Ever since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas first took over the territory of the Gaza Strip in 2007, the United States has sent more than $400 million in taxpayer dollars to the region.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, documents from the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the $400 million spent over the last 14 years since 2009 has allegedly gone towards development projects. Despite USAID’s insistence that the money could only be spent on humanitarian purposes, many critics have warned that the funds could be used by Hamas to fund its acts of terrorism against Israel and the West.
The funding only accelerated once Biden took power, with the Administration spending “at least $5.5 million in Gaza” in 2021 alone on “cash assistance and health care” programs. In addition, another $90 million was donated to a United Nations (UN) organization operating in Gaza. The Biden Administration then announced in mid-2022 that another $316 million aid package would be sent to Gaza, primarily for the purpose of constructing 4G wireless networks.
All totaled, the Biden Administration plans to spend “over $500 million in programming to support the Palestinian people,” as described by USAID documents. These projects would allegedly include “wastewater management in both the West Bank and Gaza,” plus projects intended to help “vulnerable populations in the West Bank and Gaza.”
Further documents reveal that in March of 2021, Biden’s State Department drafted a sanctions exemption request regarding more funds to Gaza. The document acknowledged that “there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza,” and added that “there is less but still some risk U.S. assistance would benefit other designated groups.” But despite this, the State Department nevertheless went on to say that “notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives.”
Such funding is one of many aspects of Biden’s foreign policy that is facing renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of the weekend’s attacks, during which Hamas invaded Israel on a scale never seen before, killing over 1,200 Israelis. Biden is also facing criticism for his decision last month to unfreeze $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets, with many pointing out that Iran is a primary backer of Hamas and could have used these funds to help pay for the resources used in the attacks.