CRA revokes Jewish National Fund of Canada’s charitable status

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The Canada Revenue Agency has notified the century-old Jewish National Fund that it plans to revoke the group’s charitable status in Canada over support for military infrastructure in Israel, a decision the JNF says it will challenge in the courts.

The JNF claims the CRA changed the rules for charitable donations, long after the organization’s work had been approved.

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“Our position is that it is unjust for CRA to revoke a charity because a charitable object that it accepted almost 60 years ago is now no longer considered to be a valid charitable object,” JNF Canada’s national president Nathan Disenhouse wrote in a public statement released Thursday afternoon. “It is simply unjust to close a charity supported by over 100,000 Canadians based on reversing a decision the CRA made in 1967.”

The CRA did not respond to a request in time for publication. JNF CEO Lance Davis directed the Post to the organization’s public statement and contemporaneous newsletter to its supporters.

“Unfortunately, our overtures to have a dialogue in order to negotiate an agreement were rejected – CRA officials refused to meet in person with JNF Canada officials throughout this ordeal – and the CRA confirmed its intention to revoke on June 26th,” the letter, coauthored by Disenhouse and Davis, reads.

They added that their appeal intends to show the CRA’s findings are flawed, that the federal body’s procedures are unfair and that there “is a reasonable apprehension of bias in the audit.”

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JNF had an earlier run-in with the CRA following a financial audit showing that donations from the organization were used to build military infrastructure for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). The CRA said the move ran afoul of Canada’s Tax Code concerning supporting foreign militaries.

The CRA has cracked down on other Canadian Jewish charities in recent years, citing similar concerns. In 2019, Beth Oloth Charitable Organization had its charitable status removed for distributing funds aiding the Israeli military.

“Canadian charities are not allowed to fund foreign militaries,” Mark Blumberg, an attorney specializing in Canadian charity law, told the Post by email. “Clearly, there were previously some compliance issues,” Blumberg, creator of CharityData.ca – the largest national database of Canadian registered charities – added. He cautioned that it is difficult to draw conclusions from JNF’s announcement “without reviewing the letters from (the) CRA combined with the letters from the charity to CRA.”

Disenhouse pledged that JNF Canada had worked, and remains committed, to addressing the CRA’s earlier concerns and has strived to avoid a revocation of its charitable status.

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“Similar to other charities that support the needs of children, workers, and vulnerable communities we would expect CRA to work with, not against, our charity,” Disenhouse said.

In a statement on Thursday, Shimon Koffler Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his group “is supportive of JNF.”

“CIJA remains hopeful that JNF and CRA will ultimately identify a constructive resolution, permitting JNF to continue its important work ranging from relief from poverty to environmental reclamation,” he added.

National Post

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