US tax-exempt Israel charities have long relied on the IRS for impunity
On April 22, 2020 Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered the IRS to provide details about the adequacy of its search for documents about policy on US nonprofit charitable funding flows into Israeli settlements. The order was only the latest round in a legal battle launched by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep), which in August of 2019 sued the IRS under the Freedom of Information Act. IRmep seeks the release of documents “related to the ongoing, long term laundering of tax-exempt donations by American donors through charitable organizations to which the IRS has issued determination letters, into illegal Israeli settlements, thereby directly and indirectly engaging in ethnic cleansing, illegal land seizures, and other expeditions against a friendly nation in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 960 and other applicable statutes and treaties.”
The IRS has long tried to avoid formal comment on the massive and ongoing transfer of US tax-exempt charitable funding into overseas activities that have no apparent legality, charitable purpose, or social welfare benefit. However, the persistence of the funding flows and exceptionally large amounts involved have generated mainstream news coverage, lawsuits, and numerous requests for clarity to the IRS. Most have failed to produce any answers or redress.