Over the past week, a group of organizations led by NGO Monitor and Unapologetically Jewish, have initiated a campaign against Just Peace Advocates. It is important to note from the outset, that this campaign is a distraction from what is happening in Palestine right now.
On September 16, in the middle of the night, a building Israel previously bombed in Gaza City collapsed, killing at least 21 Palestinians and injuring 14 more. “A group of men were seen carrying the headless body of a child. Others sat atop a pile of rubble, pulling desperately at flashes of colour they believed could be clothing worn by a survivor. All they found were dust-caked blankets wedged in the debris.”
Later that same day, according to The Times of Israel, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said “Israel will ‘finish the job’ in Gaza and seek Palestinians’ migration.” Evidence from that day proves this to be true. That day the Israeli military:
- Bombed a school sheltering displaced Palestinians,
- Struck a family tent killing Palestinian child Amal Al-Mughayyir,
- Bombarded Al-Tuffah, northern Gaza injuring mulitple Palestinians,
- Bombed Al-Qarara, southern Gaza injuring at least 2 Palestinians,
- Critically injured a Palestinian in Al-Zawaida, central Gaza in a drone strike,
- Bombed al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza killing a child and several others,
- Shot a six-year old child in the head in Al-Atatra, northern Gaza, and
- Shot and killed a Palestinian fisherman on the central Gaza Coast.
And this is only a portion of the events that we know of.
In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military and settlers continue to demolish Palestinian homes, steal Palestinian land, and torture Palestinians. On September 16 alone the Israeli military
- Abducted Fares Dweikat after storming his home,
- Demolished Palestinian structures in Deir Ballut,
- Demolished a Palestinian home in Masafer Yatta and then detained at least one of its residents,
- Bulldozed Palestinian olive trees east of Jenin,
- Abducted Palestinian journalist Alaa Al-Rimawi after storming his home,
- Shot a Palestinian while storming Qalqilya,
- Stormed the town of Birzeit,
- Shot and wounded a Palestinian in Al-Bireh, and
- Stormed Al-Ain refugee camp, detaining Palestinians and firing ammunition towards at least two Palestinians
Meanwhile Israeli settlers cut the water line to the Palestinian Bedouin community of Yizra and set fire to a Palestinian agricultural building in Masafer Yatta.
Also, on September 17, the Israeli government announced a re-expansion of E1, adding 2,167 housing units to its criminal E1 settlement expansion plan. They also continue to bomb Lebanon, destroying Lebanese homes, displacing Lebanese families, and killing Lebanese people.
This is what Unapologetically Jewish’s campaign distracts from. It is also why we do the work that we do.
There are several key undisputed legal facts to note:
- The entire Israeli occupation is illegal (ICJ Advisory Opinion July 2024).
- The Israeli settlements are illegal and a war crime both under international law (1998 Rome Statute) and Canadian law (Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, 2000).
- All states have a legal duty not to “aid or assist” the unlawful occupation or the settlements in any way (ICJ Advisory Opinion July 2024).
These organizations allege we are targeting Jewish communal life in Canada and argue that organizations should be not targeted “because they are Jewish or pro-Israel.” We absolutely agree with the first half of that statement. Organizations should not be targeted because they are Jewish. But, being pro-Israel is a legitimate reason for scrutiny. So is evidence of breaches of international and Canadian law.
While Israel continues to escalate its genocide of the Palestinian people, this is not new. For 125+ years, efforts to colonize the land of Palestine have been ongoing. It is support for this settler colonial project, whether war crimes, apartheid, illegal occupation, or genocide, that we oppose.
In Unapologetically Jewish’s press conference on Parliament Hill, Matthew Taub said: “There is nothing wrong with legitimate scrutiny, if it breaks the law investigate it, if it breaks the rules governing Canadian charities, hold it accountable.” This is exactly what we are asking of the CRA.We have and will continue to provide evidence of illegal activity to the CRA.
For too long, pro-Israel charities have been operating in violation of Canadian law. We are simply asking that these charities be held to the same standard as every other charity in Canada.
The CRA is well aware of Canadian charities violating its own policies as well as international and domestic law. Internal CRA correspondence from 2010 shows the CRA had reviewed their own records to consider charities supporting occupation, noting, along with the Jewish National Fund (JNF) (revoked in 2024), four prominent settlement-focused charities, as well as the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association (revoked earlier this year).
Going back even further, to the early 1970s, archives show that the United Church of Canada had raised concerns to the Canadian government about the charitable status of the JNF. Rev. Dr. A. C. Forrest was warned that going this route would lead to serious backlash—and indeed it did. An agreement between the United Church and B’nai Brith followed in 1973.
In our submissions we show evidence intended to help the CRA do its own job.
- Evidence that shows the CRA violates its own policies by failing to ensure accurate reporting and by neglecting compliance with the Public Benefit Test.
- Also that the CRA violates international law by permitting charitable status for organizations violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, and the Genocide Convention.
- And domestically, that CRA’s practices point to contravention of the Income Tax Act, the Foreign Enlistment Act, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the Geneva Conventions Act, and others.
We also know that the CRA has historically discriminated against Muslim and Sikh charities. In 2025, 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, found that most charities audited were Muslim or Sikh, and in many cases there was no clear risk of terrorist funding.
Meanwhile, there is ample, credible evidence that Canadian charities are funding Israeli terrorism: war crimes, apartheid, genocide, and its illegal occupation. These charities include Christian Zionist organizations, private foundations, and community organizations. Some charities support illegal settlements, others the Israeli military; some serve as para-military organizations here in Canada while others have political connections to the World Zionist Congress; some violate the Foreign Enlistment Act through aiding and abetting military recruiting; others promote anti-Palestinian racism through lawfare and propaganda campaigns.
This is not a Canadian issue alone. In August 2026, 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.
As previously stated, we do not target organizations “because they encourage connection to Jewish identity” but we do examine charities that “encourage support for a genocidal, settler-colonial State.” For too long, these charities have been offered impunity. We are asking they be held to the same standard as all other charities and that they abide by Canadian and international law.
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.”
This discourse also is a clear example of anti-Palestinian racism. 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. It attempts to paint Palestinians and their supporters as dangerous. Again, this is simply a distraction from the real violence happening in Palestine this moment.
As Macklemore said, we are not the victim. The organizations being examined by the CRA are not the victim. The Palestinian people are the victim. Our focus, our attention, and our work will continue to centre them as we act in solidarity from within the imperial core.
Palestine will be free. And Canadian complicity will end.
Other Notes:
- We stand firm in our support of the Palestinian peoples right to resist, enshrined in international law (Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) and Fourth Geneva Convention under Protocol I (1977)).
- We believe Canada’s anti-terrorism list is a tool of anti-Palestinian racism. Over 10 percent of Canada’s terror list is made up of organizations headquartered in occupied Palestine, representing one-tenth of one percent of the world’s population. It is also a tool of anti-Muslim discrimination (“For example, when the Proud Boys were listed as a ‘terrorist entity’ in February 2021, nine more Muslim-identified groups were also quietly appended at the same time – exacerbating the list’s overwhelming Muslim-centrism under cover of antiracism.”) Created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack in the US, Canada’s terror list grants the government powers to ban an organization without providing a standard legal burden of proof.
