Gidon Katz makes no apologies for marketing West Bank settlements to Diasporic Jews. Katz, an Israeli promoter, has organized real estate shows for more than two decades, including the Israeli Real Estate Event held on synagogue premises in Canada and the United States in March 2024.
While most of the real estate on offer was in Israel, one vendor marketed properties in Efrat, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank established in 1983 on confiscated Palestinian land that continues to expand. Efrat is located just south of Bethlehem, one of 165 noncontiguous enclaves administered solely or jointly by the Palestinian Authority (Sectors A and B). These enclaves are islands in a contiguous “sea” surrounded by Israeli-controlled Sector C, including Efrat and more than 60 percent of the West Bank.
Canada considers Efrat and other Israeli settlements to be in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In 2024, the United States reconfirmed that the settlements are inconsistent with international law. Katz has argued that Efrat should be understood as part of a “settlement bloc,” areas around which Israel has built its separation barrier. Israeli political consensus holds these should be annexed in negotiations with Palestine. The twenty-four-hour checkpoint that leads from Bethlehem to Efrat is closed to Palestinians.
The event organized by Mr Katz was held in Thornhill, a suburb of the City of Vaughan, which with Toronto and other municipalities makes up the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Like many large urban areas, the GTA contains geographic concentrations of ethno-cultural groups, with Jewish Thornhill being a well-known ethnic enclave. Thornhill has the largest concentration of synagogues in the GTA, including the Aish Thornhill Community Shul (Aish Shul) and the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT).
A few days before the Katz-organized event, a separate Israel real estate event was held at the Aish Shul. Although the promoter later clarified that no West…
Auteur: Edgardo Sepulveda
