By Yves Engler

Dozens of registered charities, raising tens of millions of dollars in subsidized donations annually, are currently promoting Zionism to young Canadian Jews.

The Jewish National Fund losing its charitable should be celebrated by opponents of racism and colonialism as well as fiscal conservatives, Canadian nationalists and opponents of genocide. Even child welfare advocates should be applauding the Canada Revenue Agency’s revocation.

The JNF is an explicitly racist organization that has assisted the Israeli military and colonies in the West Bank. It’s appalling that all Canadians have subsidized its racism for the past 57 years.

Withdrawing the JNF’s ability to provide tax credits is also a win for those who care about kids. The JNF devotes significant energy to convincing young minds of its supremacist, genocidal, ideology.

Blue Boxes — tins for collecting money — have long been the mainstay of JNF youth outreach. Over the last century, millions of them have been distributed around the world. An official description explained: “Since its debut in 1901 as JNF’s official fundraising pushke (collection box), the Blue Box has represented JNF and its efforts to develop the land and roads, build communities, strengthen agriculture and create water reservoirs in Israel. It is also a vehicle for educating Jewish youth and involving them in these efforts in order to foster their Zionistic spirit and inspire their support for the State of Israel. For many Jews, the Blue Box is bound up with childhood memories from home and the traditional contributions they made in kindergarten and grade school.”

Maps of the “land of Israel” on JNF Blue Boxes distributed in recent years encompass the occupied West Bank. The first map on the Blue Box, designed in 1934, depicted an area reaching from the Mediterranean into present-day Lebanon and Jordan.

“Bringing Israel to your classrooms and events!”, is how JNF Canada’s Education Department describes its work. They’ve produced puzzles and board games as well as organizing “tree-a-thons” to convince young minds of its colonialist worldview. JNF Canada’s website boasted of how it helps young people “forge an everlasting bond with the land of Israel” while its social media includes pro-war messages.

The organization celebrates JNF Day at schools. At one of those events the organization reported, “270 students from various Jewish day schools in Montreal participated in JNF Day at Beth Zion Synagogue.” A large map showing the grade schoolers included the illegally occupied West Bank as Israel.

JNF Canada has an Educational Emissary who coordinates much of the organization’s education work. “Strengthening Canada’s connection to Israel and to the Israeli people is my primary objective”, explains Yifat Bear Miller. “As JNF Canada’s Education Emissary, otherwise known as the ‘National Shlicha’, I am dedicated to bringing a taste of Israel to your schools and synagogues, from Vancouver to Halifax, and everywhere in between.” Miller has spent more than a decade as an education officer for the Israeli military.

The JNF also educates Canadian educators in its racist worldview. In July it organized a tour to Israel for educators to “Learn about Eco–Zionism and the connection between Judaism, Israel, and the environment.” Last year’s tour for “Educators from Jewish day schools, public schools, supplemental religious schools, camps, youth groups, and other education institutes” included a “Jeep tour of the [illegally occupied] Golan Heights” and “Visiting the Eshkol region Resilience Center, followed by a briefing overlooking Gaza.”

The CRA’s move to wind down the JNF’s operations is a child welfare measure. But more needs to be done. The Revenue Agency needs to investigate other charities indoctrinating the young into a genocidal supremacist ideology.

A quarter of students at Toronto’s Bnei Akiva Schools are reportedly joining a military occupying and slaughtering Palestinians. Recently a formal complaint was submitted to the CRA detailing the school’s violation of charity rules and 3000 asked the Revenue Agency to revoke its charitable status.

Last year another detailed complaint was submitted to the CRA regarding Canada’s largest private high school, TanenbaumCHAT, which has long hosted “IDF Days” that fundraise for Israeli military initiatives. In March the racist, genocide-promoting institution organized a “Solidarity Mission to Israel” where students were “BBQ-ing for soldiers on an army base”.

Dozens of registered charities, raising tens of millions of dollars in subsidized donations annually, are currently promoting Zionism to young Canadian Jews.

The Canada Revenue Agency needs to help save them from this genocidal supremacist indoctrination.

 – 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.