Many self-described “Jewish” institutions should be considered crime scenes. They are gathering places for those who ought to be prosecuted under the War Crimes Act and are often places where young Canadians are illegally “induced” into joining a foreign military while flouting genocide statutes and charity law.
A La Presse investigation published Thursday into two private Montreal Jewish schools supporting the Israeli military has sparked an important political and media storm in Quebec. Since October 2023 heavily subsidized private schools Herzliah and Bialik have had at least 14 different visits from active or former Israeli soldiers.
But these schools are but two of a hundred or so self-described Jewish institutions promoting the politics of Zionism that have platformed individuals who should be investigated under Canada’s War Crimes Act and Crimes Against Humanity. That statute begins, “Every person who, either before or after the coming into force of this section, commits outside Canada (a) genocide, (b) a crime against humanity, or (c) a war crime, is guilty of an indictable offence and may be prosecuted for that offence in accordance with section 8.”
Alongside self-described Jewish schools, synagogues, camps and community centres regularly host Israeli soldiers who’ve participated in the holocaust in Gaza. Last month former IOF combat soldier Guy Hochman, a comedian who jokes about committing war crimes in Gaza, performed at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre in Toronto. Similarly, a recent report listed several summer camps with Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza, including one that hosted Barak Malichi who posted clips ‘joking’ about eating humanitarian aid. In May Montreal Jewish foodbank Mada organized a fundraiser with IOF singer Noam Bushika who “is a reservist in the paratrooper brigade and has been involved fighting the war since October 7th.”
As I posted to X Thursday, “Cops looking to pinch people under War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act just need to pass by Jewish schools, camps and community centres.”
Hosting individuals who should be pursued under the War Crimes Act is often part of these institutions violating Canda’s Foreign Enlistment Act. According to that law, “Any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offence.” Yet several schools (and to a lesser extent camps, synagogues and community centres) aggressively “induce” Canadians to join the IOF.
While many elementary schools celebrate the IOF, formal “inducement” usually begins towards the end of high school. As the kids move through high school, former and current Israeli soldiers talk to them about the IOF, which sometimes is part of Israeli diplomats recruitment drives.
TanenbaumCHAT, Canada’s largest private high school, advertised a fund that assists students wanting to join the IOF. Its website noted, the “Continuing Studies in Israel Judy Shaviv Memorial Fund ‘Keren Yad Yehudit’ assists graduates to serve in the IDF, study or volunteer.” The high school also celebrates graduates who have served in the IOF and has them speak about joining the Israeli military. According to its site, “During Shavua Israel (Israel Week) in February 2020, Seth Frieberg ’08 [graduate] spoke to students about his experiences as a Lone Soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. Bringing into focus his personal connection to Israel.”
Toronto’s Bnei Akiva (Or Chaim) high school almost certainly violates the Foreign Enlistment Act. A July 2024 Canadian Jewish News podcast about an alumni gravely injured while serving on an army base in the illegally occupied Shebaa Farms, quoted the mother of a student in the school saying “a quarter of the class” joined the Israeli military.
It was recently reported that 1,500 Canadians were in the Israeli military last year.
To convince young people to join a force committing genocide almost certainly requires promoting genocidal ideology. Under Canada’s Criminal Code “Every person who advocates or promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years.”
Over the past two and a half years the mayor of Canada’s most Jewish city repeatedly echoed Israeli politicians calling to wipe out everyone in Gaza. At a community event two months into the genocide Hampstead mayor Jeremy Levi told me he was ok with Israel killing 100,000 Palestinian children because “good needs to prevail over evil” and two years later he posted, “Israel should move forward with full occupation and annexation of Gaza.… Israel has every right to act decisively. No more half-measures. No more waiting. The world needs to understand: no more arguing, no more explanations. Full throttle. No apologies.”
A hundred or so Jewish organizations likely violate Canada Revenue Agency rules for registered charities. Charity law precludes supporting foreign militaries, racist organizations, municipalities or West Bank colonies.
In a bid to pressure the authorities to apply the rules, detailed complaints have been submitted to the CRA regarding two dozen Israel-focused charities. A half dozen of them have seen their status revoked over the past two years, including the Jewish National Fund, which was probably Canada’s second most powerful Jewish-Zionist charity. Last week the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association and Canada Charity Partners also lost their charitable status for supporting the IOF and Zionist projects. Still, many egregious rule violators, such as the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers, continue to be subsidized by all taxpayers.
If one applies a broad definition of charity rules, a hundred or more Jewish-Zionist groups likely violate the law. Most Israeli universities, for instance, collaborate extensively with the IOF on research or training initiatives and yet there is a Canadian Friends of Tel-Aviv University, Canadian Friends of Hebrew University and every other Israeli university. Many of the “Canadian Friends of” sponsor initiatives directly assisting the IOF.
Or how about TanenbaumCHAT school. It organizes “IDF days”, brings Israeli soldiers to speak, induces students to join the IOF and in March 2024 36 TanenbaumCHAT students went on a “Solidarity Mission to Israel” in which students were “BBQ-ing for soldiers on an army base”. Does that violate CRA charity rules?
Professors Miles Howe and Paul Sylvestre have written about the illicit transfer of charitable funds to Israel in the Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime and other academic publications. Their 2025 article “Burner Charities and Big Gifters — Tracking Illicit Activity Within the Canada to Israel Charity Pipeline” suggests the Canadian economy loses over one hundred million dollars a year “as a result of transgressional, charitable, activity within the subsector.”
Every year the public likely subsidizes a billion dollars in tax credits for donations to Zionist charities and these organizations receive maybe a half billion dollars in direct government grants.
If Canadian law were rigorously applied to this country’s Zionist institutions it would greatly benefit Palestinians and those targeted by Israeli violence. Let’s make it happen.
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