AhlulBayt News Agency: The Canadian branch of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has officially lost its status as a registered charity, following a Canadian federal court ruling rejecting its final legal appeal.
The May 30 ruling confirmed the government’s decision to revoke JNF-Canada’s charitable designation, effectively forcing the organization to shut down after 57 years of activity.
This decision marks a major legal and political setback for the JNF, which has faced growing scrutiny over its use of Canadian tax-exempt donations to fund Israeli military-linked projects and Palestinian displacement.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) first announced the revocation in August 2024, citing violations related to the organization’s overseas funding practices.
The JNF challenged the decision in court, but the May 30 ruling upheld the CRA’s findings, cementing the group’s loss of legal status.
With the court’s rejection of its appeal, JNF-Canada is now legally defunct as a registered charity, ending decades of financial support from Canadian donors for controversial programs in occupied Palestinian territories.
Human rights groups and pro-Palestinian advocates have long criticized the JNF, accusing it of channeling donations into projects supporting the Israeli military and contributing to Palestinian displacement.
Critics have also condemned the organization for “greenwashing”, alleging that it plants forests over depopulated Palestinian villages to obscure the history of displacement.
While the JNF has marketed its environmental and land development activities as charitable, rights groups argue that its operations in occupied territories serve to entrench illegal Israeli settlements and erase Palestinian identity.
Founded in 1901, the JNF has played a central role in the Zionist movement’s efforts to settle land in historic Palestine.
During and after the 1948 Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced, the JNF was instrumental in appropriating land for exclusive use by Israeli settlers.
In recent decades, the JNF has maintained a quasi-official role within the Israeli regime, while presenting itself abroad as a private charitable entity, allowing it to operate with fewer restrictions under international law.
Internationally, the JNF has faced criticism for its lack of transparency and aggressive pro-Israeli stance.
The JNF’s operations have also come under investigation in the UK, where the Charity Commission has raised concerns about its military-linked activities and political alignment with Israel.
Senior figures associated with JNF-UK have faced scrutiny for Islamophobic remarks, leading to public backlash and regulatory investigations.
Despite these controversies, the JNF has historically enjoyed support from prominent Western political figures, including former British prime ministers and senior Israeli intelligence officers.
Observers say the Canadian court decision represents one of the most significant legal challenges to the JNF’s international operations, potentially setting a precedent for other jurisdictions reviewing organizations with charitable status but political agendas.
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