Iran is the biggest financial supporter of Hamas, but U.S. taxpayer money could potentially be going to the terrorist group as well. According to an analysis of some United Nation funds being sent into Gaza, there is a distinct possibility that some U.S. funding could be going to Hamas.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is a relief fund that provides support and protection to Palestinian refugees.
The UNRWA receives contributions every year from partnering U.N. countries, and the United States was the top donor in 2021, donating $338.4 million, and 2022, donating $343.9 million.
This year, the U.S. is again outpacing other countries by $206.8 million worth of donations.
According to the UNRWA’s donation disclosures, the Biden administration has given over $900 million to the Palestinian refugee agency, and as part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, $33 million of COVID-19 relief fund money was also given to UNRWA.
According to Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, 38% of UNRWA money is spent in Gaza.
Goldberg said over the past three years, nearly $1 billion has come from the U.S., and $350 million of that is going directly to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Opposite of Biden, the Trump administration stopped funding the UNRWA in August 2018. The administration called it an “irredeemably flawed operation,” and gave no donations at all in 2019 and 2020.
In 2021, before the Biden administration resumed its donations, the State Department warned that the money could end up funding terrorist groups such as Hamas.
“We assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza,” a State Department memo said.
The United Nations does not allow terrorist groups to receive any financial support. ISIS and Al-Qaida are sanctioned and cut off from receiving assistance. However, the U.N. does not classify Hamas or Hezbollah as “terrorist organizations.”
While the U.S. does consider Hamas a terror group, the U.N. is still in control of where the money donations from UNRWA go.
UNRWA released a statement following the latest installment of over $150 million in U.S. money.
To us, this is a sign of trust and a trait of good donorship that we encourage other partners to follow.
UNRWA statement
“By providing UNRWA flexibility in how it utilizes U.S. funding, the U.S. also gives the Agency the means to prioritize spending where it is most needed, helping us address the Agency’s ongoing financial challenges,” the statement says. “To us, this is a sign of trust and a trait of good donorship that we encourage other partners to follow.”
The UNRWA has been heavily criticized in recent years. The U.N. Watch, a human rights organization monitoring the performance of the U.N., said the Palestinian refugee agency employs educators who “regularly call to murder Jews,” “glori[fy] terrorism” and “incit[e] antisemitism.”
On Monday, Oct. 16, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told the Daily Mail that in order to stop the money from reaching Hamas in Gaza, the U.N. needs to formally classify Hamas as a terror group.
We must always take a side when it comes to good versus evil and we will never stop calling out the shameful anti-Israel bias at the U.N.
Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
“It should be easy to condemn a bloodthirsty organization that kills babies, rapes women and burns whole families, yet the U.N. still refuses to call Hamas what they are — terrorists,” Haley said. “We must always take a side when it comes to good versus evil and we will never stop calling out the shameful anti-Israel bias at the U.N.”
In 2018, Haley introduced a resolution at the U.N. that would have designated Hamas as a terror organization. Only the U.S. backed the motion, and the resolution failed.
