Petition – Revoke JNF Charitable Status | Independent Jewish Voices Canada

Today, the JNF is complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, supporting West Bank settlements and settlers in East Jerusalem.. Because JNF-Canada has official Canada Revenue Agency charitable status, it provides tax credits for donations, meaning that up to 25% of their budget effectively comes from our taxes.

Revoke Jewish National Fund's charitable status

First Name

Last Name

Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, and Party leaders

The JNF is a registered charity in Canada, subsidized by Canadian taxpayers. I do not support giving tax exemptions to organizations that practice racial discrimination, and that are complicit in war crimes.

Based on the following facts, I am calling on the Minister of National Revenue to initiate the revocation of JNF Canada's charitable status. JNF activities are not charitable, and its policies and actions run contrary to the Canadian Human Rights Act, Canada Revenue Agency Policy Statement CPS-021 concerning Registering Charities that Promote Racial Equality, and international law.

·         The JNF is a quasi-governmental organization in Israel that practices racial discrimination in the provision of land and housing, as its charter states that it cannot lease or sell its land to non-Jews [1]. 20% of Israel’s population is non-Jewish. Israel's Attorney General (2005), the U.S. State Department (2013), and the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (1998) have all deemed the JNF to be a racially discriminatory organization. I do not tolerate racial discrimination against ethnic or religious minorities.

·         The JNF directly controls thirteen percent of all land in Israel. It is through this relationship with the JNF that Israel outsources discriminatory land management functions. I do not support state-sanctioned discrimination.

·         The JNF acquired the majority of its land following the violent displacement of Palestinians, which led to the creation of the state of Israel [2]. Palestinian refugees have been barred from ever returning to their land, much of which is controlled—and held in perpetuity for Jews around the world—by the JNF. I oppose the illegal expropriation of land through violent displacement.

·         The JNF covers up Israel’s historic injustices and war crimes against the Palestinians by building recreational parks and planting forests over the ruins of depopulated and demolished Palestinian villages. One such example, "Canada Park", which was built over the ruins and lands of the depopulated and demolished villages of Yalu, Imwas, Beit Nuba and Deir Ayyub, compels me to oppose the JNF’s complicity in concealing war crimes [3].

·         The JNF supports illegal settlers in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, through its subsidiary Himnuta, which is responsible for evicting Palestinians from their homes and properties for Jewish control [4]. Dispossessing a country’s inhabitants was wrong in Canada, and it is equally wrong and illegal in Palestine. I oppose the JNF because I cannot condone the ongoing crimes against Palestine’s population.

·         The JNF’s projects of displacement and forestation continue, particularly in the Naqab (Negev) and the Galilee. In these areas, “development” projects in which the JNF plays a central role aim to continue the forced displacement of Palestinian citizens of Israel to make way for exclusively Jewish settlements and JNF parks and forests [5]. I am appalled by the ongoing displacement of the indigenous inhabitants of the land.

In the interests of peace and justice—which have been denied the people of the region for far too long— I kindly request that the Minister of National Revenue swiftly initiate the revocation of the JNF’s charitable status.

[1] see JNF Memorandum of Association
[2] see http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-s-discriminatory-land-policies/14579
[3] see http://izayid.tripod.com/canpark.pdf and CBC's documentary 'A Park with No Peace: Canada Park'
[4] see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/moriel-rothman/the-jnf-planting-trees-or_b_1109731.html. 
[5] see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alissa-wise/prawer-plan_b_3438201.html.

Sincerely,

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Petition – Revoke JNF Charitable Status

Revoke Jewish National Fund's charitable status

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