US House passes bill targeting charities and pro-Palestine groups

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would target non-profit organizations the Treasury Department deems to be supporting pro-Palestine groups. 

HR 9495, the so-called Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act was passed by the House by a vote of 219-184 on Thursday.

Fifteen Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and a lone Republican voted against it.

The bill would grant the Treasury Department the power to revoke the tax-exempt status of any non-profit supporting pro-Palestine groups.

A bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans introduced the legislation in two parts.

The first part would provide tax-exempt status and relief for American hostages being held abroad.

The second part would give the US Treasury Secretary the authority to issue notices to organizations to label them "terrorist" supporting groups.

The US law gives the Treasury Department the power to issue these designations without explaining its reasons.

The bill now heads to the Senate, which could fail to pass with the Democrats enjoying a thin majority.

However, if it does fail, the bill could return in 2025 under Donald Trump's Republican presidency, when the Senate and the House both would have a Republican majority.

Civil liberties groups straight away condemned the legislation, warning that it could be used to target pro-Palestinian groups in the United States as well as any groups working to facilitate aid into Gaza.

Israeli forces have been overseeing a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 2023.

“By voting for HR 9495 today, the House of Representatives chose fear over freedom,” Kia Hamadanchy, senior federal policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement shared with Middle East Eye.

"After over 100 years of defending civil liberties in this country, we know that the American people won’t sit quietly as politicians try to ram through anti-democratic legislation like this one."

A coalition of more than 300 civil liberties groups has signed a letter urging lawmakers against passing the bill. They say it would "grant the executive branch extraordinary power to investigate, harass, and effectively dismantle any nonprofit organization—including news outlets, universities, and civil liberties organizations like ours."

ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant for war crimes

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant.

Israel unleashed its bloody Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 104,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel faces an ongoing South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir

www.presstv.co.uk