Biden Admin Dismissed Concerns About Millions In Palestinian Aid Potentially Being Used For Terrorism: REPORT
- August 16, 2023
The State Department went ahead with plans to provide millions in aid to Palestinians, despite knowing there was a “high risk” that funding would be used for the terrorist group Hamas, according to a Freedom of Information Act request obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The Trump administration halted funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestinian government, in 2018, arguing that the funding was often used by Hamas to fund terrorist attacks against Israel, according to Reuters. In 2021, however, the Biden administration restarted the funding after requesting an exemption from the Treasury Department that would allow the State Department to grant over $85 million in aid, despite admitting that there was a very
“high risk” that the money would fall into the hands of terrorists, according to the FOIA
documents obtained by the Free Beacon.
Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, who requested the documents, told the Free Beacon that the records appeared to show the administration looking for ways to override “bipartisan effort to prevent American taxpayer dollars from funding terrorists and rewarding terrorism.”
“But here it appears State Department officials were trying to get around the law’s restrictions and send resources in a manner that even they thought was likely to result in funds ending up in the hands of a group designated as a terrorist organization,” Chamberlain said.