Canary Mission is an advocacy group that aims to combat the rise of anti-Semitism by documenting hate groups on college campuses. Canary Mission documents individuals and organizations that engage in antisemitism, racism, and bigotry across the political spectrum, including those on both the far right and the far left, and those involved with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. ¹

Activities

Canary Mission investigates and documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of Israel and Jews on college campuses throughout North America. Canary Mission sources its content from publicly available sources, and presents its findings on its website in a concise, searchable format free to the public. Canary Mission names students, professors, other professionals, and organizations that it alleges have engaged in antisemitism, racism, and bigotry along with their related words and actions. ¹

Canary Mission also maintains a list of those individuals, many listed anonymously, who are now considered “Ex-Canary,” as they were formerly investigated and featured on the website, but later acknowledged the problem of anti-Semitism and recognized and apologized for their previous mistakes. ²

Canary Mission holds itself to an ethics policy that only allows it to profile individuals and organizations that have engaged in actions qualifying as antisemitic based on the definition by the U.S. Department of State; is a supporter of a terrorist organization or the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement in any form; uses violence; expresses hate speech or demonizing language against Jews, Israel or supporters of Israel; or disrupts pro-Israel speakers or events. ³

Funding

Canary Mission is funded by undisclosed donations from individuals, foundations, and businesses. Tax filings confirm donations made to Megamot Shalom for Canary Mission from the Helen Diller Family Foundation ($100,000 in 2016) ⁴ and the Michael and Andrea Leven Family Foundation ($50,000 in 2018). ⁵

People

Jonathan Bash runs the Canary Mission website and operates Megamot Shalom, an Israeli nonprofit organization. ⁶

1. “About.” Canary Mission. Accessed November 1, 2023. https://canarymission.org/about.
2. “Ex-Canary.” Canary Mission. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://canarymission.org/ex-canary.
3. “Ethics Policy.” Canary Mission. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://canarymission.org/ethics_policy.
4. Helen Diller Family Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2016, Schedule I, Part II.
5. Michael and Andrea Leven Family Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV, Line 3.
6. Nathan-Kazis, Josh. “Documents Reveal Board Of Shadowy Charity Linked To Canary Mission.” The Jewish Daily Forward, October 15, 2018. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://forward.com/news/411881/documents-reveal-men-behind-megamot-shalom-mysterious-charity-tied-to/.