Jewish Group: IRS Targeted Us Because ‘They Thought We Might Be Funding Terrorism’

Z Street

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, President of Z Street, appears on "On the Record." (Photo: Fox News)

Soon after the Internal Revenue Service admitted it had been targeting conservative organizations applying for 501 (c) (4) status around the 2012 election -- though it was later discovered it had been happening since at least 2010 -- it was learned that Jewish groups had also faced similar scrutiny.

Now, we are learning that at least one group was told it was because of purported worries they were funding terrorism.

Z Street has been vocal about the treatment it received after battling with the IRS for years.  It filed a lawsuit against the government entity in 2010 alleging viewpoint discrimination after applying for 501 (c) (3) status in 2009 (processed through the same office as 501 (c) (4)).

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, president of Z Street, appeared on "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren Tuesday to explain the situation.

"After we filed our lawsuit, the IRS began having several different positions on why it was taking so long, one of which was because terrorism happens in Israel.  Therefore, they had to look into our organization, because they thought we might be funding terrorism.  We are a purely educational entity.  We didn't fund anybody; we barely funded ourselves!"

When Greta asked whether anyone in her group has been arrested for terrorism, whether their assets have ever been frozen in connection with terrorism, or whether the group has ever even been accused of promoting terrorist activity, the president incredulously replied, "No!"

If that's not enough, the group only filed the suit after their lawyer was told by the IRS that groups connected to Israel receive special scrutiny, and that some are sent to a special unit to determine whether the organization's positions contradict those of the administration's."

"At that point we knew that is classic viewpoint discrimination, and we had to [take] action," she said.

Their group has still not been approved for the 501 (c) (3) status it applied for in 2009.

Watch the entire interview, below:

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The POLITICO did some investigating on the matter, writing:

Legal filings show that the problems for Z Street -- and apparently for other Israel-related groups -- stemmed from an obscure unit in the Cincinnati IRS office: the "Touch and Go Group." One of the so-called TAG Group's duties was to weed out applications that might be coming from organizations which might be used to fund terrorism. In response to Z Street's lawsuit, an IRS manager acknowledged that applications mentioning Israel were getting special attention. "Israel is one of many Middle Eastern countries that have a 'higher risk of terrorism,'" wrote Jon Waddell, manager of the IRS's Exempt Organizations Determinations Group. "A referral to TAG is appropriate whenever an application mentions providing resources to organizations in a country with a higher risk of terrorism."

A spokesman for the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration declined to say Monday whether that office had reviewed the issue of scrutiny of Israel-related groups as part of the review of how the IRS handled political groups, or separately. "I don't have any information for you one way or the other on that," said the spokesman, David Barnes. [Emphasis added]

When Z Street went to court though, the government denied its views on Israel or the Obama administration had anything to do with why it was transferred to the TAG Group.

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Related:

• Did the IRS Also Target a Pro-Israel Group?
• Local News Reporter: IRS Started 'Hammering' Me After Tough Obama Interview
• 'Submit!': Beck's Passionate Break Down of the IRS 'Inquisition' of Conservative Groups -- and What's Coming Next in the Case

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Officials: Dead bomber name in terrorism database

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA added the name of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect to a U.S. government terrorist database 18 months before the deadly explosions, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The CIA's request came about six months after the FBI investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev, also at the Russian government's request, but the FBI found no ties to terrorism, officials said.

The new disclosure was significant because officials have said the U.S. intelligence community had no information leading up to the April 15 bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 others. That one of the bomber's name was in a terrorism database for 18 months before the attack was expected to drive congressional inquiries about whether the U.S. government adequately investigated tips from Russia that Tsarnaev posed a security threat.

In late September 2011, the CIA received information from the Russian government about Tsarnaev, who died Friday in a police shootout. In March 2011, the FBI received nearly identical information as the CIA, according to officials briefed on the investigation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing case.

The massive database, known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, is managed by the National Counterterrorism Center and feeds into terror watch lists like the one that bans known or suspected terrorists from getting on airplanes.

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