Republicans Renew Call for Treasury to Provide Details on Pro-Palestinian Groups’ Financial Transactions

Republicans Renew Call for Treasury to Provide Details on Pro-Palestinian Groups’ Financial Transactions
Pro-Palestinian protesters march on the 2024 DNC in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 19, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
Savannah Hulsey Pointer
Updated:

House Republicans have repeated their request for information from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on groups associated with pro-Palestinian protests.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent an Aug. 21 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterating their request first made in May of this year, asking for the information on groups associated with what they termed “illegal and antisemitic activities, including on college campuses around the United States.”

The letter notes that the Treasury hasn’t yet produced any of the requested documents in response to the committees’ earlier request.

“Over the summer, illegal and antisemitic activities have continued off-campus, including recent violent demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol and Columbus Circle in Washington, D.C.,” the letter reads.

Specifically, the committee requested information about the “sponsors or active participants”—such as Jewish Voice for Peace and The People’s Forum—involved in events in Washington.

The lawmakers also requested documents on The Palestinian Youth Movement, which took credit for the recent release of maggots and activation of a fire alarm in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was staying.

“Considering the serious nature of recent illegal and antisemitic events related to entities named in this investigation, it is imperative that Treasury immediately cooperate and provide the requested documents,” the letter reads.

In May 2024, the committees wrote to Yellen to request all SARs associated with 20 organizations that are alleged to be leading, financing, and participating in pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic, and anti-American protests that are taking place on college campuses throughout the United States.

The lawmakers warned that if the Treasury fails to cooperate with the investigation, the committees are prepared to employ the compulsory process.

Days earlier, Republicans from the House Energy and Commerce Committee pressed the University of California–San Francisco to provide information on reported allegations of anti-Semitism on its campus.
Universities themselves have been struggling with how to cope with anti-Semitic issues, including in Florida, where the state university system ordered all 12 public universities to review teaching materials for anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli bias earlier this month.
During an event that investigated anti-Semitism on the campus of Columbia University in New York, several deans resigned after exchanging texts that were denigrating Jews. On Aug. 8, a spokesperson for the university announced that three deans who exchanged the messages have resigned.

The Department of Treasury did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.