---------- Original message ----------
From: Pablo.Rodriguez@parl.gc.ca
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2019 10:59:47 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Its interesting that before CBC edited its comment section

for the benefit of Trudeau and Trump the last comment in the "most liked" thread

was about Charles Leblanc of all peopleTo: motomaniac333@gmail.com

Bonjour,

Veuillez prendre note que nos bureaux seront fermés jusqu'au 7 janvier 2019.

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---------- Original message ----------
From: "Minister of ISED - Ministre de ISDE (IC)"
<ised.minister-ministre.isde@canada.ca>
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2019 10:59:48 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Its interesting that before CBC edited its comment section

for the benefit of Trudeau and Trump the last comment in the "most liked" thread

was about Charles Leblanc of all peopleTo: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>

(le fran?ais suit l'anglais)

Thank you for writing to the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of
Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Your email will receive
every consideration.

This is an automatically generated message. Please do not reply.

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---------- Original message ----------
From: Premier of Ontario | Premier ministre de l’Ontario <Premier@ontario.ca>
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2019 10:59:40 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Its interesting that before CBC edited its comment section

for the benefit of Trudeau and Trump the last comment in the "most liked" thread

was about Charles Leblanc of all people
To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>

Thank you for your email. Your thoughts, comments and input are greatly valued.

You can be assured that all emails and letters are carefully read,
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---------- Original message ----------
From: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2019 06:59:35 -0400
Subject: Re: Its interesting that before CBC edited its comment section for the benefit of

Trudeau and Trump the last comment in the "most liked" thread was about Charles Leblanc

blaine.higgs@gnb.ca, terry.seguin@cbc.ca, rjspeer555@gmail.com, Ross.Wetmore@gnb.ca,
shoreviewholsteins@gmail.com, hance.colburne@cbc.ca, David.Akin@globalnews.ca, washington.field@ic.fbi.gov, Boston.Mail@ic.fbi.gov, dean.buzza@rcmp-grc.gc.ca,
jan.jensen@justice.gc.ca, bill.pentney@justice.gc.ca, mcu@justice.gc.ca,

Brenda.Lucki@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, Liliana.Longo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca,

https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies

‏ @DavidRayAmos

Replying to @DavidRayAmos @Kathryn98967631 and 49 others

Methinks Zionists who do not understand Chiac should Google David Amos Federal Court N'esy Pas?

https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/01/canadian-charity-used-donations-to-fund.html

#nbpoli #cdnpoli #Trump #Trudeau #CRA #Zionism #IRS #FBI #RCMP

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jnf-charity-donations-1.4949072

Canadian charity used donations to fund projects linked to Israeli military

1715 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.

David R. Amos

Surprise Surprise Surprise

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Liberal MP Michael Levitt plant a tree at JNF's VIP Tree Planting Center in the mountains above Jerusalem in July 2017

John Dirlik

@David R. Amos

Both Liberals and Conservatives have a proven history of answering “how high” when told to jump by that lobby that doesn’t exist for that country that cannot be criticized.

David R. Amos

@John Dirlik Methinks Joe Clark didn't tell the whole truth N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jerusalem-embassy-tel-aviv-clark-1.4436795

Bill Matthews

@John Dirlik I think we need to start criticizing

Dee Ray Ng

@Bill Matthews

Many have been, the listening/acting on those criticisms is what is needed.

David R. Amos

@Bill Matthews "@Art Rowe maybe fat fingers hahaha"

So you start by making fun of me?

Basil Masse

Projects in the West Bank? Isn't Israel in violation of a UN resolution by occupying that area?

Mashoud Nasseri

@Basil Masse Outrageous! Canadian's tax money went to projects banned by Canada's laws, UN resolutions and even " State of Israel itself"?!!! Shame!
"JNF Canada missions in Israel also have contributed directly to the construction of at least one hilltop settler outpost that was declared illegal by the State of Israel itself."

André Carrel

@Basil Masse
You asked two questions, and I attempted twice do answer them. But the CBC administrator disabled them both.
So this is my third attempt to contribute an answer to your two questions:

"......"

I hope this comment will not offend any rules.

Bill Matthews

@André Carrel I feel your pain. What happened to free speech which seems to be constantly edited by our tax paid CBC

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David R. Amos

@André Carrel "I hope this comment will not offend any rules."

Welcome to the Circus

MASSEY JONES

No sarcasm here and respectfully; but doesn't the charity's name speak for itself?
"Jewish National Fund"

Nearly all of the photos above, bear witness to what the JNF accomplishes, mostly in Israel and not in Canada.

I will not even comment here about the complainant, but it's almost evident, why he has a motive.

Nelson Barley

@MASSEY JONES

The JNF is Israel's department of land management, like a ministry of natural resources or department of the interior. Labelling it a charity is ridiculous.

MASSEY JONES

@Nelson Barley

You wrote:
"The JNF is Israel's department of land management, like a ministry of natural resources or department of the interior. Labelling it a charity is ridiculous."

Good post.
I don't know about the JNF but, after the post was sent, I realised that absolutely nothing in the published photos (especially the one in which Harper laid a cornerstone), says the word "Canada" , though it mentioned a benefit dinner held in "Toronto".

Wonder if some visitors will even bother to find out where Toronto is; the stone doesn't even mention "JNF Canada", as it should.

David R. Amos

@MASSEY JONES Methinks I should be permitted to quote Ol Mo N'esy Pas?

"this is not rocket science." ___ mo bennett

mo bennett

pull their charity license permanently. this is not rocket science.

Angus Campbell

@mo bennett
And the Cons complain about funding the Bird Watchers?

Rusty Brown

@Angus Campbell

"Revenue Canada targets birdwatchers for political activity"
"Earlier this year, tax auditors sent a letter to the 300-member group, warning about political material on the group's website."
— CBC - October 17, 2014

David R. Amos

@mo bennett YO MO Methinks thou doth protest too much N'esy Pas?

James Mittlefehldt

@David R. Amos Nes't pa not nesy

Art Rowe

@James Mittlefehldt
Try "N'est pas" or was that a very pathetic attempt at humor?

Bill Matthews

@Art Rowe maybe fat fingers hahaha

Greg Hooper

@Rusty Brown
"Bird watchers" or "environmental extremists"? You decide!

thomas stewart

@Art Rowe

"Try 'N'est pas' "

Try "n'est-ce pas".

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David R. Amos

@thomas stewart Methinks Zionists who do not understand Chiac should Google David Amos Federal Court N'esy Pas?

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David R. Amos

@thomas stewart Methinks whereas you do not understand Chiac then perhaps you should try to Google David Amos Federal Court N'esy Pas?

Angus Campbell

Now we know why Harper and the evangelicals loved Israel so much

John Dirlik

@Angus Campbell

Out of conviction or opportunism (I suspect mostly the latter) Harper’s pandering to Israel’s lobby was so blatant we were publicly ridiculed even in Israel.

John Baird (accompanied by “his” Lubavitcher rabbi) grovelled “Israel has no better than Canada” so often there, that an Israeli official finally quipped: “It seems that Canada is an even better friend to Israel than we are!”

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David R. Amos

@John Dirlik Methinks you should ask John Baird and his old boss Mr Harper why I sued the Queen in 2015 N'esy Pas?

http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2015/09/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html

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David R. Amos

@John Dirlik "Religion doesn’t kill; Zionism does."

POOF

brian duog

@Angus Campbell could be that they are the only democracy in the middle east, or the only country in the middle -east where the majority of the population do not hate the West ?

Teddy Spencer

@brian duog

Half of the people who live in Israel cannot vote in elections.

It's not a democracy.

Scotty Davidson

@Angus Campbell So where is Trudeau's condemnation for all the unarmed Palestinian civilian protesters who have been shot in recent months? Silence equals support in my opinion.

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David R. Amos

@John Dirlik Methinks its rather rough replying to you N'esy Pas?

mo bennett

time for Canada to quit blindly supporting benny and the jets.

Angus Campbell

@mo bennett
All religious based charities should be stopped. They go against the very basics of democracy.

John Dirlik

@mo bennett

Time for Canadian lawmakers to grow a pair and strip the JNF of its charitable status. Not only does it bamboozle Canadians by funding Israeli military projects, but it operates in the West Bank which according to Canada’s long-standing official policy is illegally occupied.

John Dirlik

@mo bennett

Like the politicians down south, ours are beholden to that lobby that doesn’t exist for that country that cannot criticized.

David R. Amos

@mo bennett "maybe now y'all will believe me"

NOPE

David R. Amos

@Angus Campbell "All religious based charities should be stopped."

Methinks you should study my freedom of religion lawsuit N'esy Pas?

Richard Zavitz

@John Dirlik I thought the Harper government gave 8million tax payers money to the CRA to stop this sort of thing????? Or was this money only for terrorist that Harper defined?
What happen, CRA didn't do there job as usual or did Harper stuff the information under the mattress so it wouldn't affect his love in with Israeli??

John Dirlik

@Richard Zavitz

Harper cut funding for a Christian organization ( Kairos) that helped women who had been raped in the Congo.

It had the temerity to also speak out about Palestinian rights.

Shawn D. Brenner

@Angus Campbell
.....as most of them are used to disguise their true uses.

Rick Green

@Angus Campbell

"All religious based charities should be stopped. They go against the very basics of democracy."

How so?

Norman Albert Snr

@mo bennett Just another case of Israel playing by it's own rules!!!! BDS

Janie Veston

@Rick Green religion is a myth...created by the rich to keep the poor in line. religions are filled with misinformation, untruths and made-up fairies in the sky. right-wingers almost are always religious and almost always hypocrites. Science proves religion as nonsense...so quit brain-washing people with the fairy tales and trying to push religion into politics.

Rick Green

@Janie Veston

"Science proves religion as nonsense...so quit brain-washing people with the fairy tales and trying to push religion into politics."

Easy sport, i'm an atheist.

Again, how are religious charities are against the basics of democracy?

Doug Mackenzie

@Janie Veston

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

― Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers

"Astronomers now find they have painted themselves into a corner because they have proven, by their own methods, that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in this cosmos and on the earth. And they have found that all this happened as a product of forces they cannot hope to discover. That there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact."

Robert Jastrow

Kayle Chak

@Rick Green Cannot agree more. Our tax $ should not support special interest groups.

Rick Green

@mo bennett

"time for Canada to quit blindly supporting benny and the jets."

And hamas.

Patrick Smyth

@Rick Green LMAO, please tell me how much money Canada gives to the internationally recognized terrorist organization called Hamas. Other than humanitarian aid to PALESTINE (i.e. to food, clothes and medicine for human beings), Canada and Canadian charities do little or nothing to help Palestine or Palestinians and particularly organizations like Hamas.

Try coming up with some FACTS if you want to wade in to this.

Meanwhile BILLIONS are funneled into Israel yearly and everyone crows about all the "great" things they have done with money pouring in from abroad. Were that money pouring into Palestine since 1947, I sincerely doubt we would be talking about conflicts between Palestine and Israel as they would both now be flourishing nations instead of one country and a giant prison

Bano Iman

@Shawn D. Brenner How many charitable organizations fund extremists like Hamas? I can name 10 off the top of my head. But apparently the IDF is the problem???

So Canada has no problem with orgs. funding ISIS or Hezbollah but we draw the line at IDF. Hmmm seems about right.

david mccaig

@mo bennett The Jewish National Fund of Canada uses this so called charity to collect funds for Israel's military, most of which will be used to keep the Palestinians in an open air prison while Israel continues to build settlements outside their borders on Palestinian land contravening Explicit UN orders they are committing an international crime.

Patrick Smyth

@Bano Iman

none are so blind as those who choose not to see.

Billions have been invested every year into Israel and by extension the IDF. The US (largest economy in the world) has sponsored the IDF from the very beginning up to and including illegally supplying them with the makings of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile they have largely ignored the plight of the Palestinians and are in the process of removing what little support (in comparison to support for Israel since 1947) they do provide of a humanitarian nature.

The last war involving Israel in the ME was STARTED by Israel not anyone else. They claimed to be preemptively attacking their enemies but we will NEVER know whether or not that was the case since they attacked their neighbours before they could (theoretically) be attacked themselves. They also seized significant territory (illegally) from their "neighbours" at the time.... Land they NOW claim as their own 40 years later (also illegal but remains unsanctioned thanks to US veto power at the UN)

david mccaig

@mo bennett

Easy solution spend a huge tax bill to The Jewish National Fund of Canada, and after its paid, ban the The Jewish National Fund of Canada permanently. Now the question is does Justin Trudeau have the backbone.

John Dirlik

@Bano Iman

I am sure that CSIS would be interested in your, ahem, credible information.

Patrick Smyth

@Doug Mackenzie

Nice quote. Science would seem to be magic to a sufficiently undeveloped society.

I would quibble with this bit in particular:

"That there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact."

There is NOTHING supernatural (by definition) about things we do not yet (or may never) understand, they are simply NOT UNDERSTOOD at this time, it hardly makes them "supernatural".

I would call them unknown natural forces, not "supernatural". They say absolutely nothing in regards to an "act of creation". The big bang was not more an "act" of creation than the formation of a mountain range from tectonic plates grinding together. An "act" implies intelligent design there is NO evidence of.

Bill Matthews

@mo bennett we need to send benny a jet, with a package for him.

david mccaig

@mo bennett

In any civilized world members of the Netanyahu government would be sitting in a Court in the Hague explaining their behavior, instead endorcing the right wing fascist ideology of Brazil's new President Jair Bolsonaro.

david mccaig

@mo bennett

Quote "Canada to quit blindly supporting benny and the jets"
Excellent post my adversaril friend.

david mccaig

@mo bennett

Noticed Netanyahu couldn't wait to have his picture taken at the swearing in of Brazil's new right wing President Jair Bolsonaro.

John Dunn

@John Dirlik certainly can't on here.

david mccaig

@mo bennett

Netanyahu this is a man that was accused by then Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of inviting violence against his government just before Rabin was assassinated by a right wing orthodox Israeli .

https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/benjamin-netanyahu-denies-rabin-incitement-claims/

david mccaig

@mo bennett

There is no doubt Israeli militant activist groups intimidate American politics.

John Dirlik

@david mccaig

Just weeks before Rabin was killed, a local community (and staunchly Zionist) newspaper in Quebec (the Suburban) ran a fiery opinion piece.

It described Rabin's government as a “conspiratorial and collaborationist Hellenist governmentt" and ended with the chilling exhortation that Rabin's peace plan “be undermined by all means [italics added] and at every juncture. And the more one exceeds in this patriotic duty, the more praiseworthy he is.”

After an American settler (Baruch Goldstein) slaughtered 29 worshippers at a Hebron mosque in 1994, the same paper editorialized that while it did not condone his methods, Goldstein merely "loved Israel more than life itself".

It is not only Hamas that harbours extremists.

Janie Veston

@Doug Mackenzie There is NOTHING supernatural about things we do not yet understand. They are simply NOT understood at this time. That does NOT make them "supernatural".
No where in his ACTUAL quote is there mention of "act of creation" - that was added by dougie or some other fairy believer. The big bang was not an "act" of creation. But thanks for coming out.

Janie Veston, Purveyor of Truths & Facts

John Dirlik

PS

The federal government still supports that rag with paid advertisements.

david mccaig

@david mccaig

Just to set things straight, I'm NOT suggesting a MAJORITY of Jews in Israel are right wing thugs, but instead are reasonable people who want peace and a solution for the Palestinian question. Netanyahu like Trump won his job under dubious circumstances aided by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

david mccaig

@david mccaig

Seems billionaire money is corrupting many democracies around this world of ours.

Sandy Gillis

@Doug Mackenzie
Faulty premises and illogical conclusions are just that, whether said plainly or prettily.

David R. Amos

@Sandy Gillis Methinks you are the one who should certainly know about such things N'esy Pas?

Sandy Gillis

@David R. Amos
Do you have anything to add to the discussion David? Or, as usual, are you just desperate for attention? Going to start begging people to Google your name again?

Dee Ray Ng

@Justin Smith

Revisionism.

Nestor Neville Nelson

@David R. Amos

Hey, amigo Amos!
Que pasa with that "N'esy Pas" nonsense again?

David R. Amos

@Sandy Gillis I have not heard back from your lawyer yet so perhaps your your fans should Google yours N'esy Pas?

David R. Amos

@Nestor Neville Nelson Methinks that you are no friend of mine N'esy Pas?

Nestor Neville Nelson

@David R. Amos

Inaccurate.

I'm no friend of that "N'esy Pas" nonsense, amigo Amos.

thomas stewart

@Justin Smith

But was the 1973 war truly the "last" war involving Israel? Wasn't Israel involved in a war in Lebanon in the 1980s, which began as an invasion of Lebanon by the IDF which resulted in the Israeli occupation of a portion of southern Lebanon in order to quell PLO attacks from that quarter?

David R. Amos

@Nestor Neville Nelson Methinks if you know me so well then you know why I fun with Chiac and also must know why I sued 3 IRS Agents twice in 2002 2 years before I ran in the election of the 38th Parliament You can bet that your political heroes Harper and Goodale who featured in this news item certainly do N'esy Pas?

Nestor Neville Nelson

@David R. Amos

> Methinks if you know me so well ...

I don't know your "IRS" affairs
nor why you continue with
your chronic "N'esy Pas" nonsense,
amigo Amos.

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David R. Amos

@Nestor Neville Nelson I repeat I am not your friend in fact methinks I should be offended that some folks may think I am N'esy Pas?

david mccaig

@mo bennett

when Justin Trudeau's government was barely days old and the conservatives politically forced his new government to make it illegal for Canadians to boycott Israel.

david mccaig

@david mccaig

It it is illegal for any US resident to boycott Israel or Israeli . The anti-Israel boycott is "illegal" in France -
The anti-Israel boycott is "illegal" in France Last week, the Court of Cessation, the highest court in the French judiciary, upheld the conviction of twelve activists from Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) who participated in 2009 and 2010 in actions calling for a boycott of Israeli products.
The government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is denying reports that it will cite hate crime legislation in its efforts to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
Israels tentacles reach into many countries.

david mccaig

@mo bennett

Texas city refuses to give people hurricane aid unless they pledge not to boycott Israel

American Civil Liberties Union says application form for flooding relief grants 'reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths'

Texas city refuses to give people hurricane aid unless they pledge not to boycott IsraelAmerican Civil Liberties Union says application form for flooding relief grants 'reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths'

david mccaig

@david mccaig

Texas city refuses to give people hurricane aid unless they pledge not to boycott IsraelAmerican Civil Liberties Union says application form for flooding relief grants 'reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths'

Source
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-hurricane-aid-dickinson-israel-boycott-pledge-harvey-financial-help-free-speech-a8011141.html

John Dirlik

@david mccaig

Sickening, isn’t it?

Sandy Gillis

@David R. Amos
I have no idea what you're talking about still. As I've told you repeatedly, I'm not the Sandy Gillis you apparently know. Whoever's lawyer you've been harassing, they're not my lawyer.

But, of course, you're just going to keep up your paranoid delusion that some guy that picked on you in high school or something is back to haunt you here. Good luck with all that David. As a favour to your mental health, I am going to completely stop engaging with you in any way. This is my last reply to you, as you add nothing to any discussion, and I feel badly that my name is fueling your harmful fantasies.

Best of luck out there.

Doug Mackenzie

@Sandy Gillis

The sad truth for you is that if you are correct, and there is no God, you will never know it; conversely, if you are wrong, you will know it for eternity. And, if I am wrong, you will never know it; however, if I am correct, and there is a God behind all of this, you will know it for eternity.

Doug Gray

@david mccaig
National media in the US is a good example. National Post Media being another.

Nicholas Markusen

They need to be immediately removed from charity status. If you fund a military, you are a militant organization.

Stephen George

@Art Rowe

Exactly.

David R. Amos

@Nicholas Markusen YUP

John Dirlik

“Canada Park.... built on the site of three Palestinian villages left empty after the 1967 Six Day war...”

Left empty. How cute, CBC. How about the reality: that the inhabitants were at gunpoint forced to flee their homeland so that Israel could create it Jewish majority? There’s an accurate term for that: ethnic cleansing.

Jon Holmes

@John Dirlik But God promised them that Land in some Burning Bush or the like....

David R. Amos

@John Dirlik Go figure why you dudes can post such things but I can't talk of the evil Taxman.

John Hallberg

harper and the cra do most strongly protest!!!

Dee Ray Ng

@John Hallberg

I gave you a like for your sarcasm.

David R. Amos

@Dee Ray Ng Me Too

Shaun Lo

They should be fined heavily and have their charitable status removed

Eric Slyden

@Shaun Lo

Why?

Teddy Spencer

@Eric Slyden

Because they support war criminals.

Shaun Lo

@Eric Slyden

Dumb question .. just because they “stopped”? Why are Jewish organizations still hunting nazi guards? They’ve stopped guarding the concentration camps ..

Just because you sympathize with a cause does not make their transgressions right no matter how small you may want to deem it.

Eric Slyden

@Shaun Lo and Teddy Spencer

The nazi concentration camps deserve nothing in old age. What sympathy did they give their victims?

Teddy Spencer

@Eric Slyden

Israelis deserve nothing either. They're treating their occupied peoples in the same manner that the Nazis did.

Fascists should be shunned. No matter which 'religion' they claim to follow.

Shaun Lo

@Eric Slyden

You seemed to have missed the point .. again ..

Nicolas Krinis

@Nicolas Krinis There is nothing wrong with defending your country.

Teddy Spencer

@Nicolas Krinis

As you're defending Israel, are you saying that's your country?

Move there, then...

Edward Jones

@Nicolas Krinis So the unarmed Palestinians protesting and being slaughtered is considered "defense now"?

Only to cowards and fascists.

Troy Mann

@Eric Slyden "Why?"

Because they knowing broke Canadian law.

John Dirlik

@Teddy Spencer

While that particular analogy is offensive, one difference is that Germans were largely unaware of the horrors perpetuated, and those who did would have been severely punished if they protested.

In sharp contrast with those who not only know exactly what is going on today, but try to deny, justify or whitewash it.

André Carrel

@John Dirlik
That is what is know as "real Politik"

Read Paul Thomas Chamberlin's "The Cold War's Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace" and you will come to realize that many, many so-called Elder Statesmen (e.g. Henry Kissinger) would long ago have been tried for crimes against humanity, but for the fact that they committed their crimes covered by a blankets of special interests.

Dariusz Piatkowski

@John Dirlik "...While that particular analogy is offensive, one difference is that Germans were largely unaware of the horrors perpetuated, and those who did would have been severely punished if they protested... "????

Are you honestly that gullible?

Who do you think was the German military made up from during the war? Do you think they were mercenaries??? LOL....seriously man...last time I checked it was the German air-force strafing the endless lines of fleeing Polish civilians during German's attack on Poland in 1939!

Now imagine yourself in their shoes, trying to get out of the way of military conflict only to have the enemy shoot your whole family of sizeable bullet holes...what is this so difficult to imagine and worse yet to apparently accept today???

This was war, started by Germany (and the Soviets), they are responsible for the atrocities, end of story!

John Dirlik

@Dariusz Piatkowski

Nothing you wrote refutes my point: Germans would have been punished had they objected to Berlin's policies, todays Jews can protest Israel's occupation but many choose to defend it.

thomas stewart

@John Dirlik

"...one difference is that Germans were largely unaware of the horrors perpetuated,..."

They were unaware of the specifics, but they certainly knew that their Jewish neighbours were being subjected to persecution, forced relocation, and confiscation of their goods and homes. There were enough Germans working in the public service, the police, the railways and all the other apparatus of the Holocaust for rumours, tales and knowledge not to have seeped quietly back into the general population.

Knowledge of the persecution is why many non-Jews risked their own lives to protect Jewish individuals.

Of course, few would be in a position to admit how much they knew AFTER the War. Especially after they themselves had endured and been traumatized by the horrors of the Allied bombing of their cities, and the forced deprivations of war.

Shaun Lo

@thomas stewart

That is why we should look forward and not backwards.

We should learn from the German people's mistake where they allow the problem to grow out of their control by not calling out the smallish things that were not right.

We have the same problems today like @Nicolas Krinis who will defend "his country" even when it is breaking international (or in other words - moral) laws.

If this was family, the right thing to do would be to continually work with the member to change their way with constant reminders that what they are doing is wrong. Take them to AA meetings, family counselling. Not buy them booze.

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David R. Amos

@Troy Mann "Because they knowing broke Canadian law."

Why was it ok for me to be falsely imprisoned in Canada and the USA for political reasons?

Nelson Barley

Why is it that our government gives tax deductions for donations to Israeli charities? We lose two ways: we lose tax revenue, and money from our economy.

Secondly, the JNF is in fact Israel's department of land management. Its main function is more like a Ministry of Natural Resources or Dept of the Interior. Calling an Israeli government department a charity is ridiculous.

Canada is far too generous to Israel. We have a free trade agreement with it that annually results in a huge trade deficit for us and surplus for Israel. Our government was silent when Israel passed its "Nation State Law" which explicitly states only Jews have a right to expect their national aspirations to be met, making it effectively an apartheid state. A few weeks ago, the Knesset rejected a bill saying all citizens of Israel are equal. The Trudeau government has passed a motion condemning the BDS movement - this motion violates our Charter right to peaceful political action. Our rights as citizens are subject to Israel's approval!

Canada is apparently a signatory to the IHRA Defintition of antisemitism which says it is antisemitic to hold Israel to a standard other countries are not held to. We are not even holding it to our own standards.

Bill Matthews

@Nelson Barley the world is FAR TOO generous to Israel. They have all the money, why does anybody need to donate anything to them period....

Shaun Lo

@Bill Matthews

So they can build more settlements on Palestinian lands.

By the way, who funded the wall? Not Mexico.

Israel has been giving free Palestinian lands to Jews from outside the “country” to entice them to move to Israel so they can pad the population stats to justify its existence for decades.

One documentary a decade or so ago stated that Israel has the largest per capita prostitution in a western democracy .. although it is a bit of a theocracy.

David R. Amos

@Nelson Barley "The Trudeau government has passed a motion condemning the BDS movement - this motion violates our Charter right to peaceful political action. Our rights as citizens are subject to Israel's approval! "

Methinks folks should go figure why I ran for public office 6 times while everyone ignored me N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

John Bouy

may as well admit it - the Jewish lobby is global and powerful. The Jewish state does as it pleases. When non-Jewish civilians are killed its called self defense and condoned by international governments. When a Jew is harmed its called terrorism and the world agrees. When the largest prison camp on earth @ Gaza is brought up it is again condoned as self defense by the Jews and the rest of the world. Appalling global dichotomy.

John Dirlik

@John Bouy

Since Jews are among Israel’s most vociferous critics (and Christian evangelists its most ardent supporters) it would be more accurate to refer to the “Israeli lobby” (also the name of an excellent book by John Mershemeir).

Judaism is a religion while Zionism a political ideology. Big difference. Only two groups deliberately conflate the two terms: anti-Semites (not suggesting you are) and Zionists.

David R. Amos

@John Dirlik Methinks you should ask John Baird and his old boss Mr Harper why I sued the Queen in 2015 N'esy Pas?

Jovian Monty

Canadian representatives should not endorse the construction of theme-parks on occupied land.

https://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/delays-hamper-opening-stephen-harper-bird-sanctuary-israel

John Dirlik

@Jovian Monty

Hey, bird sanctuaries bearing your name and Nobel prize nominations from B’nai Brith don’t come cheap (though I swear I heard the laughter all the way from Oslo).

Stan Johnston

@John Dirlik

Lol. That's bad.

Wil Brown

@Jovian Monty

"Considered a staunch friend of Israel and described by JNF as “an extraordinary world leader,” the organization raised more than $5 million for the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Center in the Hula Lake Nature Eco-Educational Park."

I guess this is why JNF didn't pop up on the government radar until now?

David R. Amos

@John Dirlik "I swear I heard the laughter all the way from Oslo"

Me Too

Canadian charity used donations to fund projects linked to Israeli military

JNF says it has since stopped the practice, which contravenes Canadian tax rules

Evan Dyer · CBC News · Posted: Jan 04, 2019 4:00 AM ET

Israeli air force cadets toss their caps into the air during a graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim air force base in southern Israel in 2014. A Canadian charity that funds projects in Israel has faced claims that some of its charitable donations have gone to support projects on Israeli military bases in violation of Canadian tax rules. (Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press)

The Jewish National Fund of Canada, one of the country's long-established charities, has been the subject of a Canada Revenue Agency audit over a complaint that it used charitable donations to build infrastructure for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), in violation of Canada's tax rules.

The JNF funds numerous projects in Israel, such as reforestation efforts in areas hit by wildfires and the construction of playgrounds for special needs children.

However, it has also funded infrastructure projects on Israeli army, air and naval bases. While no law bars a Canadian citizen from writing a cheque directly to Israel's Ministry of Defence, rules do ban tax-exempt charities from issuing tax receipts for such donations, and also ban donors from claiming tax deductions for them.

The organization, which disclosed to donors last year that it has been under audit by the Canada Revenue Agency, said it stopped funding those projects in 2016.

A JNF Israel webpage describes Canadian-sponsored projects on Bat Galim Naval Base and Palmachim Airbase in Israel. (KKL-JNF)

That would not protect it from action by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which in August revoked the charitable status of an Ottawa mosque for promoting "hate and intolerance" by inviting controversial speakers, and for financial irregularities that took place between 2009 and 2014 under a previous group of directors.

Guidelines clear on the law

In its guide for Canadian registered charities carrying out activities outside Canada, the CRA states plainly that "increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of Canada's armed forces is charitable, but supporting the armed forces of another country is not."

Yet JNF documents describe some of the charity's spending in Israel in those very terms.

One JNF Canada document called "Project Opportunities" refers to an "outdoor fitness area at a Gadna military base," describing Israel's Gadna program as "a special program for young people in Israel that prepares them for their service in the Israel Defence Forces." The project included "a fitness area for the regular army staff at the Gadna base in Sde Boker."

A JNF Canada Youth Leadership Solidarity Mission picked up tools to help build the hilltop outpost of Givat Oz VeGaon in the West Bank, south of Bethlehem, in 2014. (KKL-JNF)

Documents produced by JNF Canada's Israeli parent organization, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF), shed additional light on military projects funded by its Canadian affiliate.

They include developing "the new planned IDF Training Base City in the Negev" desert, "helping the development of the Bat Galim training base complex area" at Bat Galim Naval Base, "helping to facilitate the upgrade of the existing auditorium for soldier intake, training and conferences" at the same base and a new "moadon" or mess hall-type facility for the 124th (Blackhawk) Helicopter Squadron at Palmachim Air Force Base ("where crew can relax and refuel"), as well as a similar facility for 131 Squadron at Nevatim Air Force Base.

The logic behind the CRA's guidance to charities is that issuing Canadian tax receipts for contributions to foreign militaries effectively reduces the revenue available to support Canada's own defence spending.

In 2014, JNF Edmonton's Negev Gala dinner was serenaded by members of the Royal Canadian Artillery Band. According to JNF Edmonton's Facebook page, "proceeds from (2014's) Negev Gala will develop three areas of the Negev's Tse'elim army base, the largest military training facility in Israel.

The project will upgrade and landscape the family visiting area, intake and release facility and the barracks' main plaza. The base is the national centre for ground forces training."

JNF Canada declined an interview request for this story, but CEO Lance Davis told CBC News in an email that while the organization has funded projects that support the IDF in the past, it stopped doing so in 2016 after being informed of the CRA guidance.

"To be clear, we no longer fund projects located on IDF land and JNF Canada operates in accordance with CRA regulations governing its status as a charitable organization," Davis wrote in the email.

Greening the land

Megan McKenzie says she first came across the Jewish National Fund when she was planning a bequest in memory of her nature-loving Jewish grandmother. The Jewish National Fund is famous for planting trees, "greening the land of Israel."

McKenzie is a professional mediator and conflict consultant who is married to a Canadian soldier and lives at CFB Shilo in Manitoba. Having worked in conflict resolution from Ireland to DR Congo, she said was "dumbfounded" to find that the JNF was involved in projects she believed did not conform to Canada's charitable rules.

"I have a PhD and I'm sort of a natural researcher and so I did some online research," she said. "And the more I did, the more appalled I was."

Megan McKenzie says she found examples of JNF Canada funds benefiting the Israeli Defence Force when she looked into making a donation to the charity on behalf of her late grandmother. (CBC News)

McKenzie's online research led her to webpages for both JNF Canada and its parent organization giving extensive details on the charity's support for the Israeli military and its reforestation projects that have sprawled across the 1949 armistice line (the "Green Line") into occupied West Bank territory.

In the case of the JNF's Canada Park project, occupied land forested by the JNF was enclosed on the Israeli side of the barrier Israel built to separate its citizens from the Palestinian population in the West Bank.

A new complaint

Canada Park was JNF Canada's first large project in Israel and the West Bank, built on the site of three Palestinian villages left empty after 1967's Six Day War.

Retired physician Ismail Zayid of Halifax was born in one of those villages, Beit Nuba. He has been complaining to CRA about JNF's charitable status for 40 years.

"I wrote to (the CRA) repeatedly," he said. "They would say they are conducting an investigation of (the) complaint, and then I would write again and say, 'What are the findings of your investigation?' And they would say, 'The findings are confidential.'"

Retired physician Ismail Zayid has initiated several complaints about JNF Canada, most recently in 2017. (CBC News)

In October 2017, Zayid filed a new formal complaint, this time in concert with an Ottawa professor, a Vancouver rabbi and a retired nurse from Montreal and using some of McKenzie's research (the complaint has been backed by the activist organization Independent Jewish Voices Canada, which has mounted a "Stop the JNF Canada" campaign). The CRA appears so far to have taken no action against the charity, although it has subjected JNF to an audit.

The CRA declined to be interviewed for this story, citing confidentiality. But JNF Canada's Davis said in an email to CBC News the charity is "currently engaged in ongoing confidential discussions with CRA." Davis dismissed the complaint as "a rehash" and called IJVC "a longstanding opponent of JNF."

Building in the West Bank

The 2017 complaint includes new information about JNF's contributions to Israeli military infrastructure projects and its involvement in building in the West Bank.

Canada officially opposes Israeli settlement-building in occupied territory. CRA policy statement CSP-P13 states: "The courts have held that an organization is not charitable in law if its activities are contrary to public policy."

Canada states its position on settlements on Global Affairs Canada's website: "Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The settlements also constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace."

JNF Canada missions in Israel also have contributed directly to the construction of at least one hilltop settler outpost that was declared illegal by the State of Israel itself. Givat Oz VeGaon received and ignored at least 18 demolition orders from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

A JNF Canadian Young Leadership Solidarity Mission visited the site in August-September 2014 and worked with picks and shovels "to prepare the ground for building a residential unit to be used by the security guard."

'KKL for IDF'

A JNF Israel document describes construction work carried out within Tel Nof Airbase in Israel in 2015, paid for by its Canadian subsidiary. (KKL-JNF)

In a 2014 document produced by the JNF Canada's parent organization, the Israeli JNF's Resources and Development Division lists a dozen "KKL for IDF" projects over the previous decade as "Canada-sponsored," mostly in the period 2011-14.

One JNF Canada document from 2014 offers donors the chance to participate in the construction of a "meeting point" to enable soldiers to see family members while on active service. Canadian donors are also invited to fund a 900-metre "security road" at Kadesh Barne'a near the Egyptian border that "will improve access to the area for security forces."

A KKL-JNF document describes its roads in the western Negev as "security roads which serve the armed forces that patrol the border zones … All the work undertaken by KKL-JNF is coordinated with the IDF … Thanks to these roads, military activity is enhanced."

'Improving the quality of lives of Israelis'

In an email to CBC News, Davis said these projects were just part of the works funded by JNF Canada.

"Thanks to the generosity of Canadians, JNF Canada has played an important role in a wide range of projects in Israel. We have, for example, supported the building of water reservoirs, collaborated with dozens of educational institutions, built numerous recreational/educational facilities, planted millions of trees and supported pioneering research in green technology," he said.

Laureen Harper poses with JNF Gala honorees during a group visit to 24 Sussex Drive in 2015. (JNF Canada)

"In keeping with our mission of improving the quality of lives of Israelis, we have in the past funded projects of a charitable nature that indirectly involved the IDF. These projects were built on land owned by the IDF primarily for the benefit of children and youth. When it came to our attention several years ago that supporting these types of projects may not be in keeping with CRA policies, we stopped funding them."

In a subsequent email, Davis said that "the last project we funded was in June 2016 and it was directed to the Hatzerim Airforce Base for a playground/soccer field for the children living on the base."

Hatzerim is home to the Israeli Air Force's flight academy and three combat squadrons.

Low marks for transparency

Kate Bahen heads Charity Intelligence, a Toronto-based NGO that produces a report rating Canadian charities on their transparency and efficiency in spending donors' money.

"When you look at JNF Canada, it's fine for cost efficiency," said Bahen. "It really falls down on financial transparency and accountability. For financial transparency, it gets zero."

Bahen said the charity has done the right thing by disclosing to donors that it's being audited, but it is "an utter black box" when it comes to providing a breakdown of how its money is spent.

"Any Canadian donor who knows of JNF automatically thinks of planting trees. And there is a lot more to JNF than planting trees.

"We have absolutely no information on how much it's spent planting trees, how much goes for irrigation, or education, or how much is diverted to military bases. And that information, I think, is critical, and it's not provided to Canadian donors."

Support in Canada

JNF has had strong relations with successive Conservative and Liberal governments. One of its recent projects in Israel is the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary in Galilee. Another is John Baird Park in Sderot.

Stephen Harper helps to lay the cornerstone of the JNF's Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary in the Galilee region of northern Israel in January 2014. Harper played the keyboard at a Toronto JNF dinner to raise funds for the project, which remains uncompleted. (JNF)

Although the group enjoyed particularly strong links with the Harper government, it also has been close to the Trudeau government.

Last July, Ralph Goodale, Canada's minister of Public Safety, planted a pistachio tree at the JNF's VIP Tree Planting Center in Jerusalem. He was accompanied by fellow Liberal MP Michael Levitt, a former board member of JNF Canada.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Liberal MP Michael Levitt plant a tree at JNF's VIP Tree Planting Center in the mountains above Jerusalem in July 2017. (KKL-JNF)

About the Author

Evan Dyer

Senior Reporter

Evan Dyer has been a journalist with CBC for 18 years, after an early career as a freelancer in Argentina. He works in the Parliamentary Bureau and can be reached at evan.dyer@cbc.ca.

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