Pro-Palestine Groups Mount Coordinated Campaign Targeting Canadian Jewish Summer Camps
Five pro-Palestine groups have launched a coordinated campaign targeting 17 Jewish summer camps across Canada, led by Just Peace Advocates whose leader co-founded U.S.-sanctioned Al-Haq
A coalition of five Canadian pro-Palestine organizations has launched a coordinated campaign pressuring provincial camping associations to revoke accreditation from at least 17 Jewish-affiliated overnight summer camps across Canada. The campaign, which employs activist letters and social media mobilization, specifically targets camps that host or employ Israeli military veterans. The coalition's member organizations maintain documented connections to entities designated by Israel and sanctioned by the U.S. government.
The Campaign and Coalition
The campaign, launched in mid-February 2026, involves Just Peace Advocates, the Canadian BDS Coalition, International BDS Addis, the Ontario Palestinian Rights Association (OPRA), the Palestinian Canadian Congress (PCC), and Palestinian & Jewish Unity (PAJU). The groups have publicly identified 17 overnight camps throughout Canada as supporting Israel “in some way,” characterizing the state as “genocidal” and “settler-colonial.”
The campaign directs supporters to send letters to leadership of the Quebec and Nova Scotia Camps Associations demanding they revoke accreditation for camps that hire, host, or support current or former Israeli military personnel. A separate action targets the Ontario Camps Association Board, urging pressure on the Executive Director over what the coalition describes as "anti-Palestinian racism and support for a genocidal military."
Links Between Leadership of Just Peace & U.S.-Sanctioned Al-Haq
Jonathan Kuttab serves on the board of directors of Just Peace Advocates, the central organization coordinating the current summer camps campaign, and is co-founder of Al-Haq, an organization designated as a terrorist organization by Israel’s Ministry of Defense in October 2021 for operating on behalf of the PFLP. In September 2025, the U.S. government escalated enforcement, sanctioning Al-Haq as an entity engaged in coordinated efforts to investigate and prosecute Israeli nationals at the International Criminal Court.
Scholarly works examining the organizational history of Al-Haq have documented that many of the organization's early members and staff were members of designated or sanctioned terror groups including the PFLP, DFLP, and Hamas, operating throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
In a 2022 blog post, Kuttab confirmed his ongoing involvement with Al-Haq, recounting a visit to the organization's Ramallah headquarters where he met with Executive Director Shawan Jabbarin. Kuttab identified himself as remaining on the organization's General Assembly.
Kuttab also serves as President of the Board of the Holy Land Trust (HLT), which has documented ties to organizations designated by Israel. According to NGO Monitor, Holy Land Trust officials have participated in delegations with members of the designated terror organization DFLP and promoted campaigns in support of senior PFLP officials, including Khalida Jarrar.
Just Peace Promotes “Legal and Tactical Guide” for Activists
In May 2025, Just Peace Advocates released a comprehensive “Legal and Tactical Guide” designed to support pro-Palestine activists and campaigners across Canada. The guide includes an extensive “More Resources” section containing a detailed list of Palestinian and international organizations recommended to activists. Notably, this resource list explicitly includes multiple organizations designated by Israel and sanctioned by the U.S. government.
The guide recommends support for and coordination with Al-Haq, the organization co-founded by Kuttab. The Just Peace guide also lists Addameer Association for Human Rights among recommended Palestinian organizations.
On June 10, 2025, the U.S. government designated Addameer as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity, finding it “being owned, controlled, or directed by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the PFLP.” Israel had previously designated Addameer as a terrorist organization for the same reason.
Additionally, Just Peace's recommended resources include Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-IP), documented by watchdog organizations as having numerous alleged ties to designated terror groups including the PFLP.
Israel previously designated DCI-IP as a "terror organization" for being part of "a network of organizations" affiliated with the PFLP. According to NGO Monitor research, PFLP members have been employed and appointed as board members at DCI-IP.
2025 Annual Report Endorsing Collaborations with Alleged Terror-Linked Groups
In December 2025, Just Peace Advocates published its annual report listing PCHR and Al-Haq as active campaign partners. This came just three months after the U.S. government sanctioned both the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, along with Al-Haq, for the same purposes. Despite these formal enforcement actions by the U.S. government, the timing demonstrates sustained operational collaboration with U.S.-sanctioned entities.
The coalition's Just Peace Advocates annual 2025 report also lists the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) as a campaign partner. The HRF, established in September 2024, operates a systematic campaign compiling and publicizing identifying information about Israeli soldiers living abroad with the stated purpose of exposing them to legal challenges and creating security risks.
The organization is chaired by Dyab Abou Jahjah, who has publicly claimed to have received military training from Hezbollah in Lebanon and is identified as a longtime supporter of the terror organization.
Explicit Endorsement of Violence & Terror Leaders
OPRA, one of the five organizations leading the campaign against Canadian summer camps, explicitly endorses "armed struggle" against Israel on its website. The phrase "armed struggle" is commonly recognized by watchdog groups as a euphemism for terrorism. This formulation provides organizational cover for endorsing attacks, bombings, and other violence while maintaining plausible deniability through vague language.
PAJU, also involved in the campaign against Canadian summer camps, has organized past events in explicit solidarity with designated terror operatives and convicted killers. The organization hosted a protest in support of Khader Adnan, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader who died in Israeli custody in May 2023 after a hunger strike. Since 2004, Adnan had been arrested 13 times by Israeli authorities due to his affiliation with Islamic Jihad's leadership.
Additionally, PAJU organized an event calling for the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese communist and member of the PFLP. Abdallah was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for his role in orchestrating the 1982 murders of U.S. military attaché Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. He was also charged in connection with an attempted murder of U.S. Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984. Abdallah was released from French imprisonment in July 2025 after serving 38 years.
Weaponizing Child Safety Institutions
The targeting of Canadian summer camps represents a significant escalation in efforts to isolate Jewish institutions in North America. The campaign leverages institutional accreditation processes—mechanisms designed to ensure child safety and program quality—as pressure points for political objectives.
By framing camps’ connections to Israel as a basis for accreditation revocation, the coalition seeks to weaponize provincial regulatory frameworks against Jewish institutional life in Canada while simultaneously coordinating with organizations designated by Israel and sanctioned by the U.S. government.
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