The Zionist Organization of American (ZOA) has had its tax-exempt status reinstated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the organization announced Monday.
The ZOA, which was founded in 1897, is one of the oldest Zionist organizations in the world. It lost its tax-exempt status in early 2011 after it failed to provide the IRS with tax filings for three consecutive years.
Despite the IRS holdup, ZOA said it did not let the issue interfere with its work.
“The work of the ZOA has never been altered or diminished one iota during this period. Our campus work; our Title VI efforts; our Capitol Hill work; our writings, lectures, TV and radio appearances have continued as always,” ZOA President Morton Klein said in a statement.
Although ZOA’s loss of tax-exempt status and its reinstatement were unrelated to the ongoing national controversy over the treatment of conservative groups at the IRS, that controversy has extended to the Jewish community in another way. A 2010 lawsuit by the pro-Israel group Z Street alleges the IRS singled out the group for extra review when it applied for tax-exempt status, and the first hearing in that case is set for July 2 in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.
