Going beyond tea party and patriotic groups, did the IRS target Jewish organizations?

PRO-ISRAEL GROUP SUED IRS CLAIMING TARGETING PRACTICE 

While they are at it, the committee might want to ask the IRS whether their list of targets extended beyond political party discrimination. There is evidence the IRS also targeted pro-Israel groups whose positions were potentially inconsistent with the administration's.
For example, in 2010, the passionately pro-Israel organization Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming it had been told by an IRS agent that because the organization was "connected to Israel," its application for tax-exempt status would receive additional scrutiny.  This admission was made in response to a query about the lengthy review of Z STREET's tax exempt status application. 

In addition, the IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to "a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization's activities contradict the Administration's public policies."

And at least one purely religious Jewish organization, one not focused on Israel, was the recipient of bizarre and highly inappropriate questions about Israel.  Those questions also came from the same non-profit division of the IRS at issue for inappropriately targeting politically conservative groups. The IRS required that Jewish organization to state "whether [it] supports the existence of the land of Israel," and also demanded the organization “[d]escribe [its] religious belief system toward the land of Israel.” <Source> 

Original Post …

This is not an oops, sorry type of event. This is a criminal violation of the IRS rules and regulations and should be investigated as a CRIME: the misuse of government computers for political purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.

Organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.

"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases for further review," Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association. "The IRS would like to apologize for that," she added.

Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. After her talk, she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice.  Source: IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups

Something stinks here …

One, IRS employees are closely supervised and held to high ethical standards. Two, what were they going to do with donor lists if it wasn’t for political purposes – or even worse, the criminal harassment of large donors? And, three, the fact that someone was appointed by President Bush and was carried over to the Obama Administration is not a sign of bipartisanship – because their should have been NO political influence in the process.

Why are they not announcing firings and prosecutions? Clearly, there is some wiggle room if the investigations included left-wing groups like the many Soros-funded organizations, SEIU union groups, and environmental groups. A Congressional oversight review is required because IRS I bound by confidentiality rules.

With the IRS being an apolitical institution, there can be no hint of scandal or political activity.

And, who is going to reimburse these organizations for the accounting costs incurred in process?

-- steve

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