In 1967, in the course of the Israeli invasion of the West Bank, the Israeli military razed three Palestinian villages which stood along a corridor connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. In keeping with longstanding practice, the Israeli government turned the land over to the Jewish National Fund, which sought to permanently displace the Palestinian villagers through “afforestation,” or redevelopment of the area as a public park, where the former residents would be considered squatters if they tried to return to their homes. To fund the displacement-as-conservation, JNF solicited the Jewish community in Canada, whose contributions also lent the park its name: Canada Park.
Now, more than half a century later, as the Israeli occupation of the West Bank persists amid its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, JNF’s activities have come under new scrutiny. Most significantly, the Jewish National Fund of Canada has lost its charitable status due to even more outright support for Israeli violence: financing projects for the Israeli military in violation of regulations prohibiting charities from supporting foreign armed forces and activities contrary to public policy, such as illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
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