A House committee overseeing the IRS is asking the agency to revoke the tax-exempt status of anti-Israel groups linked to Palestinian terrorism, citing multiple reports by the Washington Examiner.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), House Ways and Means Committee chairman, sent letters to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, sharing his panel’s research on terrorism-linked groups connected to anti-Israel protests in the United States. The House Republican has been investigating the entities cited in the letters on the heels of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year.
“Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right, and in exchange, organizations must operate for stated exempt purposes,” Smith said in a statement. “The Ways and Means Committee will continue putting pressure on the Biden-Harris administration until it stands up to the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party and puts a stop to this antisemitic and anti-American behavior once and for all.”
Smith’s sprawling demand to the IRS focused on groups located in New York, Virginia, Arizona, California, and Texas, according to copies of the letters. The Missouri lawmaker sought to make the case to the IRS that the nonprofit organizations incited antisemitic riots on college campuses and in U.S. cities and that the groups share apparent ties to Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — another terrorist faction in the Middle East.
One charity that Smith zeroed in on is the Arizona-based Alliance for Global Justice. A Washington Examiner investigation on its ties to the PFLP prompted payment processors to jump ship, left-wing donors to announce they would provide no future donations to AFGJ, and a demand from the Anti-Defamation League for the IRS to open an inquiry.
AFGJ, which did not return a request for comment, houses an Israeli-designated terrorist group called the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The project shares close ties to the PFLP and Iran. AFGJ also helped fundraise in 2023 for a French group partnered with the PFLP, the Washington Examiner reported.
“Samidoun’s designation as a terrorist organization associated with the PFLP does not further the Alliance’s stated tax-exempt purpose,” Smith told the IRS. “The European Union, Israel, and major credit card companies have recognized Samidoun and the Alliance for what they are, yet tax-exempt dollars continue to flow to the Alliance and ultimately to Samidoun. This must stop.”
Smith also called on the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of the People’s Forum, a New York-based charity, over its ties to violent anti-Israel protests in the U.S. The Republican’s letter on the charity included a November 2023 report from the Washington Examiner on its sympathies for Hamas and ties to a “Chinese propaganda” influence operation.
The IRS, Smith said in the letters, should also revoke the tax-exempt status of Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation, a group sponsoring American Muslims for Palestine. Smith’s letter on AMP cited a July Washington Examiner report in which AMP was ordered by a Virginia court to turn over financial information.
Through personnel, AMP has ties to Hamas and the Holy Land Foundation, a group shuttered by the U.S. government for funding Hamas, Smith said.
AMP is closely affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine, a group sponsored by the WESPAC Foundation in New York.
WESPAC also sponsors anti-Israel groups such as Within Our Lifetime, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and the Palestinian Youth Movement. The foundation should see its tax-exempt status revoked, said Smith.
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“Aside from restrictions on conducting illegal activity and acts supporting or promoting civil disobedience, Internal Revenue Manual Part 7, Chapter 20, Section 6, asserts that ‘cases involving grants or activities in foreign countries present a higher risk of terrorism, especially in countries where there is war and civil unrest,” Smith told the IRS, citing WESPAC’s violent anti-Israel protests.
The IRS did not return a request for comment.