Taxpayer-subsidized charitable donations are a way for Canadians to give back to their communities and the causes they hold dear. They also come with the advantage of tax-receipts, allowing donors to pay less on their annual returns in exchange for benefiting the common good. Or so we thought.

Between 2018 and 2022, Canadians donated roughly $53.9 billion to registered charities, over a billion of which has gone to recipients based in Israel. As Israel’s genocide in Gaza rages on, questions are being raised as to where that money goes and for what purposes.

Independent Jewish Voices has long been pushing the Canadian government to act on charities that support Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians, with a notable focus on the Jewish National Fund of Canada. More recently, organization Just Peace Advocates and IJV member Dr. Miles Howe, have uncovered a network of Canadian charities that are funneling funds to some of the most violent, even genocidal organizations in Israel.

Mizrachi Canada is one such organization. The long list of Israeli charities that Mizrachi Canada supports in Israel includes far-right group Im Tirtzu, which boasts publicly about blocking desperately-needed aid trucks from entering Gaza. It includes settler group Women in Green, which actively confiscates Palestinian land for Israeli settlement and is running a campaign to plant Israeli flags in Gaza. It includes the Duvdevan Foundation, which supports an undercover Israeli military unit infamous for assassinating Palestinians.

We cannot let this go on any longer.

As Canadians we call on the Minister of National Revenue, Marie-Claude Bibeau, to immediately:

1. REVOKE the charitable status of the Mizrachi Organization of Canada;

2. INVESTIGATE and subsequently revoke the charitable status of all Canadian charities providing funds to Israeli settlement organizations and/or support to the Israeli military;

3. INSTITUTE measures to prevent other organizations from engaging in such activities in the future.