Investigation Alleges Coordinated Campaign Targeted More Than 100 Canadian Jewish Institutions
A Canadian Jewish advocacy organization has unveiled the results of a months-long investigation into Just Peace Advocates, alleging that the organization has spearheaded a sustained campaign targeting Jewish charities, schools, synagogues and other communal institutions across Canada.
Matthew Taub, founder of Unapologetically Jewish, presented the findings Wednesday at a Parliamentary Press Gallery news conference in Ottawa, calling for greater scrutiny of how organized complaints against Jewish charities are handled by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Taub said his organization spent approximately eight months examining Just Peace Advocates (JPA), its campaigns, organizational relationships, funding and interactions with Canadian institutions.
What Is Just Peace Advocates?
Just Peace Advocates describes itself as a Canadian-based independent organization focused on human rights and international law, with a particular emphasis on Palestinian rights and Canadian policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.
Its activities include research, political advocacy, campaigns directed at government officials and institutions, and efforts aimed at changing Canadian policy and financial relationships involving Israel.
Among its more prominent initiatives has been what it calls the “Canada-to-Israel Charity Pipeline” — a campaign examining Canadian registered charities and other organizations that JPA alleges have financially supported Israeli settlements, the Israeli military or other activities it considers inconsistent with Canadian charity law.
As part of that campaign, JPA has actively encouraged regulatory scrutiny of Canadian charities and submitted complaints to the Canada Revenue Agency.
It is that activity — and the scope of the Jewish organizations caught up in it — that became a major focus of Taub's investigation.
More Than 100 Charities Targeted With CRA Complaints
JPA itself says that between 2021 and 2025 it submitted dozens of complaints to the CRA concerning more than 100 Canadian charities and qualified donees.
Its publicly posted material identifies numerous prominent Jewish institutions, including Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, Bialik Hebrew Day School, the Anne & Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, Mizrachi Canada and United Israel Appeal of Canada, alongside a lengthy list of other Jewish charities and organizations.
JPA maintains that these complaints are intended to challenge charitable funds that it alleges support Israeli settlements, the Israeli military or other activities contrary to Canadian charity law.
Taub's investigation argues, however, that JPA's campaigns have extended substantially beyond organizations directly involved in Israeli political or military activity.
Taub: 108 Jewish Institutions Named in Broader Campaign
According to Unapologetically Jewish, on August 16 JPA published a list of 143 Canadian organizations and encouraged supporters to “confront” them.
Taub's organization says its analysis found that 108 of those 143 organizations — approximately 76% — were Jewish community institutions.
Those reportedly included 15 Jewish day schools and seven children's summer camps. Nine private Jewish families and foundations were also named.
“When you target a Jewish summer camp, you're not targeting Benjamin Netanyahu,” Taub said. “When you target a Jewish school, you're not targeting the Israeli government. When you target a synagogue, you're not targeting the IDF. You're targeting Jewish life in Canada.”
Following the Organizational and Funding Links
The investigation also raises questions about the organizations and individuals connected to JPA.
JPA describes itself as fiscally sponsored by Nonviolence International, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization.
According to Unapologetically Jewish's review of Nonviolence International's latest U.S. tax filing, nearly 48% of its expenditures consisted of payments to other organizations, including approximately $1.3 million to unnamed foreign recipients.
Taub also highlighted overlapping organizational relationships.
JPA founding director Jonathan Kuttab is an officer of Nonviolence International and was a co-founder of Palestinian human-rights organization Al-Haq. The United States sanctioned Al-Haq in September 2025.
Taub stressed, however, that his organization is not purporting to make criminal findings. Unapologetically Jewish says it is instead submitting material to the appropriate government and law-enforcement authorities and asking them to determine whether further investigation is warranted.
The CRA Question
A central issue raised by Taub concerns the Canada Revenue Agency.
He says more than two dozen audits involving Jewish charities remain underway and is calling on Parliament to examine how complaints against charities are assessed and what safeguards exist to prevent Canada's regulatory system from being used as a tool in political campaigns.
JPA makes no secret of its efforts to bring Jewish and pro-Israel charities to the CRA's attention. In its own 2024 review, the organization described making “several dozen submissions” to the agency and organizing rallies at approximately 20 CRA offices across Canada.
The CRA, however, says complaints do not automatically trigger audits.
According to the agency, charities are selected for audits through a risk-based process. Information received through public complaints can be considered, but is weighed alongside other available information. The CRA specifically states that multiple complaints about the same issue do not increase the likelihood that an organization will be audited.
That distinction is significant.
The evidence made public thus far does not establish that the CRA improperly initiated audits because of pressure from JPA, or that charitable-status decisions were dictated by activists.
Rather, Taub says that is precisely the question he wants examined: how complaints enter the regulatory process, whether politically organized complaint campaigns can affect the allocation of government resources and whether charities of different political or communal backgrounds receive equal treatment.
“I don't want the Canada Revenue Agency protecting charities,” Taub said. “I want the Canada Revenue Agency treating all charities exactly the same as everybody else.”
Calls for Government and Law-Enforcement Scrutiny
Unapologetically Jewish says it has asked the CRA to examine charities connected to JPA's funding as well as the status of Nonviolence International Canada.
It has also asked the RCMP to assess questions raised by the investigation concerning foreign organizational links.
The fact that such requests have been made does not mean that authorities have determined that wrongdoing occurred.
Taub indicated that his investigation is continuing and that Just Peace Advocates represents only the first organization whose findings his group is prepared to make public.
“We're opening with Just Peace Advocates because that's where we're ready to put information into the public domain,” he said. “But they're not the end of the investigation. They're the beginning.”
Additional supporting documents are expected to be released publicly.
A Broader Question for Canada's Jewish Community
For Canada's Jewish community, the investigation places renewed attention on an advocacy campaign that has been operating publicly for years.
JPA maintains that its work is directed at alleged violations of Canadian and international law and at Canadian support for Israeli policies — not at Jewish institutions because they are Jewish.
Taub's research raises a different concern: that regardless of the stated political objective, the practical reach of these campaigns has encompassed a substantial number of Canadian Jewish schools, charities, synagogues, camps and other communal institutions.
The emerging question is therefore larger than any single CRA complaint: where does legitimate political and regulatory advocacy end, and when does a campaign's breadth and focus amount to organized pressure on Jewish communal life in Canada?
With Taub promising further documentation and additional phases of his investigation, that debate is unlikely to end with Wednesday's news conference.
