Sen. Josh Hawley Asks AG Garland to Investigate Groups Funding Pro-Palestinian Protests

‘By supporting illegal acts while enjoying tax-exempt status, dark-money groups and foundations are defrauding the American people,’ said Sen. Josh Hawley.
Sen. Josh Hawley Asks AG Garland to Investigate Groups Funding Pro-Palestinian Protests
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asks questions to witnesses as they testify before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, in Washington on Sept. 21, 2021. Ken Cedeno/Pool/Getty Images
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is calling on the Biden administration to investigate groups that fund pro-Palestinan protests at multiple college campuses across the United States.

In a letter dated May 7 to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Mr. Hawley stated that third-party groups providing financial support for anti-Semitic protests on campus should not enjoy tax-exempt status, asking the attorney general to examine the matter further.

“By supporting illegal acts while enjoying tax-exempt status, dark-money groups and foundations are defrauding the American people and putting Jewish students and faculty at risk,” Mr. Hawley wrote.

He cited an IRS ruling mandating that “no organization may retain its tax exemption if it backs protests at which members are urged to commit acts of civil disobedience.”

The letter is in response to a May 5 Politico article, which reported that big donors behind President Joe Biden allegedly fund pro-Palestinan campus protests.

According to the article, major organizers supporting campus protests, such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, allegedly received funding from big Democratic donors, including George Soros’s Tides Foundation, David Rockefeller’s Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Susan and Nick Pritzker.

Mr. Hawley then asked Mr. Garland to provide information about the number of protests that receive money from those third-party groups, the names of these groups, and steps to enforce IRS rules against groups funding ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

This is not the first time Mr. Hawley has asked Mr. Garland for information about anti-Semitism protests on campus. In October 2023, the senator also asked the attorney general to investigate third-party groups that provide financial support for these protests.

The letter comes at a time when many protests and encampments on university campuses throughout the nation have erupted in response to Israel’s military action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The protests first broke out at Columbia University on April 17, then spread to New York University, Yale University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and others.

Across the country, police have intervened at multiple universities to disperse the protests. Some protests, such as those at UCLA, have escalated into riots.

As of May 6, more than 2,400 have been arrested in pro-Palestinian protests on at least 45 campuses in at least 30 states since the April 18 arrests of 108 Columbia University students in New York City, according to a running tally by The Associated Press and on-the-scene accounts by reporters for The Epoch Times.

Last week, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced legislation to prevent individuals convicted of criminal acts related to the campus protests from having their student loan debt forgiven.
Under this bill, an individual will be ineligible for federal student loan forgiveness if convicted of federal or state crimes “related to the individual’s conduct at and during the course of a protest that occurs at an institution of higher education.”

Outside Agitators

Law enforcement and school officials said outside agitators played major roles in those protests.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during an April 30 press conference that he identified “professional protesters” leading demonstrators, many of them nonstudents, onto campuses to confront university officials and police with orchestrated tactics.

On May 1, Mr. Adams said protests in New York City are being “co-opted by professional outside agitators,” emphasizing that the seizure of a Columbia University building “was led by individuals who were not affiliated with the university.”

Officials said outside agitators were also present at the University of Wisconsin and UCLA.

On May 1, Dartmouth University officials said students supporting Palestinians had peacefully demonstrated on campus at least seven times since October 2023, but that many of those engaged in the recent pro-Palestinian protests are not students. The school said it will not allow its campus “to be co-opted by a small group of protesters, including outside agitators.”

In response to the protests, several universities have warned pro-Palestinian protesters to end encampments or face suspension or arrest. Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Emory University are among the schools that have issued such orders.
John Haughey contributed to this report.
Aaron Pan
Aaron Pan
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Aaron Pan is a reporter covering China and U.S. news. He graduated with a master's degree in finance from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
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