A Jewish organization in the United States wrote to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Daniel Werfel, on Wednesday, to request the IRS suspend the United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) non-profit status as investigations have been launched into its terror ties. Suspension of this status will prevent donations to UNRWA from being tax deductible.
While the letter, sent jointly by the National Jewish Advocacy Center and Israel-based International Legal Forum, acknowledged that Gazans need charitable support, "UNRWA is part of the problem, not the solution."
Justifying the change in status, the Jewish organization cited the IRS' policy, stating that activities of a Section 501(c)(3) organization must not be “illegal, contrary to a clearly defined and established public policy, or in conflict with express statutory restrictions.”
UNRWA's alleged terror ties and participation
The letter explained that UNRWA is under investigation as an investigation by UN Watch's Hillel Neuer found that UNRWA staff had actively participated in the October 7 terror attack against Israel - an attack that took the lives of over 1200 people.
In addition to actively participating in the attack, the letter accuses UNRWA employees of "coordinate logistics for the assault (including procuring weapons), and still others held innocent people hostage for weeks and months on end."
A number of countries, including the United States, have paused funding to UNRWA following the report. While involvement in the October 7 attack was the reason many countries gave for the pause in funding, UNRWA's involvement in spreading antisemitic ideology and aiding terrorism was widely reported for years before. The letter quoted US Senator Jim Risch who, before the attack, said "It is well known that UNRWA has a history of employing people connected to terrorist movements like Hamas, promoting anti-Semitic material in its textbooks, and allowing Hamas to use its schools to store weapons. U.S. taxpayer dollars should never be used to help fund such a corrupt organization.”
The letter also stressed that "UNRWA is Hamas" and that the issue was not simply a "few rotten apples" within the organization.
Concluding the request, the letter stated "Providing support for an organization that incites and commits murderous violence while harboring members of U.S. designated terrorist groups that specialize in killing Jews and that call for Jewish genocide is obviously against both the law and public policy. UNRWA does all of those things, and UNRWA USA supports them. We hereby demand that the exempt tax status of UNRWA USA be immediately suspended, pending an investigation, and then revoked. We thank you in advance for your attention to this matter."