U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is telling the Internal Revenue Service to follow the money in an investigation into the tax-exempt PeaceWorks Network Foundation, also known by the name OneVoice, after reports that the group was trying to influence the coming Israeli election.
WND reported OneVoice, a U.S.-U.K. non-profit, had partnered with another group, V15, in a get-out-the-vote organizing drive aimed at replacing Benjamin Netanyahu's government with a center-left coalition.
OneVoice bills itself as an "international grassroots movement that amplifies the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians."
OneVoice is sponsored by scores of nonprofits and received two grants in the past year from the U.S. State Department. The State Department is also listed as a partner of OneVoice on the group's website.
In a letter sent this week to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Cruz and Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., asked for information regarding the organization.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is pursuing the deadliest weapons on the planet, and there can be no doubt that their first target will be Israel, followed by the United States," Cruz said. "Yet the Obama administration seems much more interested in regime change in Jerusalem than in Tehran. In January, Rep. Zeldin and I sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking for information about whether the United States government is funding overtly political action in Israel designed to influence the upcoming election. While we still don't have complete answers from Secretary Kerry, OneVoice's actions raise significant questions about whether it has violated its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization."
Added Zeldin: "It's abundantly clear that OneVoice, a U.S. taxpayer funded 501(c)(3), is fully engaged in political activities to oust the Israeli prime minister. It is important for IRS Commissioner Koskinen to assist with our efforts to hold OneVoice responsible for any possible violation of its tax exempt status. U.S. law must always be consistently enforced, and the IRS commissioner must not make any special exception for OneVoice."
The letter explains a recent article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz "reports that a U.S. taxpayer-funded non-profit organization called OneVoice is actively working with a campaign operation called Victory 2015 (V15) in an effort to influence the upcoming elections in Israel on March 17, 2015."
"Other media reports indicate that OneVoice 'helped build the social network group [V15] into a proper campaign organization,' and that 'OneVoice has and still supports, according to statements it has also issued on its own behalf, the V15 campaign intended to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, openly and declaratively,'" the letter says. "Another source has reported that one of the founders of V15 confirmed in an interview that V15 receives financial support from OneVoice."
But the members of Congress tell Koskinen: "The Internal Revenue Code clearly states that organizations that are exempt from the collection of income tax under Section 501(c)(3) may 'not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.' This is an absolute prohibition, and the tax-exempt status of any organization that violates it is subject to revocation."
They are asking for the IRS to preserve all documents and records of the PeaceWorks Network Foundation and OneVoice so they are available for the investigation. And they want to know what, if any, steps the IRS is doing to investigate.
"Of course, private American citizens are free to engage in political activities according to their inclinations. It is not the role of the IRS to limit the free speech protections of the First Amendment or target organizations for their political beliefs. But in this case, OneVoice has not only received State Department grant funding for its activities, but is also potentially using its grant funding to directly impact a foreign election, and that, on its face, violates its status with the IRS."
WND has reported several times on the dispute, including just weeks ago when it was alleged that another U.S.-funded group, the Abraham Fund, was engaging in partisan activities.
Spokesman Amnon Beeri-Sulitzeanu told WND that was not the case. But the Fund works to encourage Arab participation in Israeli life, and following the country's most recent parliamentary election in 2013, Arab lawmakers complained that a higher Arab voter turnout could have tipped the election toward the left and defeated Netanyahu.
In 2010, the State Department provided the Abraham Fund a $999,715 three-year grant for an education initiative in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Education. Another part of the grant was designated to a project with the Israeli security services aimed at fostering closer Arab-Jewish ties.
WND also has reported on the Victory 2015 organization, or V15, which caught U.S. attention when it hired 270 Strategies, a consulting firm.
WND reported V15 is composed almost entirely of former staffers of President Obama's re-election campaign.
The anti-Netanyahu movement and its links to the White House were reported as Obama snubbed Netanyahu by refusing to meet with him during his trip to Washington to speak to Congress.
Â