EXCLUSIVE: A pro-Palestinian media outlet linked to Hamas is facing scrutiny from three separate House committees over a joint memo urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday accusing The Palestine Chronicle and the nonprofit that runs it of violating several laws.
“We are writing to urge you to investigate The Palestine Chronicle and the People Media Project for violating the law, particularly for providing material support to a known terrorist organization in violation of 18 USC § 2339B, for filing a false tax return in violation of 26 USC § 7206, and for failing to file a valid tax return and pay estimated taxes in violation of 26 USC § 7203,” the letter said.
House Republican calls for action against US non-profit whose journalist took Israeli hostages in his Gaza home
House Committee Chairs Jason Smith, James Comer and Virginia Foxx are launching a joint investigation into The Palestine Chronicle. (Fake Images)
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the discovery of several Israeli hostages taken in Gaza by Hamas during the October 7 terror attack was at the home of Abdallah Aljamal. Aljamal was a contributor to several media outlets, including The Palestine Chronicle, and was a spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Labor. He was killed by the IDF during an operation to rescue the hostages.
“During his time as a 'journalist,' Mr. Aljamal was listed as a 'correspondent' on The Palestine Chronicle's website, but the publication later changed the description to 'contributor' after news of him holding innocent Israeli hostages spread around the world,” the lawmakers' letter said.
The Republicans also accused The Palestine Chronicle and the People Media Project of having ties to Iran, writing that the outlet’s founder and editor-in-chief, Ramzy Baroud, “has also written for Kayhan International, an outlet that is reportedly funded by Iran’s supreme leader. Notably, Kayhan International has had six of its published writers appear on state-controlled sites that were previously seized in 2020 by the U.S. government after discovering that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps illegally used them to promote a covert global influence campaign.”
ISRAEL DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM AL JAZEERA ON WHY A 'HAMAS TERRORIST' WAS ALLEGEDLY WORKING AS A REPORTER
Almog Meir Jan, a freed hostage, reacts after the military said Israeli forces rescued four hostages alive from the central Gaza Strip on June 8, 2024. He was held by a contributor to The Palestine Chronicle. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)
The lawmakers pointed to a federal statute that states that anyone under U.S. jurisdiction who provides “material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or life.”
“[B]”Based on the available facts, The Palestine Chronicle and People Media Project appear to be, at the very least, complicit in supporting Hamas and, at worst, financiers of terrorism,” the letter said.
Finally, they accuse People Media Project of deliberately misrepresenting its finances on tax forms, arguing that the Justice Department would be “negligent” if it did not investigate alleged discrepancies in the group's income in recent years.
“I am deeply concerned that an organization that enjoys tax-exempt status in the United States has not only hired a journalist who worked with Hamas to hold innocent Israelis hostage, but has also chosen an editor-in-chief who appears to have ties to Iran and potentially its terrorist financing network,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “Any individual or organization that attempts to manipulate our tax code to encourage terrorism must be punished.”
BIDEN TALKS TO NETANYAHU ABOUT HAMAS' LATEST CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL
Smith's Ways and Means Committee opened a separate investigation into the outlet and related nonprofit last month and demanded that the IRS revoke People Media Project's tax-exempt status.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
As of Monday, the nonprofit was also sued by Almog Meir Jan, one of the Israeli hostages reportedly being held at Aljamal's home.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Justice Department and The Palestine Chronicle for comment.
Fox News Digital's Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
