Stop the Gaza Genocide

Given Canada’s involvement in the current genocide in Gaza, Canadians can take steps to call on our government, institutions such as universities and banks, businesses, and individuals to end their complicity in the Gaza genocide.

From calling for an arms embargo on Israel to consumer boycotts and revoking the charity status of Canadian organizations funding Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide, check out some of the campaigns below.

Launched in May 2024, the Arms Embargo Now campaign calls on the Canadian government to implement an immediate two-way arms embargo between Canada and Israel. Canada must stop using Canadian taxpayer money to fund and support genocide through its military contracts with Israel. Visit armsembargonow.ca to learn what you can do to demand an arms embargo, which includes things like calling or emailing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as Canadian ministers and MPs, signing petitions, attending and helping organize actions, postering and canvassing in your neighbourhood, and more.

Just Peace Advocates and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (CFPI) are engaged in work to demand that the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) revoke the charity status of foundations sending tax-free donations to Israeli companies and institutions involved in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and current genocide in Gaza. After several years of work, there were a couple of major wins in 2024 on this front, which include the CRA’s revocation of the charity status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada and the Ne’eman Foundation, effective August 10, 2024. On November 8, 2024, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal rejected JNF’s appeal of the CRA’s decision. There are many other charities in Canada that are sending tax-free dollars to support Israel’s illegal activities against the Palestinian people. Find out more by visiting https://www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/ and https://www.foreignpolicy.ca/.

The Indigo Kills Kids campaign (also called Boycott Indigo Books due to legal action from Indigo) calls out the HESEG Foundation, an organization with charity status in Canada founded and run by Indigo’s CEO Heather Reisman and her husband Gerald Schwartz, which financially supports the Israeli military. The HESEG Foundation recruits mercenaries to the Israeli military by providing incentives to foreign nationals (“lone soldiers”) to voluntarily enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Reisman and Schwartz have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into HESEG, tax-free.

HESEG offers grants and scholarships to cover tuition costs at an academic institution in Israel, as well as living expenses during study, on the condition that the recipient serves at least one term of active service in the IDF. The foundation typically spends over $5 million annually on these grants and scholarships.

The CRA states that “supporting the armed forces of another country” is not charitable, which means the HESEG Foundation’s charity status is illegitimate and must be revoked. And under international law, it is unlawful to support an illegal occupation, which is why Canada must take action against entities like the HESEG Foundation to end its complicity in the occupation of Palestine. Visit boycottindigobooks.com for more on how to get involved.

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement, a Palestinian-led campaign launched in 2005, seeks to pressure Israel into complying with international law by ending the occupation of Palestinian Territories, ensuring equal rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and supporting the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Inspired by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, BDS encourages boycotts of Israeli goods and institutions, divestment from companies profiting from the occupation, and governmental sanctions on Israel. All of Canada’s big banks and major universities hold investments in Israeli and international companies, from weapons manufacturers like the Israeli company Elbit Systems to bulldozer companies like Caterpillar to Israeli surveillance technology companies, involved in the occupation of Palestinian Territories, with many profiting from the current ongoing genocide in Gaza.

For more details, visit bdsmovement.net and follow follow @bdsmovement on Instagram and Facebook. Find out about items you can boycott as an everyday consumer, from McDonald’s, to Coca-Cola, HP, and others. See below for BDS boycott targets.

Also download BOYCAT, the official app of the BDS Movement, on your phone to check which items are on the BDS list while shopping.

Below are BDS boycott targets, as of September 2025. Please note that some targets are specific to the US as the companies do not operate or sell in Canada. Targets are subject to change so keep checking the BDS website and/or Instagram page to stay updated!

Note that the targets are divided into Priority (complete boycott), Pressure (boycott when reasonable alternatives exist), and Organic boycotts (grassroots boycotts that the BDS supports but doesn’t officially endorse). Slides from BDS Movement.

Why these companies are being targeted by the BDS Movement (slides below from The Slow Factory and BDS Movement on Instagram):

OTHER BOYCOTT TARGETS: Israeli businesses and products in Canada

Israeli businesses in Canada include:

Aroma Espresso Bar

Cafe Landwer

Me Va Me

Miznon

Limon

The Haifa Room

Meron to Go

Dr. Laffa

Fox Home

Israeli produce in grocery stores (citrus fruits, dates, mangoes, check everything)

Dead sea salt beauty products and others

*note: Aldo is not an Israeli company but it operates locations in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian Territories illegally occupied by Israel.

Israeli dates and produce like oranges are grown in occupied Palestinian Territories, namely the West Bank, where illegal Israeli settlers backed by the Israeli military have inflicted violence on Palestinians for decades in attempts to drive them out from their homes and land. The Israeli military and settlers routinely steal and evict Palestinians from their homes and demolish them, replacing them with illegal Israeli settlements. They also destroy Palestinian farm lands, like olive tree groves, uprooting olive trees that are often hundreds of years old.

In March 2023, Scotiabank had an investment of $585 million (USD) in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. After pressure from activists, the bank has more than halved its investment to $238 million. Although a major win, Scotiabank remains in the top 5 international shareholders of Elbit Systems, owning 2.5% of the company’s outstanding shares. Elbit produces 85% of Israel’s drones and up to 85% of the country’s land-based military equipment. The campaign continues to demand that Scotiabank completely divest from Elbit Systems as any investment in genocide is unacceptable. Check out https://www.sbfundsgenocide.ca/ for more.

The Mask Off Maersk campaign targets Maersk, one of the world’s largest shipping & logistics companies, for its complicity in the Gaza genocide through the transport of weapons to Israel. The campaign demands Maersk to cut all shipping contracts with major arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon that use Maersk to ship weapons and weapons parts to Israel. Visit maskoffmaersk.com to learn more and sign the petition.