In the midst of pro-Palestinian protests erupting on college campuses across the United States, the open support and incitement by some non-profit organizations have drawn widespread attention. On Thursday, a coalition of 16 Republican senators called on the Biden administration to investigate the tax-exempt status of these organizations.
Led by Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, the coalition wrote a letter to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Daniel Werfel, urging an investigation into several organizations that provide financial support to the “National Students for Justice in Palestine” (NSJP), whose actions they believe warrant revocation of their tax-exempt status.
The letter stated that in the past, when non-profit organizations “planned to engage in illegal activities” or “engaged in activities that could incite crimes,” the IRS typically revokes their tax-exempt status.
The senators emphasized in the letter, “We do not need to remind you of the appalling support expressed by NSJP chapters nationwide for Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. government.”
The senators noted that in recent weeks, support for NSJP has seen an “explosive growth” as pro-Palestinian protests have erupted on college campuses nationwide. Protesters have demanded their universities divest from Israeli companies or companies providing weapons to Israel to counter Hamas.
The coalition stated in the letter, “Given this abhorrent support for a foreign terrorist organization, we urge you to investigate to determine if the financial backers of NSJP engaged in behavior that should result in revocation of their tax-exempt status.”
The senators specifically mentioned the AJP Educational Foundation, WESPAC, and the Tides Foundation in the letter.
They also highlighted that AJP is already under investigation. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares began investigating AJP last October, alleging potential violations of the state’s charitable solicitation laws or “support for terrorist organizations.”
On May 1, two Israelis and seven Americans filed a lawsuit against NSJP and AJP in a Virginia court, posing as victims of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. They accused these organizations of acting as a “propaganda arm of terrorist organizations,” using propaganda to intimidate, persuade, and recruit uninformed, misguided, and vulnerable college students to act as minions for Hamas on and off-campus.
The senators expressed their desire to receive a response from the IRS by May 23. Ernst shared the letter on the social media platform X, stating, “Any organization supporting illegal activities should lose their tax-exempt status.”
On October 7 last year, the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel, resulting in over 1,200 deaths and approximately 250 hostages taken, sparking a new round of military conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Nearly seven months after the Israel-Hamas war broke out, on April 17, pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American campuses began at Columbia University in New York and spread to at least 50 schools nationwide. The protests led to the arrest of over 2,000 individuals. Government and university officials in the U.S. claimed that non-student agitators largely instigated the campus unrest.