Tax Deductible Charity Organization

By David Kattenburg

On the evening of Tuesday, May 27, 2014 on the occasion of Winnipeg’s annual “Negev Gala,” organized by the Canadian chapter of the Jewish National Fund, a couple of dozen local activists (quite a few of them Jewish) gathered in front of the JNF’s Centennial Concert Hall venue, on the prairie metropolis’ busy Main Street.

The purpose of the gathering was two-fold: firstly, to call for the termination of the JNF’s charitable status here in Canada, because the JNF discriminates between people on the basis of their ethnicity; secondly, to announce the formation of a brand new JNF chapter — the “New JNF,” these activists call it — dedicated to the return of lands the JNF has stolen or simply laundered, in the latter case by planting trees or establishing parks over demolished Palestinian villages (e.g. “Canada Park,” where the Palestinian villages of Beit Nuba, Imwas and Yalu once flourished, before they were demolished back in June 1967 under the orders of future Nobel Peace Prize winner Yitzhak Rabin).

A good time was had by all. Even the hall’s elderly security guard lightened up when told that the gathering just involved a bit of theatre (perfectly fitting for the location, really). Listen to some of the proceedings here: