Activists ‘weaponizing’ CRA to target Jewish schools: CIJA

CIJA is asking CRA to clamp down on anti-Israel groups targeting Jewish schools via 'complaint bombing'

Published May 07, 2026  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  3 minute read

An Israeli flag flutters in Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday, May 5 2024. Photo by Bryan Passifiume /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network

OTTAWA – Steps must be taken to stop anti-Jewish activists from using the Canada Revenue Agency to target Jewish schools, says a Canadian Jewish advocacy group.

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In a letter to the CRA’s director-general for charities Sharmila Khare, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is urging the federal tax agency to ensure these activists aren’t able to disrupt these groups through targeted mass complaint campaigns – also known as “complaint bombing.”

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Richard Marceau, CIJA’s senior vice president and general counsel, told the Toronto Sun the ongoing campaign against Jewish schools is part of a larger strategy to push Jews out of Canadian public life.

“They’ve gone after some Jewish charities … and Jewish camps, and now the latest escalation is Jewish schools,” Marceau said. “It is supported by an intensive social media campaign, and there’s an advocacy/lobbying component to it.”

Jewish schools targeted by prominent anti-Zionist groups

The campaign is being carried out by a number of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activist groups, with fringe anti-Zionist group Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and Just Peace Advocates (JPA) among the most prominent.

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In April, a consortium of anti-Israel groups including JPA, the Ontario Palestinian Rights Association and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute commenced a campaign specifically targeting Jewish schools– including Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, The Toronto Heschel School, Bialik Hebrew Day School, and the Leo Baeck Day School.

The groups claim the schools “promote” the Israeli military and accused them of “aiding and abetting” what they describe as “illegal” military recruiting.

“It is even more serious if Canadian taxpayers are subsidizing the illegal recruiting of these individuals through charity tax breaks,” JPA wrote on their website.

“This taxpayer contribution is supporting individuals who serve in a military committing war crimes and genocide, making the individuals plausibly guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

In an April 2024 call-to-action published on their website, IJV justified their complaint-bombing as a means to oppose “extremist settler movement” in Israel, and opposition to the so-called “genocide” purportedly being carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza.

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Since mid-2024, the campaign has seen numerous Jewish charities get their charitable statuses revoked by the CRA, including the Jewish National Fund of Canada, which was targeted by IVJ activists for years.

Other charities that’ve seen their statuses revoked include the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association in February, Herut Canada Charitable Foundation in November 2025, Canadian Friends of Yeshivat Aish HaTorah in April 2025, and the Ne’eman Foundation.

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Explosion of hate and harassment targeting Jews

Canada saw a shocking explosion of hate and harassment targeting Jews following the Oct. 7 2023 Hamas attacks, which saw Palestinian terrorists conduct a campaign of kidnappings, murders and sexual assault against Gaza-adjacent communities in Israel.

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Those attacks saw Canadian anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activists begin intimidation campaigns right here at home, with numerous Jewish schools, institutions and places-of-worship targeted by vandalism, arson attempts and even gunfire, as well as regular marches and rallies.

“When you go after a school, what you’re saying is, ‘We don’t want any Jewish life here in Canada,'” Marceau said.

“That’s the message those people are sending, and it’s up to the government – of course respecting CRA autonomy – to make sure that the CRA’s enormous powers are not weaponized to go after Jews or any other community,” he added.

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