Letter: The CRA must investigate Canadian charities funding Israeli war crimes in Palestine.

Dear Minister Bibeau,

As NDP critic for tax-fairness, I am deeply concerned by reports that Canadian tax-deductible charities are funneling significant funds in support of Israeli military operations and illegal settlements in Palestine. This is particularly egregious given recent settler attacks in the West Bank, and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by Israel, which the International Court of Justice determined plausibly constitutes a genocide.

The Canada Revenue Agency has an obligation to ensure that Canadian charities allowed to offer tax receipts follow the rules set out by the Income Tax Act and adhere to standards set out in international law.

We have been made aware that certain organizations are involved in activity that would violate their charitable status.

There are reports that Mizrachi Canada, among several other charities, used their charitable status to carry out tax-deductible financial transfers to extremist groups in Israel. Independent Jewish Voices Canada reports that the groups which Mizrachi Canada sent funds to include:

● Regavim, a radical pro-settler organization co-founded by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that works to dispossess Palestinians of their lands and facilitate illegal settlement in the West Bank.

● Kedumim, an illegal West Bank settlement that is home to extremist Finance Minister Smotrich and extremist settler leader Daniela Weiss, who has vowed to reestablish the Gaza Israeli settlement of Gush Katif, and whose residents participated in what Israeli military officials characterized as a pogrom in the Palestinian town of Huwara in February 2023.

● Women in Green, a radical settler group whose current campaigns include one that allows donors to pay for Israeli flags to be planted by Israeli soldiers in Gaza and another with a campaign graphic that reads: “Victory for Israel! Demolish. Enter. Remain in Gaza!”

● Im Tirtzu, a far-right Israeli organization that works to delegitimize Israeli human rights groups and progressive academics, claims to equip the IDF “for victory” and has been involved in the blocking of aid trucks to starving civilians in Gaza.

There is a real concern that Canadian taxpayers are funding extremist groups engaged in the aforementioned activities, including the blocking of aid trucks from going to starving Gazans.

Your government's inaction on this matter is yet another example of the consistent failure to address key issues relating to Israeli-Palestinian policy. This includes the lack of comprehensive sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank, the failure to implement a two-way arms embargo, the refusal to recognize Palestine as a state as part of a two-state solution, and the lack of concrete action to secure an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages.

Failure to hold these Canadian charities accountable would not only be in contravention of Canadian law but also international law. As the NDP critic for tax fairness, I am asking that you and your department conduct an immediate investigation of all Canadian charities providing funds that are being used toward illegal Israeli settlement activity and/or to support the Israeli military and their operations in Gaza. I further ask that the status of any so-called charitable organization engaged in such activities have their charitable status revoked immediately.

Sincerely,

Niki Ashton, NDP critic for tax fairness.

MP for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski