Why are Canadians subsidizing the World Zionist Congress elections? Demand answers now!
On 30 April 2026, Palestinian and Jewish Unity, Ontario Palestinian Rights Association, Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, Just Peace Advocates, and other key individuals submitted a complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) outlining a group of charities that ran slates for election in the 2025 World Zionist Congress (WZC).
Based on the information we have compiled, much of which can be found in publicly available documents, a number of charities appear to be in violation of the Income Tax Act, official Canadian policy, and international law.
Previous Revocations
Notably, two previous CRA revocations appear to demonstrate the problematic and unlawful connection between registered charities and political organizations.
The Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism was revoked on 25 October 2025. The Foundation was initially audited for 2016-17,1 after which a Compliance Agreement was signed between the CRA and Foundation. In the subsequent audit, the CRA found that the Foundation “purposefully acted as a conduit for non-qualified donees in Israel [and] co-mingled its charitable resources with MERCAZ-Canada, a non-qualified donee.” They explicitly noted that the Foundation (along with Mercaz Canada) appeared to be the “Canadian fundraising arm for the Masorti Movement in Israel.”
Interestingly, less than a month later on 15 November 2025 Herut Canada Charitable Foundation was also revoked. While we recognize that there is limited information in the revocation papers due to Herut’s failure to engage in the CRA audit, we would expect the audit considered Herut Canada’s connections with the Herut political party.
World Zionist Congress (WZC) Elections
2025 was the first time Canadians could vote for slates at the World Zionist Congress (WZC). Of the seats on the WZC, about a third are from Israel, a third from the United States, and the others from the rest of the world, with Canada being assigned 19 seats in 2025. The composition of the Israeli delegation reflects the breakdown of the parties in the Knesset at the time of the WZC election. The World Zionist Congress is political and therefore those running for Canadian representation are partisan, with ties to political parties in Israel. The WZC is essentially the parliament of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
The WZO is the non-governmental organization that led to the creation of the State of Israel. It was founded at the First Zionist Congress in 1897 at the instigation of Theodor Herzl.2 As the author of a 2025 Jerusalem Post article described it:
“[T]he WZO was the start-up, with its end product being the State of Israel.” However, the WZO never actually ‘exited’ the picture; they remain an integral part of the Zionist State. After the WZO transferred its “civic administrative responsibilities” to the “Government of Israel”, the government recognized “the WZO and its affiliated subsidiaries as an integral part of the civic efforts of settling the land, facilitating immigration to it, and providing quality education to its citizens. The WZO became a golden institutional standard of sorts.”3 Together, the WZO, JAFI, Keren Hayesod, and the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) “comprise the four pillar national institutions of the State of Israel, all of which enjoy a special protected legal status.”4
Charities connected to WZC
Mercaz and Herut represent 2 of the total 9 slates that ran in the most recent WZC election. Therefore, we asked the CRA to investigate other registered charities with similar connections. These included
- Mizrachi
- ARZA Canada
- Canadian Forum for Russian Speaking Jewry (CFRSJ) and B’yachad Canada
- Canadian Young Judea
