Rashida Talib calls for IRS to target pro-Israel groups
Congressman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) sent a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, urging her to review the status granted to “organizations that fund the expansion of Israeli settlements.”
The “Squad” of Israel-hatred
Tlaib called for the Treasury Department to remove the 501c3 status of any organization that supports the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria. The letter was signed by Congressmen Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andre Carson, Mark Pocan, Betty McCollum, and Ayanna Pressley.
It should be noted that a case brought in 2017 seeking to force the IRS and other Treasury departments to investigate not for profits backing Israeli settlements was dismissed for lack of standing and on the grounds of redressability.
Tlaib has been accused of anti-Israel statements that occasionally turn anti-Semitic. Taib’s letter categorizes Israel’s treatment of the Arabs as “apartheid”. In May, four house Democrats sent a letter to President Biden blaming the rise of antisemitism on “elected officials [who] have used reckless, irresponsible antisemitic rhetoric” which included describing Israel as an apartheid state. “These statements are antisemitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile to many Jews,’ the Democratic lawmakers stated, without naming names.
American Muslims for Palestine
The nature of Talib’s initiative became apparent when a call for its support was sent out by the American Muslims for Palestine. The Anti-Defamation League described AMP on its website, noting the organization’s goal is to “delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state”:
“American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is the leading organization providing anti-Zionist training and education to students and Muslim community organizations in the country. Founded in 2005, AMP promotes extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans about ‘the just cause of Palestine and the rights of self-determination’.”
AMP has its organizational roots in the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), an anti-Semitic group that served as the main propaganda arm for Hamas in the United States until it was dissolved in 2004. Since its creation in 2005, AMP continues to work closely with some former IAP leaders who currently hold positions as AMP board members.
NGO Monitor noted that AMP’s “rhetoric includes accusations of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” “genocide,” “collective punishment,” “judaization,” and “colonization,” as well as supporting a Palestinian “right of return.”
Hating Israel, defunding police
Tlaib’s anti-Israel agenda is not the only misguided cause she supports. It was revealed this week that her campaign paid out over $100,000 for “fundraising consulting” to Unbought Power LLC, a Florida-based firm that specializes in grassroots organizing and advocacy consulting. Its founder, Rasha Mubarak, has publicly called for defunding the police multiple times, tweeting in April that she believes the United States should “abolish the police.” In two separate tweets from July 2020, Mubarak called for Orange County to “defund the police.”
in December 2020 Tlaib retweeted a Mubarak tweet that included the anti-Israel slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This slogan has long been interpreted and criticized as a call for the elimination of the Jewish state.
Israel in the News
