By Yves Engler

Over the past two decades Reisman and Schwartz have put at least $185 million into HESEG. They’ve likely recouped nearly half of that sum through tax credits for “charitable” donations.

On Friday I asked Heather Reisman about giving nearly $200 million to support non-Israelis joining an occupation force brutalizing Palestinians. I was violently removed before I heard whether the CEO of Indigo believes all Canadians should subsidize her donations to a genocidal foreign military.

At Startupfest, a muscular security agent threw me to the ground, placed his legs around my neck and then dragged me ten feet along the ground after I said, “Mrs. Reisman you’ve given 200 million dollars to non-Israelis joining a military force brutalizing Palestinians. Mrs. Reisman you’re supporting a genocide”. Despite no resistance on my part and many other security around, the Port of Montreal agent slammed me against a wall outside the room and twisted my arms aggressively as he pushed me out of the venue. When he finally let go of me outside the venue and I began filming him, he slapped my phone off. My neck and knee hurt afterwards, and I have a bruise on my back.

Over 65,000 have watched video of the incident on my X account and thousands more on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. The Canadian Press reported on it: “Reisman was briefly interrupted Friday by a pro-Palestinian protester who accused her of ‘funding genocide.’ Indigo has been targeted in recent months by activists who take issue with the HESEG Foundation, created by Schwartz and Reisman in 2005, which offers scholarships to people from outside Israel who join the Israeli Defense Forces.

Today I asked ⁦@HeatherReisman⁩ about giving $200M for non-Israelis joining occupation force brutalizing Palestinians. Security assaulted & dragged me out before I could hear whether she believes all Canadians should subsidize her donations to genocidal foreign military pic.twitter.com/CBDc6yvJJf

— Yves Engler (@EnglerYves) July 12, 2024

“Reisman, who appeared unfazed by the disturbance, called the protester’s allegation a ‘lie,’ and said the truth is the foundation ‘fund(s) education for people with no parents.’ The man was quickly removed by security guards.

“Since the conflict in Gaza began last fall, demonstrators have protested outside Indigo bookstores and called for boycotts of the company because of Reisman’s foundation. A Toronto store was vandalized last November. More recently, a group of high-profile members of Canada’s literary community have called on the Scotiabank Giller Prize to cut ties with sponsors ‘directly invested in Israel’s occupation of Palestine,’ including Indigo.”

In 2005, Reisman and her husband Gerry Schwartz established the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers “to recognize and honor the contribution of Lone Soldiers to Israel.” The HESEG Foundation provides scholarships and other forms of support to Torontonians, New Yorkers and other non-Israelis (Lone Soldiers) who join the IOF. After the IOF killed 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, HESEG delivered $160,000 in gifts to Israeli soldiers who took part in the violence.

More recently, HESEG has funded scholarships for members of the Duvdevan, an undercover commando unit known for disguising itself and blending in with Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to carry out operations. The Duvdevan scholarships are partly based on “excellence during army service”, which in the context of the Israeli occupation likely means kidnapping or killing Palestinians.

Over the past two decades Reisman and Schwartz have put at least $185 million into HESEG. They’ve likely recouped nearly half of that sum through tax credits for “charitable” donations.

Reisman/Schwartz are Canadian oligarchs. A recent story headlined “Inside the ‘shocking’ police operation targeting pro-Palestine activists in Toronto” highlights Reisman’s influence. The Breach reported that Reisman had multiple calls with Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw after posters and fake blood were placed on an Indigo bookstore in November denouncing her role in “funding genocide”. As a result, the police launched pre-dawn raids on a dozen peoples’ homes and charged individuals with hate crimes for putting up posters and using water-soluble paint. The day after Reisman’s second call with chief Demkiw the Toronto police added a charge of “criminal harassment”, which is supposed to be based on an individual’s “fear for their safety”.

Reisman was born into a well-connected Montreal family and Schwartz/Reisman are worth about $2 billion today. They instigated the creation of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) to replace the Canadian Jewish Congress and Canada Israel Committee. In a 2005 Canadian Dimension article headlined “The New Israel Lobby in Action” York professor David Noble pointed out that Schwartz/Reisman brought together a handful of the wealthiest Jewish Toronto Zionists who then “gathered together a select group of like-minded and monied colleagues and ‘self-appointed’ themselves the ‘Israel Emergency Cabinet,’ intent upon lending ‘more conviction and financial muscle’ to advocacy for Israel in Canada.”

Reisman and Schwartz’s influence is what allows them to continue exploiting charitable law to subsidize their support for a murderous foreign military. It’s a moral outrage. All Canadians of conscience must demand the CRA revoke the charitable status of the HESEG Foundation.

 – Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and a number of other books. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit his website: yvesengler.com.