OpenTheBooks.com report details a billion tax dollars sent to UN agency whose employees now implicated in Oct. 7 massacre.
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WASHINGTON — Roughly a dozen United Nations Relief and Works Agency employees were found to have participated in the October 7 massacre according to Israeli intelligence, reports that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called “highly credible.” The news has caused the U.S. and other Western nations to freeze aid to the group, while Israel has cancelled meetings with UNRWA leadership.
Back in October, OpenTheBooks.com detailed more than $1B sent to the agency by the Biden administration in just three years. It represents a sharp reversal from a then-controversial elimination of funding under President Trump.
REPORT: “BIDEN PAYS, ROCKETS FLY: ADMINISTRATION SENT $1B IN PALESTINIAN AID AFTER TRUMP’S FREEZE”​
The government watchdog group also recounted the likelihood some of the aid was being siphoned off by Hamas, while the PA and PLO had been known to pay pensions to the families of martyrs, a practice the Wall Street Journal dubbed “pay for slay.” The Trump administration effectively zeroed-out the agency’s funding over such concerns, but President Biden had since sent the numbers back toward historic highs. FY23 saw the most funding from the Biden administration at $371M, only eclipsed by FY14 and 15, when the Obama administration funded UNRWA with $398.7M and $390.5M. In total, UNRWA has received $8B in American tax dollars since 1950, with nearly half of it ($3.9B) received since 2009.
Included is a visual chart that allows readers to track the ebb and flow of U.S. tax dollars.
OpenTheBooks.com CEO Adam Andrzejewski released new comment following Monday’s revelations:
"As Hamas, a terrorist organization, siphoned resources away from the public, even Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted it was possible the money would be misused. The UN agency has taught Palestinian children with textbooks that promote antisemitism and Jihad. A freed October 7 hostage even said they were held in the attic of a UNRWA teacher. Why did it take this latest dossier and reporting to reconsider sending hundreds of millions of dollars to this agency? Even today, Secretary Blinken is hedging his comments – suggesting that UNRWA is ‘indispensable’ and claiming ‘no one else can play the role that UNRWA has been playing, certainly not in the near term.’ What would it take to stop this flow of taxpayer dollars permanently? This detailed reporting from OpenTheBooks.com allows taxpayers to follow the money and see just how much of it has gone out overseas with this horrifying fact pattern already in motion.”
A second report later in October detailed total foreign aid dollars following to Middle Eastern nations. Israel Received $6.6B mostly for defense; another 17 countries split $14B – including direct cash payments (2021-2023).
READ: MIDDLE EAST RECEIVED $21B in US FOREIGN AID UNDER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION​
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