IRS petitioned to not restore ZOA tax-exempt status as Justice Department tapped for foreign agent file

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy:

The IRS received a "13909" petition (PDF) from IRmep's Center for Policy and Law enforcement urging it not to restore the tax-exempt status of the Zionist Organization of America. The ZOA recently lost its tax-exempt status after failing to file tax returns for three consecutive years from 2008 to 2010. A Washington Report on Middle East Affairs January/February special report surveys ZOA's controversial history, including heavy use of tax-deductible funding for undisclosed lobbying activities and questionable executive compensation policies. ZOA tax returns recently provided to IRmep by the IRS reveal that in 2007 only ten donors provided 80% of ZOA's total public support. The IRS retained no records justifying why ZOA was ever granted tax-exempt status, and ZOA must submit a new application in order to regain the ability to accept tax-deductible contributions.

Recently declassified National Archives records reveal the Justice Department ordered ZOA to register as an Israeli foreign agent on seven separate occasions. The Justice Department is legally required to provide public access to all registrant records under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act. ZOA executives Zalman Shapiro and Ivan Novick operated the NUMEC Apollo Industries corporations in the 1960s. According to public records, FBI and CIA officials believed NUMEC diverted enough weapons-grade uranium to Israel to manufacture dozens of weapons.

In a separate filing, (PDF) the IRmep Center for Policy and Law Enforcement formally solicited ZOA's Justice Department filings from the Foreign Agents Registration Act section to determine whether ZOA had any overt role in the alleged diversions. The US Army Corps of Engineers currently estimates its cleanup of the NUMEC Apollo Industries toxic waste sites could cost U.S. taxpayers $250 million. A large number of wrongful death lawsuits (PDF) for toxic pollution are currently nearing jury trials in the Western District of Pennsylvania courts. Emerging information could soon be used to redirect wrongful death claims against Zalman Shapiro, the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission and ZOA for alleged activities in 1959-1967, before NUMEC was acquired.  NUMEC and the IAEC (later revealed to be a front for the Israeli nuclear weapons program) had a joint venture called ISORAD that required shipping sealed irradiators and weather equipment to Israel. An eyewitness told the FBI in 1980 (PDF) he saw Shapiro illegally shipping U.S. government-owned u-235 canisters within such equipment.

SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy