Activity

• The government of Canada provides direct funding to NGOs through Global Affairs Canada (GAC).
• Indirect funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza is provided via the United Church of Canada, Oxfam Italia, CARE International, and various UN agencies. Many of these NGOs are involved in anti-peace activities such as incitement and BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions); some also have reported ties to terrorist organizations.
• All funding amounts listed are in Canadian dollars ($ CAD).

Lack of Transparency

• Global Affairs Canada maintains an online database of Canadian-funded projects, but does not list any secondary project partners – reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.
• In response to an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request, GAC acknowledged that it does not maintain organized records of secondary project partners, and provided a technical explanation: “There is no field in SAP¹ to identify local NGOs or other organizations that may be considered sub-implementers. There is no other database that collects this information systematically.”

Direct Funding

• Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)
  • The government of Canada claimed (October 2020) that “While Canadian-funded projects with experienced international and Canadian partner organizations have included UAWC as a sub-implementer in the past, we do not currently fund the organization, directly or indirectly.” However, Canada funds a $15.6 million project (2016-2022) with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that lists UAWC as an implementing partner.
  • In 2019, according to a UAWC Facebook post, Canada funded a UAWC project to “strengthen the steadfastness of women farmers and cooperative work.” Due to the lack of GAC transparency, it is unclear how much funding UAWC received.
  • In 2018, Canada funded a UAWC project dedicated to the “restoration of land and construction of 16 house gardens in Khan Yunis.” Neither GAC nor UAWC discloses funding details for the project.
  • The Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC) is identified by Fatah as an official “affiliate” and by USAID-engaged audit as the “agricultural arm” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared UAWC a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.” For more information on UAWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Agricultural Work Committees Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
    • Samer Arbid, UAWC’s accountant from 2016 until his arrest in 2019, was indicted on 21 counts in Israeli military court. Arbid is on trial for commanding a PFLP terror cell that carried out a bombing, murdering an Israeli civilian, and injuring her father and brother. According to the indictment against him (on file), Arbid prepared and detonated the explosive device. On August 30, 2020, the PFLP referred to Arbid as a “prisoner and commander,” and “one of the heroes of the Bubeen operation” — referring to the August 2019 bombing.
    • Abdel Razeq Farraj, UAWC’s “Finance and Administration Director” is also currently standing trial. According to his indictment (on file), Razeq Farraj held a senior PFLP post and authorized the August 23, 2019 bombing.
• In 2018-2023, Global Affairs Canada is providing $4.8 million to United Church of Canada: Kairos Initiatives for a project titled “Women of Courage – Women, Peace and Security. Twenty percent (approximately $950,000) is earmarked for the West Bank and Gaza in partnership with Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution and Transformation Center.
  • Wi’am
    • Contrary to the rhetoric of peacebuilding and empowering women, Wi’am promotes BDS campaigns against Israel, utilizes “apartheid” rhetoric, and seeks to demonize Israel through Christian theology.
    • The group also utilizes antisemitic rhetoric, stating that  “We [the Palestinians] are the victims of the victims of the holocaust, and thus its direct victims…The Palestinian people are dying on the Cross…Palestinians are taken from the Cross-to hide the Israeli Crimes. In an attempt to silence our voice, the Israeli occupation imposes sanction and siege on our people…We are laid in the Tomb” (emphasis added).
  • United Church of Canada
    • The United Church of Canada has “sent over 25 Ecumenical Accompaniers” to the West Bank for Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). EAPPI sends volunteers to “witness life under occupation.” Upon completion of the program, the volunteers return to their home countries and churches where many engage in anti-Israel advocacy, including advocating for BDS campaigns in churches, comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany, and other delegitimization strategies.
    • In August 2015, UCC passed a resolution calling for “initiating and developing a program of education and advocacy in cooperation with our partners, related to divestment from and economic sanctions against all corporations and institutions complicit in and benefiting from the illegal occupation.”
  • KAIROS Canada
    • • On November 17-28, 2019, KAIROS Canada brought a delegation of church leaders to Israel and the West Bank where the group met with pro-BDS organizations, authors of the antisemitic Kairos Palestine document, and other individuals and NGOs involved in anti-Israel delegitimization campaigns. KAIROS notes that the delegation was “ably hosted by KAIROS partner Wi’am Palestinian Centre for Conflict Transformation.” The delegation met with Coalition of Women for Peace and Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), as well as activists from EAPPI and Sabeel. The group also met with Bishop Atallah Hanna and Wi’am’s Lucy Talgieh, both of whom are authors of the 2009 Kairos Palestine document, as well as Hanan Ashwari. The Kairos Palestine Document repeatedly denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms; rationalizes and trivializes terrorism against Israelis; promotes BDS; and is considered by many to be antisemitic.
      • In May 2013, issued a proclamation of support for the United Church of Canada’s call to members of the “ecumenical and justice community” to urge foreign affairs and trade ministers to impose “proper identification of Israeli settlement products in Canadian stores and an end to tax exemptions for products from the settlements.”
      • In December 2009, according to media reports, CIDA rejected grant renewal applications from KAIROS Canada following allegations that KAIROS took “a leadership in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney reportedly said that the “Church-based group lost its federal funding because of its position on the Middle East, more particular because of its anti-Israel stand.”
• Ma’an Development Center.
  • In 2021, according to the UN-OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS), Canada granted $1,250,000 to Ma’an Development Center for “Emergency Repair of Essential WASH Facilities in the Gaza Strip.”
  • In 2019, according to UN-OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS), GAC granted $1,525,431 to Ma’an Development Center for “Improving equitable, affordable and sustainable access to safe and sufficient WASH services during emergencies and shocks in accordance with dignity of the underserved and most vulnerable communities of Wadi Al Salqa in the Gaza Strip. GAC also provided $893,738 to “improve resilience and food security of agricultural households in the South of Hebron in the West Bank by providing time-critical and quick impact support to address their needs.” It is unclear if these projects are part of the above March 2019 project listed on open.canada.ca.
  • In May 2018, Ma’an Development Center employee Ahmad Abdallah Aladini was killed in the violence on the Gaza border. Aladini was a “comrade” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. According to the PFLP, Aladini was active against the “Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
• Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  • In 2020, Canada provided NRC with $520,000 for “Gender Responsive WASH Assistance to Conflict-Affected Populations in the Gaza.”
  • NRC leads massive and unprecedented political campaigns exploiting the Israeli legal system. In sharp contrast to NRC’s ostensibly humanitarian agenda, this massive program focuses on some of the most complex and sensitive political issues in the Arab-Israeli context. (Read NGO Monitor’s report “Flooding the Courts: The Norwegian Refugee Council’s European-Funded Proxy War.”)
  • One of NRC’s principle projects in Israel, “Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA),” exploits judicial frameworks to manipulate Israeli policy, bypassing democratic frameworks. Included in ICLA’s program goals is “supporting the PA both locally and nationally on casework.”
• Save the Children
  • In March 2019, Canada provided $995,000 to Save the Children for supporting “improved access to life-saving child WASH services for most vulnerable children in marginalised communities in the Gaza Strip. The project results will include increased access to potable water and hygiene condition.” Save the Children runs a number of projects in Gaza and the West Bank, implementing “programs in the areas of education, economic opportunities and psychosocial health… humanitarian assistance, child protection and youth development.” Despite a humanitarian mandate, some of these programs include major political and partisan advocacy that fuels the conflict, echoing the Palestinian narrative of victimization (see here for details).
  • In May 2018, Save the Children and the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR) sponsored a workshop at the Dar al Huda kindergarten, “Training of Teachers on Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching.”
    • On May 26, 2018, the Dar al Huda kindergarten in Gaza held a graduation ceremony that included the mock killing and kidnapping of Israelis by children dressed as combatants. The simulation included sophisticated equipment such as drones, body cameras, military fatigues, body armor, and sniper camouflage. Children wore headbands representing Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, and others.
    • According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dar al Huda held similarly exploitative military-style events in 2017 and 2016.
• In 2020, Mennonite Central Committee Canada(MCC) received $8.5 million.
  • MCC supports BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel and the Kairos Palestine Document, which promotes BDS; denies the Jewish historical connections to Israel in theological terms; and rationalizes, justifies, and trivializes terrorism, calling it “legal resistance.”
• In 2007-2010, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) (predecessor to Global Affairs Canada) provided $4.4 million to Alternatives Canada. Funding from the Canadian government ended in 2014. According to a report in the National Post in December 2009, CIDA rejected grant renewal applications and was “set to slash millions of dollars in funding to Alternatives.”
  • Alternatives Canada engages in political advocacy against Israel, through its use of demonizing language such as “apartheid” rhetoric, and promoting a Palestinian “right of return” and BDS.
• In 2009, the Canadian government via the Rights and Democracy organization created by Parliament, provided $10,000 each to Al-Haq and Al Mezan. This funding institution was shut down in 2012 due to problems with “efficiencies and savings” and in order to end funding to organizations considered by its own board members to be anti-Israel.

Direct Funding from Global Affairs Canada

Indirect Funding

Funding via UN Frameworks

Funding to UNICEF

• In 2018-2019, Canada provided $1 million to UNICEF for “reducing neonatal mortality in Gaza.” The implementing partner listed on the project is Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC). (Documentation on file with NGO Monitor.)
  • UHWC is identified by Fatah as an official PFLP “affiliate” and by a 1993 USAID-engaged audit as the “the PFLP’s health organization.” For more information on UHWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Health Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
  • HWC’s Youth Development Program, “A community, cultural, and social development program that provide services to Jerusalemite youth through ‘Nidal Center,’” was shut down by Israeli authorities from 2009 to 2012 because, in the words of the Jerusalem District Court, it served as “a place of action of the [PFLP] organization.” According to the Jerusalem District Court, “following the closure of the [Center], the PFLP began operating under the guise of the non-profit the Union of Health Work Committees – Jerusalem…on June 9, 2015 at the request of the Minister of Defense the non-profit was an unlawful organization…”

Funding to UN Women

• Beginning March 2018, according to Global Affairs Canada, Canada is providing $17.3 million to UN Women in 2018-2023 for work “eliminating violence against women and girls in West Bank and Gaza.” According to the explanation provided by GAC under “type of aid,” the “Contributions to specific-purpose programmes and funds managed by international organisations (multilateral, INGO).” GAC does not list these “international organisations.”
• According to UN Women, members of its “Civil Society Advisory Group” include representatives from numerous NGOs involved in delegitimization and/or BDS campaigns against Israel, including Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Al-Haq, PYALARA, and Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA). It is unknown if the Canadian grant is being carried out with any of these or other organizations.

Funding to United Nations Population Fund

• In 2018, Canada granted $2 million to the United Nations Population Fund for the “2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for the West Bank and Gaza – Gender-Based Violence Response to the Most Vulnerable Communities Affected by the Humanitarian Situation.” Implementing partners included Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC) and Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS).
  • Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
    • PMRS is a signatory to a multiple BDS initiatives and has organized BDS conferences.
    • PMRS runs “Palestine Monitor,” an “independent news website” that has featured virulently antisemitic cartoons that trivialize the Holocaust; depict of a pile of emaciated dead bodies in striped uniforms under the caption “Gaza”; featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stamping Palestinian babies with the word “terrorist,” as they are transported on a conveyer belt into a smoking oven; and of an elderly Palestinian woman with a blood-dripping “1948” tattooed on her arm, invoking the numbers that were tattooed on the arms of Jewish prisoners in concentration camps.
  • Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
    • Accused Israeli forces of “resorting to extra-judicial killing, mass intimidation and collective punishment in order to maintain their grip on Palestinian territory in violation of basic international norms.”
    • Supports BDS initiatives through participation in activities and events, signing of petitions and initiatives, and membership in BDS platforms.

Funding to the World Food Program

• In 2021, according to the UN-OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service, Canada is providing $2.4 million (USD) to a project with the World Food Programme. According to Canada’s “open.canada.ca” website, Canada is providing millions of dollars to the World Food Programme for unspecified projects, in unspecified regions, and with unspecified partners, reflecting a significant lack of transparency and accountability.
• According to UN-OCHA’s FTS, these projects appear to be part of the WFP’s Food Security Sector programs in the West Bank and Gaza.
  • According to documents published by the Food Security Sector, the Sector distributes funds and partners with NGOs, including UAWC, Ma’an Development Center, and Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC).

Oxfam Quebec

• In 2020-2027, Oxfam-Quebec is slated to receive up to $50 million in funding from the Canadian government, of which 10% is earmarked for “volunteer placements” at NGOs based in the West Bank and Gaza.
• In July 2021, Oxfam-Quebec’s Policy and Campaign Analyst Guilia El Dardiry published an op-ed, “In Gaza, Canada’s Words Won’t Be Enough” (French). The article calls for Canada to suspend arms sales to Israel. El Dardiry, who blames Israel exclusively for the conflict, claims this will “reaffirm [Canada’s] reputation as a world leader in the defense of international law.”

Oxfam Italia

• In 2017, Canada committed $3.5 million to Oxfam Italia for “Recovery support to vulnerable farmers, fisherman and herders in Gaza Strip,” with the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) listed as an implementing partner. This grant appears to correspond with “GC-2017-Q4-0151,” found on the “canada.ca” website, with the same project name and for the same amount.
  • The Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC) is identified by Fatah as an official “affiliate” and by USAID-engaged audit as the “agricultural arm” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. For more information on UAWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Agricultural Work Committees Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

CARE International

• In 2016, according to FTS, Canada committed $3 million to CARE International for “humanitarian assistance – emergency livelihoods response to small-scale farmers affected by the Gaza crisis.” The project lists Ma’an Development Center as the NGO “implementing partner” and UAWC as an NGO partner. This grant appears to correspond with “GC-2017-Q1-0009” on the “canada.ca” website, a multi-year food security grant of $7.0 million to CARE Canada for work in the West Bank and Gaza.