Israel war: Biden Cash to Iran and Gaza Under Congressional Scrutiny After Hamas attack
- October 9, 2023
Gabe Kaminsky, Washington Examiner
EXCLUSIVE — Members of Congress are raising concerns over how the Biden administration released aid to Iran and Gaza before the terror group Hamas launched a deadly attack against the Jewish state of Israel.
The $6 billion the U.S. government agreed to transfer on Sept. 11 to Iran in exchange for American prisoners and hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian aid under President Joe Biden are being scrutinized by congressional Republicans days after the Israel-Gaza conflict began. At least 900 people in Israel have been killed, while the death poll is expected to climb, and Hamas warned Monday it plans to broadcast executions of Israeli hostages if Gaza continues to be hit with airstrikes.
Meanwhile, members of Congress are also eyeing how the Biden administration has delivered large sums in Palestinian aid, despite the Trump administration cutting such funding. Internal documents obtained by the watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust show that in 2021, the State Department privately expressed concerns over delivering funds to the Palestinian Authority, which controls Gaza territories and gives money to terrorists and their families, over the “high risk” of Hamas deriving “indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza.”
Still, the Biden administration restarted aid to Gaza, including $235 million in 2021, purportedly for economic and development assistance. However, in a 2022 nonpublic report to Congress, the State Department said the Palestinian government has “continued payments to Palestinian prisoners who had committed acts of terrorism, as well as the families of so-called ‘martyrs’ who died while committing acts of terrorism,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.