A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee wrote to the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation last week requesting information on alleged links between Hamas and U.S.-based tax-exempt charities that they said may be providing support to the terrorist group.

Pointing to testimony provided at a hearing the committee held last year, the lawmakers raised concerns that several pro-Palestinian charities may have financial ties to Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Such charities, they noted, employ top officials previously involved in other charities such as the Holy Land Foundation and KindHearts for Charitable Development, which were shuttered by the U.S. government for providing funding to terrorists from American donors. 

“Today, it appears that members of these now-defunct charities are reorganizing and forming new U.S.-based charities that may be seeking to take advantage of well-intentioned Americans by redirecting their money to support terrorist organizations like Hamas,” the lawmakers’ letter to the Treasury and IRS reads. “We are concerned that there are U.S.-based organizations with ties to Hamas that were able to evade the anti-terrorism efforts of the IRS and gain tax-exempt status.”

The lawmakers requested a briefing from the Treasury and the IRS by Feb. 13 to assess those agencies’ current efforts to monitor, identify and investigate potential support for terrorists among U.S.-based nonprofits.

In a separate letter, the lawmakers requested information on the FBI’s monitoring of antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, as well as the FBI’s own efforts to investigate charities and groups operating on college campuses that may be providing support to terrorist organizations.

The letters were organized by Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), joined by 27 co-signers.

Co-signers include Democratic Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Republican Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Mike Kelly (R-PA), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Ron Estes (R-KS), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Kevin Hern (R-OK), Carol Miller (R-WV), Greg Murphy (R-NC), David Kustoff (R-TN), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Greg Steube (R-FL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Blake Moore (R-UT), Michelle Steel (R-CA), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Mike Carey (R-OH).