US Senator Tom Cotton has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Palestine Youth Movement (PYM) over what he suggested were funding sources that violate the US tax code.
Cotton shared the letter to his X/Twitter account last week, alongside a caption that read: “An organization that supports terrorists, breaks US law, and promotes antisemitism shouldn’t benefit from the US tax code.”
The PYM is a youth activist organization that supports and participates in anti-Israel activities. In 2024, the Israeli government said that the PYM was closely associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated as a terrorist organization in the US. Moreover, it said that the PYM organizes events with Samidoun, which is similarly banned in America.
Notably, the PYM has also praised Hamas’s October 7 massacre, releasing a joint statement with other groups saying, “Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza initiated an unprecedented liberation struggle.”
It also tweeted: “WHEN PEOPLE ARE OCCUPIED, RESISTANCE IS JUSTIFIED.”
According to Cotton, the PYM receives funding from Honor the Earth, a 501 (c)(3) charity, and claims its US-based donations are tax-deductible.
“PYM’s activities, particularly its support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas, should prevent it from receiving tax-exempt donations,” he wrote to the IRS. He added that the PYM is “clearly” operating outside the scope of the US code for tax exemptions.
At first, the PYM began soliciting donations through Honor the Earth, an “indigenous-led organization fighting to dismantle settler-colonialism, racial capitalism, white supremacy, and imperialism,” in June 2024.
According to the NGO Monitor, PYM organizer Nadya Tannous serves as Honor the Earth’s deputy director, and the PYM’s lead organizer, Lenna Zahran Nasr, serves as a board member for Honor the Earth.
'Organization that sows antisemitic discord should not benefit from US tax breaks'
“An organization that supports US law then sows antisemitic discord should not receive any benefits from the American tax system,” Cotton said.
The PYM is also set to participate in and coordinate the Detroit People’s Conference for Palestine, taking place between August 29 and August 31. The event will feature guest speakers, including two Palestinian terrorists – one of them a Fatah Tanzim operative who was released in February in return for hostages held by Hamas – and a former Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) official.
The Jerusalem Post has contacted the IRS for comment.