A spokesperson for the Biden Administration’s State Department confirmed the possibility that some of the aid being sent to the Palestinians could go to the terrorist organization Hamas, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The administration is allocating up to $100 million of American taxpayers’ money to go to the Palestinians, but has repeatedly declined to confirm if there are any safeguards in the aid package that could prevent some of the funds from going to Hamas, the terror group that is responsible for thousands of unprovoked rocket attacks on Israel in recent weeks.
An unnamed senior official with the State Department said that “as we’ve seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees,” with regards to the possibility of terrorists getting their hands on some of the funds.
The close relationship between the Palestinians and Hamas has frequently led to American aid intended for the country instead going to the terrorists, a trend which ultimately led President Donald Trump to cut off all aid to the Palestinians in 2018. After Joe Biden took over, one of the first moves by his new Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was to resume the aid without any conditions or requirements on the part of Palestine.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) called out the Biden Administration’s lack of interest in preventing this possibility, declaring that the administration “has a fundamental obligation to do whatever it can to prevent American taxpayer dollars from winding up in the bank accounts of terrorists.”
“This reinforces the imperative of Congress’ core oversight function,” Issa continued, “and I hope that the White House provides quick clarification and commits to redoubling all its efforts to ensure that American aid is never handed over to those who would use it to take other peoples’ lives.”
The issue of aid to the Palestinians has become more prominent in recent weeks, after the Palestinian terror group suddenly began attacking Israel at a rate of consistency not seen in over a decade, launching thousands of rockets into Israeli cities and forcing Israel to retaliate with calculated airstrikes against Hamas leaders. After roughly two weeks of fighting, a ceasefire was brokered by the nation of Egypt.