Biden Admin Can't Guarantee Taxpayer Aid Won't Enrich Hamas

As the Biden administration allocates more than $100 million in U.S. taxpayer aid to the Palestinian government and aid groups, critics are raising concerns that the State Department cannot ensure this aid won't reach the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas.

State Department officials have thus far declined to outline what mechanisms, if any, it has put in place to stop a tranche of aid money from reaching Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is responsible for initiating a deadly conflict with Israel this month. The State Department admitted this week that it could not guarantee the tranche of money will be kept from Hamas.

"As we've seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees," a senior department official said.

U.S. aid money has reached Hamas and Palestinian terrorists in the past, prompting the Trump administration to stop sending aid in 2018. One of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's first moves after taking office was to resume the aid without preconditions. That appears to be the case again as the administration commits millions more to the Gaza Strip and United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which allows Hamas to use its facilities. Multiple Republican foreign policy leaders and a top former Trump administration official described the moves as reckless. They said the State Department's first priority should be putting stringent barriers in place to ensure no aid money gets to Hamas and its affiliated militant groups.

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