The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a group of 100 rights and legal organisations have sent a letter to US House Speaker Mike Johnson and another official to condemn their pressure on the Internal Revenue Service, Al Jazeera reports.

They claim that the authorities have been pushing to illegally revoke the tax-exempt status of 15 US-based Muslim, Arab, Jewish and progressive groups “to punish criticism of the Israeli government”.

“We will continue to fight these politically motivated attacks, and we stand ready to defend any organisation targeted by their McCarthyistic tactics,” the group said.