Republican Senators are pressuring the Federal government to investigate Washington state-based newspaper The Palestine Chronicle following reports the latter cooperated with Hamas.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) recently claimed Abdallah Aljamal, one of the Chronicle’s contributors, had been permitting Hamas to use his home to hold three hostages.
Aljamal was killed during a recent IDF rescue operation, during which all three hostages were saved.
The Chronicle is listed as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and enjoys the numerous tax exemptions deriving from such designation.
Upon learning of the IDF’s reports, US Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ted Budd (R-NC) authored a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Danny Werfel demanding an investigation.
“We are concerned that the Palestine Chronicle, an IRS tax-exempt organization, was actively employing an individual with apparent ties to and support for Hamas,” wrote the Senators.
According to federal law and IRS rules, no 501(c)3 organization that incites violence and terrorism may retain its tax-exempt status.
Consequently, Senators Scott and Budd asked Commissioner Werfel to investigate the extent to which The Chronicle knew and aided Aljmal’s reported cooperation with Hamas.
The Chronicle has denied wrongdoing, claiming “Aljamal is not one of its staff.”
However, on a post published the day prior, The Chronicle mourned his death.
“The Palestine Chronicle is saddened to learn that Abdallah Aljamal, one of its contributors in the Gaza Strip, has been killed in the latest Israeli massacre in the Nuseirat refugee camp,” said The Chronicle.
While claiming Aljamal offered his journalistic work to The Chronicle voluntarily, the latter underscored the former’s work as “very important” for the newspaper.
Scott and Budd claim The Chronicle’s relationship with Aljamal is sufficient to merit an IRS investigation and potential denial of tax-exempt status for The Chronicle.
“We urge the IRS, in coordination with other law enforcement agencies, to investigate the extent of the Palestine Chronicle’s knowledge of Abdallah Aljamal’s connections to Hamas and…revoke the tax-exempt status of this organization that employed an individual who committed these violent, illegal, and terrorist acts,” conclude the Senators.
