An attorney friend here in San Antonio just sent me a copy of a lawsuit being brought against the IRS by a pro-Israel organization called Z Street.

You'll find the text of the lawsuit here.

What's interesting about this is that Z Street is alleging that the Obama Administration has put in place an IRS "Israel Special Policy" that requires an unprecedented review of organizations whose "activities are related to Israel, and that are organizations whose positions contradict the US Administration's Israeli policy."

If this is on the up-and-up, it wouldn't be a huge surprise because the current administration has thus far had less than cordial relations with the State of Israel. In fact, it's hard to remember a time when our relationship with our closest ally in the Middle East has been so icy. The UK's Telegraph newspaper provides this analysis with a heaping helping of British spin: click here.

Historically, such a "special policy" toward Israel would be a throwback to the policies of the 1950s. In the early 1960s, LBJ (whose historic ranch is situated only a few miles from where I'm sitting right now as I type this) was the first president to openly align his administration's policies with the interests of the Jewish State. His warm relationship with Israel actually went back to his days in the US Congress. LBJ's predecessor, JFK, had sold weapons to Israel, thereby breaking a longstanding arms embargo of the Jewish State; but even he did not take up the cause like LBJ did. JFK's predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, was more interested in maintaining good relations with Nasser in Egypt (and the rest of the Arab world) than he was in Israel's welfare. Here's a summary of some of this history: click here.

I'm not a lawyer, of course, but even from my limited, layman's perspective, the problem I see with the Z Street complaint is that it doesn't cite any proof for its rather extravagant claims. Do they have recordings of (or witnesses to) the alleged conversations with "Agent Gentry" of the IRS? Or any copies of emails? What about a paper trail of any kind? Is this new "Israel Special Policy" in print? If it is, they don't mention that fact in the text of the complaint.

Forward Magazine, a Jewish publication, is also having second thoughts about the Z Street action: click here.

I don't know anything about Z Street (and had never heard of it before now); but I truly hope they're not doing this as a publicity stunt. Supporters of Israel aren't doing the movement any favors if they don't keep it real.

At this point, it's too early to pass judgment one way or the other. Maybe the complaint is legit; maybe it's not. Maybe this new "Israel Special Policy" truly exists; or maybe it doesn't. Either way, the truth will eventually come out.

In the meantime ...

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,

Gary Hedrick