Recently, the Daily Caller News Foundation reviewed federal grants across the years and came upon a startling discovery. Apparently the US State Department spent over $80 million of U.S. taxpayers’ money on promoting human rights, democracy and peace in Palestinian territories.
Some good it did; despite this, Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, resulting in more than 1,400 civilian deaths.
The Biden administration has approved a number of grants totaling at least $81 million for several different projects throughout the Palestinian territories. That includes a September 2021 grant providing an additional $5 million to promote “civic participation and community engagement” in the West Bank and Gaza as well as a September 2022 grant for $28,386 to generate women-led public discourse towards a negotiated solution with Israel.
Other Obama-era grants have been issued since 2010 focusing on civic participation and independent democratic movements within Palestine.
In 2021, 17 GOP senators released a letter calling on the Biden administration to halt any aid payments until they could report back on how exactly these funds were being used or distributed. They also noted that payments had not just failed but had become counterproductive with money facilitating terrorist incitement and making its way into terrorists’ hands.
The State Department responded saying that assistance does not go through or directly support groups like Hamas but rather it is given to organizations who would otherwise be filled by such terror organizations – all of whom are subject to extensive vetting procedures beforehand.
Meet Khaled & Ayala. They partnered to improve olive oil quality & grow #peace between #Palestine & #Israel. https://t.co/895bbkZTEU pic.twitter.com/GK0f8uv4Vh
— USAID (@USAID) October 3, 2017
The Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep Michael McCaul voiced his concern about insufficient assurance from the White House regarding future aid going directly into terrorists’ hands without any guardrails put in place to prevent it from happening again. He stated he cannot support an additional $10 billion for humanitarian assistance without clarity on how exactly it will be used or safeguards against bad actors profiting from it.
Despite concerns raised by Republican lawmakers, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would be “providing $100 million in humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank”.
He warned if Hamas diverts or steals this assistance then they’ll demonstrate once again their lack of care for their own people ultimately ending up being useless as a practical matter.