Ohr Somayach is a yeshiva (traditional Jewish educational institution) founded in East Jerusalem in 1972 by a group of American educators. It received significant financial and technical support from Joseph Tanenbaum of Toronto. (Learn more about the Tanenbaum family).
It is located in the illegal settlement of Ma’alot Dafna (the same settlement where Israel recently razed UNRWA’s East Jerusalem headquarters). The associated Canadian charity — The Canadian Friends of Ohr Somayach – Tannenbaum Centre – College of Judaic Studies — was established almost immediately, in 1974.
For the last 19+ years, Ohr Somayach has been attempting to expand into Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. (Learn more about Sheikh Jarrah).
As early as 2010, the UN reported on Ohr Somayach’s plan to expand into Sheikh Jarrah with the establishment of “The Glassman Campus.” The UN specifically exposed the Canadian financing behind the project. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Canadian Friends of Ohr Somayach started sending millions of dollars to Ohr Somayach Jerusalem beginning in 2010. (See full data).
To date over $30 million has been sent to Ohr Somayach Jerusalem from The Canadian Friends of Ohr Somayach – Tannenbaum Centre – College of Judaic Studies.
Every act of settlement expansion and activity is illegal under international law. It is illegal for Canadian entities to aid or assist Israel’s unlawful occupation. It is also against Canadian Global Affairs policy. Since charities are required to follow Canadian public policy, they must not recognize the legitimacy of or support illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory or the occupied Syrian Golan. Canada has a legal responsibility to examine charities and ensure they do not “give support to these organizations, for example through allowing the organization to have tax-exempt status or providing tax deductibility for donations to the organization and must ensure that financial contributions to support the unlawful occupation, including settlements and settlers, cease.” These international legal obligations do not simply apply to the State; they also implicate individual charitable organizations and their leadership. This is of course beyond the bare minimum of revoking these organizations registered charitable status under the Income Tax Act..
The CRA must immediately investigate — The Canadian Friends of Ohr Somayach – Tannenbaum Centre – College of Judaic Studies —and more broadly, the Canadian government must hold the organization accountable for its support for illegal settlement projects.
Read more and see the full data associated with the charity, including its donors.
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