Lawmakers Ask IRS To Probe Chinese Funding to Anti-Israel Protests
House lawmakers called on the IRS to investigate U.S.-based anti-Israel activist groups that have financial links to China, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday.
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee said they are concerned that "foreign adversaries are taking advantage of loopholes to impact American political activity with little-to-no transparency."
The letter follows reports connecting the Chinese government to a network of U.S.-based nonprofit groups.
The People's Forum, a group that helped organize anti-Israel walkouts in New York City public schools, is bankrolled by Chinese propagandist and tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, the New York Times reported last year. The organization encouraged student protesters to shout anti-Semitic chants, such as "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," a slogan that calls for the elimination of the Jewish state.
"Not only do these activities raise serious national security concerns, but they also raise questions about whether organizations like this receive foreign funding from America's adversaries and whether the Internal Revenue Service ('IRS') is conducting oversight of entities like these," wrote the lawmakers in a letter to IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel.
The letter also raised concerns about other China-linked political groups. The Energy Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit that promotes climate change activism, operates primarily out of China and has significant ties to the government, Fox News reported in December.
The Energy Foundation has pushed for U.S. green energy policies that would benefit China, which dominates the global solar energy and battery industries.
The lawmakers asked the IRS if it has "a definition of antisemitism in place within the agency that it considers when evaluating the claimed exempt purpose of a tax-exempt organization" and whether it collects information about foreign funding to U.S. nonprofit groups.
They also asked whether the Chinese funding and links would prompt an investigation into these groups by the IRS.
The House Ways and Means Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jason Smith (R., Mo.), has been investigating foreign influence in domestic political organizations. In December, the committee held a hearing about how foreign nationals—who aren't allowed to donate directly to American political candidates—have attempted to impact U.S. elections by funding nonprofit activist groups.
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