Hillary’s millions will fund Hamas

Earlier this month, Hillary Clinton announced an additional $150 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority.  Caroline Glick has written an extensive piece about everything that’s wrong with that plan (hat tip to Israel Matzav and to all who sent this in).  Of particular interest is her analysis of how the aid ends up in the pockets of Hamas:

…The simple truth is that it is impossible to prevent US budgetary assistance to the PA from financing Hamas, in contravention of US law. Each month Fayyad transfers funds to Hamas-controlled Gaza to pay the salaries of PA employees there. Fayyad has argued that this assistance cannot be considered material aid to Hamas, since the employees are employed by the PA. But this is nonsense.

These employees serve at the pleasure of Hamas. Paying their salaries contravenes US law as well as international law, which prohibits states from providing any assistance whatsoever to areas controlled by terrorists. This is true even if the actual money he transfers to Gaza comes from other income sources. Without the direct US budgetary assistance, he wouldn’t be able to funnel money to Gaza.

PROVIDING DIRECT budgetary assistance to Fayyad isn’t the only way the US finances Hamas. It also contributes to Hamas by funding UNRWA. US assistance to UNRWA has doubled in the last four years, largely as a way of avoiding providing direct aid to Hamas. Yet the CRS report notes, “In Gaza, most observers acknowledge that the role of UNRWA in providing basic services (i.e., food, health care, education) takes much of the governing burden off Hamas.”

In defending its assistance to UNRWA, the State Department told Congress that the aid “directly contributes to the US strategic interest of meeting the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians, while promoting their self-sufficiency. UNRWA plays a stabilizing role in the Middle East through its assistance programs, serving as an important counterweight to extremists.”

But the fact of the matter is that UNRWA employees are Hamas members and sympathizers. And despite the State Department’s claim that it has adopted safeguards to ensure that US assistance is not transferred to individuals and groups with links to Hamas and other terror groups, UNRWA’s checks against terrorism are restricted to checking a UN list of banned terror groups that includes only al-Qaida and the Taliban. As the CRS report noted, UNRWA’s terror screening list “does not include Hamas, Hizbullah or most other militant groups that operate in UNRWA’s surroundings.” In other words, UNRWA continues to employ terrorists, and its current procedures do nothing to prevent that.

A Framework of Cooperation agreement signed this year between UNRWA and the US sets out 15 steps for UNRWA to expand its terror screening. But the agreement is nonbinding. Moreover, its provisions in no way block terror-linked individuals or groups from receiving aid from UNRWA.

In truth, given the PA’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist or take sustained, decisive action against terrorism, there is really no way for the US to continue funding it without breaking its own laws…

Excellent points, Ms. Glick!  The same could also be said for U.S. efforts to encourage “moderate” Taliban to quit the Taliban by paying them money.  Apparently, terrorist financing is illegal unless it’s sponsored by the State Department.