’re here to shut it down!
The CRA and the Government of Canada have clear principles and legislation that charities must follow. However, they fail to enforce their own policies, instead letting these registered charities funnel tax-subsidized dollars to illegal settlements and support for the Israeli military. In 2024 alone, Canadian charities sent over $350 million to Israel.
Through various campaigns, the CRA has also received tens of thousands of letters from Canadians demanding they take immediate and decisive action to end their complicity.
In early August, the UK Charity Commission launched a fact-finding statutory class inquiry that will investigate concerns about multiple charities working in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. The investigation seeks to establish the extent of the use of charitable funds in illegal Israeli settlements, the purpose of that spending, and, if so, whether this was in furtherance of the charities’ purposes. The CRA is encouraged to also undertake a comprehensive review. We know from access requests that an internal review by CRA more than 15 years ago considered what charities were providing funds to illegal settlements, so CRA is well aware of the issue.
The point: The CRA is well aware of Canadian charities violating its own policies as well as international and domestic law.
The CRA violates its own policies by:
- Allowing charities to support foreign military (in contravention of the Public Benefit Test, CG-002 Section 4).
- Failing to ensure charities fulfill their duties under the Income Tax Act, specifically by failing to accurately report their revenue and expenses, at times, completely missing a tax filing, or failing to complete whole sections of their tax return.
The CRA violates international law by:
- Allowing upholding the charitable status of organizations who violate international laws such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, Rome Statute, and Genocide Convention.
- The CRA is required, by international law, to “carefully review any organization that is financially or politically supporting the unlawful occupation.” Specifically, Canada must not “give support to these organizations, for example through allowing the organization to have tax-exempt status or providing tax deductibility for donations to the organization and must ensure that financial contributions to support the unlawful occupation, including settlements and settlers, cease.”
The CRA violates domestic law through various legislation including:
- Income Tax Act, Foreign Enlistment Act, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, and the Geneva Conventions Act
Canadian charities, regulated by the CRA, are actively funding Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide. This is not simply about “violent settlers.” Regardless of individual settlers carrying out attacks, settler presence in the West Bank through outposts, settlements, or new infrastructure is illegal under international law and against Canadian public policy.
Canada is complicit. It is (past) time for the CRA to take action to halt its participation in the ongoing colonization of Palestine, through the facilitation of tax-subsidized funds for a genocidal military and apartheid regime.
This is also a prime opportunity for the CRA to take action in line with the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency’s (NSIRA) review of the Review and Analysis Division (RAD) which is tasked with ensuring charities do not fund terrorism. NSIRA found that most charities audited were Muslim or Sikh, and in many cases there was no clear risk of terrorist funding. Their conclusion: RAD’s decisions were potentially “driven by bias and discrimination.” This is not news to us, and of course not to the many Muslim charities that were and are unfairly targeted. The CRA responded by agreeing with 5 of the 6 recommendations from NSIRA. This is an opportunity for the CRA to put their words into action.
There is ample, credible evidence that Canadian charities are funding Israeli terrorism: war crimes, apartheid, genocide, and its illegal occupation. To not audit, suspend, and revoke these charities simply reinforces anti-Muslim discrimination and anti-Palestinian racism. The CRA can and must take urgent action.
Take Action: Send a letter. Say no to your tax dollars subsidizing war crimes, genocide and racism.
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