(JNS.org) The admission of a policy violation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in which it flagged conservative political groups who used the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status for extra reviews during the 2012 election, has brought to light a similar episode involving a pro-Israel group. Z Street in 2010 filed a lawsuit against the IRS alleging that the group was told by an IRS agent that its tax-exempt application would receive “additional scrutiny” because Z Street is “connected to Israel.” The agent also told Z Street that the applications of other “Israel-related organizations” were assigned to a “special unit” in the Washington, D.C. office of the IRS to determine “whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies,” Lori Lowenthal Marcus, president and founder of the pro-Israel group Z Street wrote in The Jewish Press. The first hearing in this case, IRS v. Z Street is scheduled for July 2 in Federal District Court in Washington.