The Zachor Legal Institute, a legal think tank in Montana focused on combating antisemitism and boycott campaigns against Israel, is calling on the IRS to review the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit group involved in fundraising for pro-Palestinian activism, claiming its fiscal sponsorship of a radical anti-Zionist organization accused of advocating for political violence may be in violation of federal law. 

In a complaint filed Wednesday morning, Marc Greendorfer, the president and co-founder of the Zachor Legal Institute, formally urged the IRS to begin an investigation of the WESPAC Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in White Plains, N.Y., over its ties to Within Our Lifetime, an extreme activist group at the forefront of anti-Israel demonstrations across New York City in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

“Through its fiscal sponsorship of Within Our Lifetime, a violent, radical and anti-Israel organization, WESPAC may have violated both the public policy doctrine and the illegality doctrine that the IRS uses to analyze and discern whether a 501(c)(3) charitable organization can maintain their tax-exempt status,” Greendorfer wrote in a letter to Michael Faulkender, the acting commissioner of the IRS, arguing that a “thorough investigation” of the matter “is warranted.”

The public policy doctrine “allows the IRS to deny or revoke tax-exempt status for organizations” that contravene “fundamental public policy,” according to Greendorfer, while the illegality doctrine affirms that charitable organizations “cannot qualify for or maintain” their tax-exempt status if they engage in activities that “violate federal, state or local law.”

WESPAC’s “purpose and activities appear to be in violation of fundamental public policy by virtue of” its fiscal sponsorship, Greendorfer explained in the letter, noting that WOL “advocates virulent forms of political violence” by calling “for the destruction of both the United States and Israel, aiming to liberate Palestine by ‘any means necessary’ and advocating for armed resistance.”

Meanwhile, WESPAC “may potentially be engaging in illegal activity under federal, state and local law,” he added, citing WOL’s “advocacy for the widespread deaths of Jewish people” as well as its “call to armed action in support of this advocacy.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, WOL, founded in 2015, “routinely expresses support for violence against Israel and calls for the abolition of Zionism.” Protesters affiliated with the group, which the ADL has characterized as perpetrating “some of the most heinous antisemitic rhetoric and incidents seen in New York City since Oct. 7,” have physically and verbally harassed Jewish New Yorkers in recent years.

“The repeated calls for violence against Jewish people and the state of Israel, and large-scale demonstrations that result in vandalism, assault and other crimes, suggest motives that are not in compliance with the policies of maintaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization,” Greendorfer said of WESPAC in his letter. “The American people deserve a comprehensive investigation into this matter.”

The new complaint is the latest in a series of legal challenges targeting WESPAC — a little-known but influential nonprofit founded in 1974 that has faced growing scrutiny in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks. The organization has long served as a fiscal sponsor to several pro-Palestinian groups that have avoided registering as nonprofits with the IRS, in a financial arrangement that critics have accused of lacking transparency.

Its reputation as the primary financial anchor for a wide range of anti-Israel groups including Students for Justice in Palestine — which has voiced support for Hamas — has also fueled calls from the ADL and leading congressional lawmakers for the IRS to pull the group’s tax-exempt status.

In addition to mounting pressure from the federal government, WESPAC has recently drawn a range of lawsuits targeting its behind-the-scenes links to disruptive anti-Israel protests. 

The legal onslaught has threatened to dismantle the group due to growing legal expenses, according to a fundraising request sent to supporters last January, even as it pulled in a record $2.4 million in revenue between September 2022 and August 2023, its most recent tax filings show.

“The threat to WESPAC’s survival is real,” the group wrote in its appeal, asking its supporters to “protect WESPAC from the precipice.” 

The group said its “work has taken on enormous significance since October 7, 2023, as the injustice of apartheid has turned to genocide in Gaza,” adding that “well-funded forces of darkness are now waging legal warfare against us.”

The organization did not respond to a request for comment regarding the new complaint filed by the Zachor Legal Foundation on Wednesday. 

“The portions of the tax code related to nonprofits were set up to allow organizations that provide education and public benefits to be able to do their work without having their income diluted by the tax man,” Greendorfer said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “However, taxpayers should not be forced to support organizations that sow public discord, fund violent protests or promote vandalism and property damage, like we saw this week when pro-Hamas rioters took over and vandalized part of the Columbia University library.”

WESPAC, he added, has “underwritten this kind of violence before. The federal government should not tolerate such activities by groups that abuse their status. We urge the IRS to investigate WESPAC for appearing to support organizations that engage in behaviors that violate the obligations of their tax status.”