Last week a judge accepted a copyright infringement request from Indigo requiring Canadian telecommunications companies to block the website Indigo Kills Kids. The ruling came days before protests that are planned at 40 Indigo stores.
As of writing, Telus, Videotron and Rogers had removed a website seeking to rekindle the boycott of a store whose owners assist the Israeli military. But Bell had yet to adhere to the judge’s order to temporarily remove the site as the case proceeds.
The censorship bid is part of Indigo and the genocide lobby’s aggressive response to a grassroots campaign challenging billionaire power couple Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz’s support for Israeli violence and apartheid. As the judge considered the injunction against the Indigo Kills Kids website, Reisman sent a long message to all Indigo staff explaining how she and her husband don’t actually assist the Israeli military or induce young Canadians to join it. The CEO’s message also suggested that Wednesday’s protests may pose a danger to staff.
Simultaneously, the Reisman/Schwartz instigated Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) announced a BUYcott of Indigo in response to the day of action. Their promotion material states: “Canadians won’t be intimidated by antisemitic lies. Show your support by shopping at Indigo Chapters in store or online on Wednesday, September 25.”
But in an e-mail to its members CIJA undercut their “antisemitic lies” smear. Likely crafted by a newbie enthralled with Israeli militarism, the lobby group’s message boasted that Reisman and Schwartz’s “philanthropy includes the HESEG Foundation, which provides scholarships to Lone Soldiers who serve in the Israel Defense Forces.”
Realizing how this fact undermined their claim that Reisman was targeted for being Jewish, CIJA sent a follow-up message noting, “earlier today we sent out an email promoting a BUYcott at Indigo and Chapters across Canada in response to a BOYCOTT of Indigo and Chapters being promoted by ‘activists’ who keep repeating a vicious lie. In that email we referred to the HESEG Foundation, a charitable foundation founded by Heather Reisman and her husband Gerry Schwartz, and made an accidental error describing what the HESEG Foundation does. Please do not in any way circulate the original email.”
In the follow-up email, CIJA removed any mention of scholarships to non-Israelis who join the Israeli military. Instead, they noted, “Heather Reisman and her husband, Gerry Schwartz, are renowned philanthropists who have consistently supported Israel and the global Jewish community.”
Amidst discussion of CIJA’s HESEG gaff, Toronto Centre for Palestine opined that “CIJA, Reisman and Schwartz are literally having their minions edit Wikipedia to hide the true purpose of HESEG.” On August 22 HESEG’s Wikipedia page was significantly revised in line with Reisman’s letter to Indigo staff. “HESEG only accepts applications from former soldiers after they have completed their service, suggesting there is no such inducement or legal violation”, noted one addition. Another revision on Wikipedia claimed that “since HESEG does not provide any funding or support to the IDF, it has maintained its charitable status under Canadian law.” But, as Greg Macdougall pointed out, none of the changes included any sources for the new information.
The hypersensitivity to the Indigo Kills Kids site and September 25 protests follows a similar panic after activists put up posters with Reisman’s picture and the statement “Funding Genocide” on Indigo’s flagship Toronto store in November. The poster action spurred a Zionist meltdown and massive police operation.
Unfortunately, anti-genocide forces have largely failed to use the Zionist backlash against them to draw attention to the principal moral, financial and legal scandal: the public subsidy Reisman and Schwartz receive for assisting the Israeli military. All taxpayers have covered as much as 90 per cent of the nearly $200 million Reisman and Schwartz have given to a charity they established to support Torontonians, New Yorkers and other non-Israeli “lone soldiers” who join an occupation force brutalizing Palestinians. But supporting non-Israelis joining its military almost certainly violates Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) charity rules.
In its rationale for revoking the Ne’eman Foundation the CRA makes it clear that it considers assisting the Israeli military and “lone soldiers” a violation of charity rules. Its recently released revocation letter notes, “We further stated that increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which is further discussed in section 2.b), is not a charitable purpose.” Referring to “lone soldiers” more than a dozen times, the CRA letter notes, “‘The Lone Soldier Centre’s website also clearly defines the term lone soldier as “an IDF soldier with no family in Israel to support him or her’… As such, we are unable to accept the Organization’s representations that this agent does not support the IDF and that lone soldiers are simply immigrants without a family in Israel.”
In a recent press release Just Peace Advocates and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute detailed the outrageous subsidy that’s been given to the billionaire power couple. It piqued the interest of a young CBC Toronto reporter who asked for source material, submitted multiple written questions and interviewed rabbi David Mivasair about HESEG. But no story appeared. It’s not the first time a journalist has expressed interest in Israel-focused charities violating CRA rules only to have someone within the Toronto Star or CBC block the story.
However you look at it, the fact that Reisman and Schwartz have received at least $100 million in subsidy for assisting non-Israelis who join a military slaughtering Palestinians is outrageous.
But the billionaire couple’s scandalous assistance for Israeli expansionism is not limited to HESEG. The Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman Foundation has funded the Jewish National Fund and Ne’eman Foundation, which have both had their charitable status revoked for assisting the Israeli military, racist organizations and West Bank colonies. They’ve also funded the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association, Jerusalem Foundation and Mizrachi Canada, which assist the Israeli military and West Bank colonies. Additionally, they’ve donated to the anti-gay Canada Christian College. A formal complaint has been submitted asking the CRA to investigate the Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman Foundation.
Indigo and CIJA’s reaction to the Indigo Kills Kids website and September 25 protests is an opportunity to draw attention to the indefensible. How many Canadians believe all taxpayers should be subsidizing billionaires assisting the Israeli military in violation of charity law?
The Canada Revenue Agency needs to apply the law and immediately revoke the charitable status of the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers.
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