An 1,389 page filing, demanding that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC’s) tax exempt status be revoked, was received by the Internal Revenue Service, on Tuesday, the Middle Eastern Policy Institute for Research in Washington told The Middle East Monitor. The IRmep Center for Policy and Law Enforcement, a unit of the Middle Eastern Policy Institute, submitted the complaint which encompasses nearly 60 years, from the time AIPAC’s founder left the employment of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs up to now.
Two core charges are contained in the filing. Firstly, the FBI has conducted several investigations against AIPAC which is currently in a lawsuit over the ongoing gathering and movement of U.S. government classified information. According to the filing, such activities show that AIPAC does not function as a ‘social welfare’ organization with a charitable purpose.
Secondly, AIPAC’s original application for tax exemption contained fraudulent representations and omissions. There is no mention in the application that AIPAC’s parent organization, the American Zionist Council (AZC) was closed down by a U.S. Department of Justice Foreign Agents Registration Act order in 1962. Six weeks later, AIPAC merged and applied for tax exempt status however failing to disclose that the majority of its initial funding originated from Israel via the AZC.
IRmep director, Grant F. Smith, and callers interrogated IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman, on National Public Radio, last January 1, 2010, over lax IRS enforcement toward some Israel-related non-profitable organizations, known to commit illegal acts overseas and violate U.S. tax laws.
Shulman stated, assuring the American public: ‘If a charity is breaking the tax law, is engaged in activities that they are not supposed to be engaged in, we certainly will go after them. Every year we pull 501(c)(3) charity status from a number of charities. We’ve got thousands of audits going on regarding charities, and so we don’t hesitate to administer the tax laws and make sure that people are following the rules.’
‘By publicly filing this 13909 complaint with the IRS, we encourage concerned Americans and misled donors to monitor whether the IRS takes appropriate action. The clock is ticking.’ Smith declared.
