“Taxpayer-subsidized charitable donations may well be Canada’s most important contribution to Palestinian dispossession”, begins a parliamentary petition drawing attention to an underappreciated phenomenon. Registered Canadian charities send over a quarter billion dollars a year to projects in Israel.
Since the federal government introduced deductions for charities in 1967 around $6 billion in subsidized donations have gone to Israel. With around a third of those funds tax write-offs that’s $2 billion in public support for a violent apartheid state.
This money has helped to directly dispossess Palestinians. After the 1967 war the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada raised $15 million ($120 million in today’s money) to build a large park on illegally occupied land. Three peaceful villages (Beit Nuba, Imwas and Yalu) were demolished to make way for Canada Park.
Despite repeatedly attempting to return home, the 5,000 expelled Palestinians were not allowed back. A 1986 UN Special Committee reported to the secretary-general: “[We] consider it a matter of deep concern that these villagers have persistently been denied the right to return to their land on which Canada Park has been built by the JNF Canada and where the Israeli authorities are reportedly planning to plant a forest instead of allowing the reconstruction of the destroyed villages.”
JNF Canada, which subsequently raised millions of dollars to refurbish the park, replaced most traces of Palestinian history with signs devoted to Canadian donors such as the Metropolitan Toronto Police Department, City of Ottawa and former Ontario premier Bill Davis. Inaugurated by former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1975, the Diefenbaker Parkway bisects Canada Park.
Established in 1910, JNF Canada is among the most important of the 200+ Israel-focused registered charities. It raises about $7-$20 million annually in tax-deductible donations. Despite projecting itself as an environmentally friendly organization, it is a linchpin of Zionist colonialism. (more...)
Why do Canadians subsidize dispossession of Palestinians?
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