post on March 10, 2009. In 2012 ZOA lost its charitable status in the United States, having failed to provide the Internal Revenue Service with tax returns for three consecutive years. The tax-exempt status was restored by the IRS in 2013. In 2020, the ZOA supported annexation ("applying Israeli sovereignty") of parts of the West Bank. Qatar controversy In January 2018, ZOA president Mort Klein went on a paid trip to Qatar to meet with the Emir, at his invitation; he also met with a number of senior officials. The visit was strongly criticized by some supporters of Israel, and according to Mother Jones magazine, the trip coincided with a softening of the ZOA's stance regarding that country. Shortly after Klein's trip to Qatar, he expressed to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz a new attitude about dialogue with Qatar. In a subsequent March 2018 interview, Klein praised Qatar for flying an Israeli flag at a recent handball tournament and said the Emir told him that "last summer they stopped funding terrorist groups." On June 19, 2018, Mother Jones reported that Qatar had donated $100,000 to the ZOA through lobbyist Joey Allaham, who also invited former Qatari diplomat Ahmed Al-Rumaihi to ZOA's annual gala on November 17. Allaham's role in the payments to ZOA from Qatar were revealed when a judge ruled that he had to hand over his records of ties to that country. On June 21, Allaham told the Jerusalem Post that he is "proud of the work that Mort Klein has done and all the other Jewish leaders working in collaboration with the Emir and other members of the Qatari Royal Family." ZOA returned the contributions after they were found to not have come Allaham personally. Current activities The ZOA today works to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations through educational activities, by combating what it perceives as anti-Israel bias in the media, textbooks, travel guides, and on college campuses. The ZOA also sponsors educational and cultural programs in Israel. The "ZOA House" is a cultural center in Tel Aviv. The ZOA is responsible for founding the Kfar Silver school, which provides education and vocational training for new Jewish immigrants and others on a campus near Ashkelon. The ZOA's youth division sponsors one of the largest programs for sending young Jews to visit Israel. The Brandeis Award is given annually to a prominent national or international figure. Recipients include Miriam Adelson, Joseph