It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we hadPhiladelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it." ~ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1787
The following is an excerpt from OpenTheBooks Substack by Adam Andrzejewski.
U.S. Mideast peace negotiators felt that freezing aid to Palestinians was disrespectful. But as soon as Biden opened the spigot, Hamas launched thousands of rockets from Gaza at Israel.
TOPLINE:
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that the Biden Administration spent more than $1 billion from U.S. taxpayers on “aid” to Palestinians. It proposes sending another $260 million in its FY2024 budget request, but that funding is not yet approved by Congress.
Here’s how the Biden Administration allotted U.S. taxpayer Palestinian-aid through the United Nations: $318.4 million (2021), $363.9 million (2022), and $371 million (2023).
Biden’s spending binge is a sharp reversal from President Donald Trump’s August 2018 freeze. Biden started pouring taxpayer dollars into Gaza and the West Bank in April 2021.
BACKGROUND:
U.S. taxpayers have sent nearly $8 billion to assist Palestinian refugees living in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon since 1950. Most of these funds have gone through the United Nations (UN).
This humanitarian funding has been sent in the finest tradition of American generosity, but much of its use is now widely understood to have promoted the culture of Jew hate upon which Hamas, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the beleaguered Palestinian Authority (PA) rely.
2016: The Obama Administration, in 2016, sent $359 million. It was only $39 million less than the all-time high of $398.7 million in 2014.
2018: President Trump saw things quite differently. Disgusted by the diversion of U.S. taxpayer dollars into Hamas, PLO, and PA agendas, leaving needy Palestinians bereft, as well as the fungibility of our support possibly into rocket and arms-trading, he zeroed out the folks who refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Trump cut Palestinian aid to zero. That had never been tried during the previous 71 years of subsidizing Palestinians.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), itself a longtime terror impresario, howled. The PLO said U.S. taxpayers had violated an obligation to fund them and their hatred of every Jew on earth.
2021: Three months after taking office, in April 2021, President Biden sided with the PLO, the PA and Hamas. He restarted aid.
Within weeks, Hamas rockets were raining down on Israelis. The region had begun the war we now see at full force.
Even a May 14, 2021, Associated Press (AP) headline seemed to conflate the events, “U.S. sending new aid to Palestinians as conflict intensifies.”
TROUBLING INTEL: In 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken even acknowledged that it’s possible the Palestinians could use U.S. aid to restock Hamas’ arsenal of hate.
“We’re going to be working in partnership with the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to kind of channel aid there in a manner that does its best to go to the people of Gaza. I’m also sure that the government of Egypt will have some role in that."
"As we’ve seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees, but we’re going to do everything that we can to ensure that this assistance reaches the people who need it the most.”
SUMMARY: Here is a quick summary of U.S.-Palestinian aid…
April 2021: Biden announced a $115 million Palestinian-aid package – including $40 million from FY2016 and FY2017 funding and $75 million from FY2020.
Then, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $110 million in new economic assistance to Palestinians including $5.5 million in immediate relief to Gaza.
The Trump Administration froze or reprogrammed aid previously appropriated between 2018 and 2021.
One catalyst for cutting funding was the PA/PLO policy of paying pensions to families of dead terrorists – money for their “martyrs.” In March 2017, The Wall Street Journalcalled this practice, “pay for slay” and said “U.S. aid was a transfer payment for terrorists.”
Since 1950, U.S. taxpayers have sent nearly $8 billion through the UN to the Palestinian refugees using the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East(UNRWA).
IMPORTANT TIMELINE:
The U.S. has been UNRWA’s largest single funder, providing almost one-third of its budget. Created to help the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA today subsidizes over five million Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
OpenTheBooks.com auditors found that the UNRWA received more funds from the Obama Administration than any other administration.
Congress and President Obama provided UNRWA some $398.7 million in 2014 and $390.5 million in 2015. Funding for 2016 and 2017 hovered around $359 million a year.
In the first fiscal year of the Trump Administration, the subsidies fell to $65 million. And then it went to zero. (Continued...)
$100 Million For Hamas Will Incentivize More Attacks On Israel
Richard Manning
A terrorist group killed 32 Americans (less two) and still holds at least 10 Americans as hostages after a military attack on civilian homes and a musical festival, which left 1400 Israelis dead.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s response is to reward the terrorists and their allies with $100 million in aid from U.S. taxpayers with few strings attached.
If I have to explain why this is dangerous and morally reprehensible, I’m astonished that you could read this statement.
Does Hamas have to return the hostages? Nope.
This isn’t negotiating with terrorists. This is funding them under the guise of “humanitarian assistance.”
The same Hamas responsible for the governance of Gaza released videos of the carnage, complete with beheadings and parading of a broken, dead woman through the streets of Gaza City.
That same Hamas also used cement intended for ‘humanitarian’ aid building of hospitals and infrastructure to build an extensive terrorist tunnel structure to aid their war against Israel in the past.
And that same Hamas released videos showing them digging up pipes laid to deliver water to the people of Gaza and turning those pipes into missiles aimed at civilians in Israel.
Congress must stop this idiocy and only authorize money that goes directly to Israel’s defense.
To continue funding Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is to fund terrorism aimed at Israel and the rest of the civilized world.
Joe Biden might not understand this simple truth, but Congress must.
No money for terrorists.
More than forty years after Camp David and subsequent land-for-peace deals by Israel, there is no pretending that those who would drive Israel into the Mediterranean, exterminating seven million Jews in the process, cannot be appeased.
It is time to stop giving them the money to terrorize Israel and the world.
