{"id":31734,"date":"2019-01-25T03:50:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T11:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31734"},"modified":"2019-01-24T10:02:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T18:02:32","slug":"ndper-sponsors-anti-jnf-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/01\/25\/ndper-sponsors-anti-jnf-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"NDPer sponsors anti-JNF bid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ayalon Canada Park in the Ayalon\nValley is one of the projects JNF supports. (photo by Guy Asiag, KKL-JNF\nphoto archive)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A member of Parliament has agreed to sponsor an\ne-petition that calls on the government to revoke the charitable status of the\nJewish National Fund of Canada (JNF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first time an MP has lent support\nto an effort to rescind JNF\u2019s tax-exempt charitable status in Canada and marks\nthe latest development in a long-running battle by those opposed to the JNF\u2019s\ncharitable status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quebec NDP MP and national revenue critic\nPierre-Luc Dusseault has agreed to sponsor petition E-1999, which, as of this\nwriting [Jan. 21], had garnered more than 1,400 signatures. It went online on\nJan. 9 and will close for signatures on May 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-petitions are an official system whereby\npetitions that are sponsored by an MP and receive 500 signatures will be tabled\nin the House of Commons. The government must then respond within 45 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was submitted by Independent Jewish Voices\nof Canada (IJV), which is considered an outlier within the Jewish community,\ndue to its support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against\nIsrael.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On its website, IJV calls itself \u201ca grassroots\norganization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and\nadvocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JNF was recently the subject of a scathing\nstory by the CBC, which reported that the charity was under a Canada Revenue\nAgency audit for using charitable donations to build infrastructure for the\nIsrael Defence Forces, \u201cin violation of Canada\u2019s tax rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JNF responded by saying that it stopped\nfunding projects on Israeli military bases in 2016 and that the projects only\n\u201cindirectly\u201d involved the IDF, because they were for children and youth on land\nowned by the IDF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a subsequent interview with the CJN<\/em>,\nJNF Canada\u2019s chief executive officer, Lance Davis, said the charity is working\nwith the CRA on its review and issued staunch defences of JNF\u2019s financial\ntransparency and donor accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The e-petition, which is addressed to the\nminister of national revenue, says JNF Canada \u201cengages in discriminatory practices,\nas its landholdings are chartered for exclusively Jewish ownership, lease and\nbenefit, as noted by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, a former\nattorney general of Israel and the JNF itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It says evidence \u201cstrongly indicates\u201d that JNF\nCanada violates the Income Tax Act, common law and Canada Revenue Agency policy\nover its IDF-related projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well, it claims the charity violates\nCanadian and international law \u201cby enabling physical changes within occupied\nterritory, thereby helping Israel effectively annex land within occupied\nterritory, and, in the case of east Jerusalem, deepen control over land already\nannexed illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNotably,\u201d it adds, \u201cthe JNF Canada-funded\nCanada Park was built on the lands of three Palestinian villages destroyed\nfollowing the 1967 war in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also accuses JNF Canada materials of\ndepicting \u201coccupied territory as part of Israel, a representation that runs\ncontrary to Canadian foreign policy and international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It calls on the minister of national revenue to\nrevoke JNF\u2019s charitable status, if the charity is found to violate the Income\nTax Act, or CRA guidelines and policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was initiated by Rabbi David Mivasair, a\nlongtime IJV activist now based in Hamilton, Ont. He called the e-petition\n\u201cpart of an ongoing process\u201d to hold public officials accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incontrovertibly factual that JNF Canada\nis in violation of Canada\u2019s tax laws,\u201d Mivasair claimed. \u201cIt has been for\ndecades. It\u2019s been reported for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest campaign \u201cis not something that I\ntake any pleasure in doing, but feel is morally necessary to be done,\u201d he\nadded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to guidelines for MPs, no debate is\npermitted when a member presents a petition. An MP \u201cmay make a brief factual\nstatement (referring to the petition being duly certified, to its source, to\nthe subject matter of the petition and its request, and to the number of\nsignatures it carries), but members are not allowed to read petitions nor are\nthey to indicate their agreement or disagreement with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, IJV submitted an 85-page complaint\nabout JNF Canada to the CRA and the national revenue minister. That followed\nmany other campaigns designed to pressure federal officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first time IJV has submitted a parliamentary petition and it\u2019s \u201cjust one way of drawing public attention to this,\u201d said the group\u2019s national coordinator, Corey Balsam. \u201cWe\u2019re assuming [officials] will look into it and not much more than that. [But] it\u2019s definitely a big step for our campaign.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Dusseault is \u201cnot someone who\u2019s very\nengaged [in the issue], but he heard the concerns and saw the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dusseault did not reply to the CJN<\/em>\u2019s\nrequests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement posted to its website, JNF\ncalled the e-petition \u201cas empty and scurrilous as earlier efforts to\ndelegitimize the outstanding work of the JNF and, by extension, the existence\nof the state of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JNF said its outreach suggests \u201cthat those who\nare applying any degree of critical thinking see the petition for what it is\nand are dismissing it as not worthy of engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jewish National Fund of Canada\u2019s response to the Jan. 11 <\/a><\/em>Jewish Independent <\/a>editorial<\/a>, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ayalon Canada Park in the Ayalon Valley is one of the projects JNF supports. (photo by Guy Asiag, KKL-JNF photo archive) A member of Parliament has agreed to sponsor an e-petition that calls on the government to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF). This is the first time an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5695,8164,4882,1245,59,60,8652,3170],"class_list":["post-31734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-cra","tag-david-mivasair","tag-ijv","tag-independent-jewish-voices","tag-jewish-national-fund","tag-jnf","tag-lance-davis","tag-taxes"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}