An organization that works with the Israeli government to help with the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank was on a draft list of entities Ottawa was set to sanction, CBC News has learned. 

Two sources with knowledge of the matter told CBC News the World Zionist Organization (WZO) was going to be on the list published by Global Affairs last Tuesday — but the group ultimately did not make the cut.

CBC News is not naming the sources, who were not authorized to publicly speak about the dossier. 

The WZO is named in Israeli law as an “authorized agency” operating in “the state of Israel for the development and settlement of the country, the absorption of immigrants from the diaspora [and] the co-ordination of the activities in Israel of Jewish institutions and organizations active in those fields.”

The Canadian government considers the expansion of West Bank settlements illegal under international law. 

Canada often sanctions entities outside its jurisdiction in lockstep with allies, and this list too was published citing co-operation with Norway, France, Australia and the United Kingdom.

“Canada continues to oppose the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted on social media when announcing the sanctions.

“We remain committed to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security.” 

NGOs have pushed for sanctions

Non-governmental organizations have been at odds with the WZO both in Canada and elsewhere.

A coalition including Amnesty International Australia lobbied that country’s government to apply sanctions on the body in February when Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited, along with a WZO representative.

They were invited by the Australian government and Jewish community following the shooting at Bondi Beach last December, which killed 15 people and was widely viewed as an antisemitic attack.

“These actors are identified for their central role in the dispossession and displacement of Palestinian civilians, and the expansion of illegal and unauthorized Israeli settlements and outposts of the occupied Palestinian territories,” the coalition wrote.

In October 2025, another coalition, including Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, pushed for Ottawa to impose sanctions on the WZO’s Settlement Division, accusing it of fuelling “the mass expulsion and displacement of dozens of Palestinian shepherding communities in the West Bank by offering up privately owned Palestinian land for the exclusive use of Israeli settlers.” 

WZO says it promotes settlements, combats antisemitism

On its website, the WZO says it is “committed to promoting Zionism and the Zionist idea and the Zionist enterprise through Israel education as vital and positive elements of contemporary Jewish life.” 

It also says it wants to expand “Zionist education including Hebrew language instruction, settling the land and combating antisemitism.” 

The WZO’s website devoted to its Settlement Division explains it is a “central body for the development of the rural area in the land of Israel, and works to further the settlement of the country by establishing and consolidating settlements, as well as strengthening and growing them.” 

In 2023, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported an Israeli court ordered some settlers to clear out a square kilometre of land illegally allocated to them by the WZO’s Settlement Division in the 1980s. 

The sources who spoke to CBC News did not offer an explanation as to why the WZO was moved off the list. 

Global Affairs also did not address specific questions by CBC News about why the World Zionist Organization made it on a draft, and why it was subsequently removed.

In a statement, it said Canada regularly collaborates with like-minded partners to ensure sanctions are effective.

The department also said it “has established a rigorous due diligence process to consider and evaluate possible cases of human rights violations, corruption or other circumstances that may warrant the use of sanctions.” 

The list the Canadian government published includes two individuals associated with a construction company, Libi, the company itself, as well as four other organizations. 

The Jerusalem Post reported one of the entities, Regavim, intends to sue the Canadian government and the EU, denying it engages in settler violence. 

Ottawa has also previously come under fire by the U.S. for sanctions related to settler violence.

Last year, the Canadian government sanctioned far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, in unison with Australia, Norway, the U.K. and New Zealand.

At the time, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move did not advance U.S. efforts at obtaining a ceasefire and urged the countries to remove the sanctions.