In the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, asked financial institutions to use search terms like “TRUMP” and “MAGA” to comb through customer data on purchases of items like bus tickets, books or subscriptions looking for indicators of “extremism”
FinCEN also provided slides instructing banks to flag customers making purchases at stores like Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods as “potential active shooters” or terrorists, according to The New York Post.
While the Capitol incursion happened on one day and was over in a matter of hours, the protests on college campuses have continued for weeks.
The coordination between campuses, the professionally created signs, and the matching tents show clear evidence that these protesters, unlike the ones on Jan. 6, were being funded by outside, anti-Semitic and anti-American forces.
Some 2,200 people have been arrested or detained on at least 49 college campuses in 26 different states, according to Fox News.
So, where are the FBI and the IRS now? Where is FinCEN?
A group of 15 Republican senators, led by Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, has sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, demanding an investigation into whether several nonprofit organizations have violated their tax-exempt status by providing financial support to groups backing Hamas, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to Just The News.
Only Republican senators requested the Educational Foundation (AJP), the Tides Foundation, the Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation (WESPAC Foundation), and “and other benefactors of NSJP” all be investigated by the IRS for funding hatred of Jews. https://t.co/clipjaXbZW
— Lance Wallnau (@lancewallnau) May 11, 2024
The letter specifically named the National Students for Justice in Palestine, the AJP Educational Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and the Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation as entities that should be scrutinized.
Should these groups be stripped of tax-exempt status?
“We write to demand you open an investigation to determine if the supporters of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), including the AJP Educational Foundation, the Tides Foundation, the Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation (WESPAC Foundation), and other benefactors of NSJP have engaged in conduct warranting revocation of their tax exempt statuses on the basis of their financial support of NSJP,” the letter said.
“It is long-established precedent that when 501(c)(3) organizations have ‘planned activities that violate laws’ or engage in activities designed ‘to induce the commission of a crime or if the accomplishment of the purpose is otherwise against public policy,’ the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has grounds to revoke their tax-exempt status,” the senators wrote.
“We should not need to remind you of the heinous support NSJP chapters across the country have voiced for Hamas, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Within 12 days after the October 7th attack, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) documented that ‘the national leadership of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and many of the organization’s campus chapters explicitly endorsed the actions of Hamas [emphasis added] and their armed attacks on Israeli civilians and voiced an increasingly radical call for confronting and ‘dismantling’ Zionism on U.S. college campuses,” the letter continued.
The letter pointed out that at NSJP chapter-led demonstrations, such as those at Columbia University, protesters “were reportedly chanting “We are Hamas” and “Al-Qassam [in reference to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing] you make us proud, kill another soldier now!”
“In light of this abhorrent support for an FTO, we call on you to initiate an investigation to determine whether financial supporters of NSJP, including but not limited to AJP, the WESPAC Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, have engaged in conduct warranting their tax-exempt status to be stripped,” the letter stated.
Tax-exempt nonprofits are forbidden from supporting terrorism or illegal activities. If groups like AJP, the Tides Foundation and others have been funneling money to NSJP chapters that openly embrace Hamas’s terrorist tactics and ideology, then they have violated the terms of their 501(c)(3) status.
According to The Washington Examiner, The Tides Center, one of the organizations mentioned in the letter, has been a clearinghouse for dark money donations to progressive initiatives, including anti-Israel initiatives, that has long drawn scrutiny from conservatives.
Between 2006 and 2023, the Tides Center — directly or through sub-awards — received at least $81.2 million from agencies like the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, State, Education, the Interior, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to The Washington Examiner.
It also has the support of far-left billionaires Bill Gates and George Soros.
In response to the reports that the Tides Foundation was supporting the pro-Hamas protesters, conservative commentator Glenn Beck posted on social media, “Wow, who could have guessed that George Soros and the Tides Foundation have been funding the pro-Palestine protests taking over colleges? It’s almost like they’re — gasp —NOT GRASSROOTS.”
Wow, who could have guessed that George Soros and the Tides Foundation have been funding the pro-Palestine protests taking over colleges? It’s almost like they’re — gasp —NOT GRASSROOTS. pic.twitter.com/VA9SbrxgVr
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 6, 2024
There cannot be two standards of justice in this country — one for protesters backing U.S.-designated terrorist groups and another for those fighting for election transparency.
It’s time that organizations which have been actively funding pro-terrorist groups not just lose their tax-exempt status, but face accountability and careful scrutiny about the money trail, both to and from the organizations.
The letter from the senators to the IRS is a good start, but it is only scratching the surface.
