Posted on 09/06/2024 7:21:30 AM PDT by SJackson
What does USAID and its overbearing director Samantha Power have to hide?
The Biden administration has been pumping huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This aid is being sent behind the scenes; the amounts are not made public. Congress did not give its approval for such amounts of aid, so much of which — as everyone now knows — ends up with Hamas, that routinely steals aid meant for all the people in Gaza. Now the USAID Agency is being investigated for its role in delivering such aid, but instead of handing over records requested by a government watchdog group, the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) about the huge amounts of American aid going to Gaza (and therefore, in significant amounts, to Hamas), the USAID is stonewalling, and refusing to hand over documents requested by the investigators. More on this stonewalling can be found here: “Biden-Harris Admin Sued for Stonewalling Gazan Aid Probe,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, August 27, 2024:
The Biden-Harris administration is being sued in federal court for obstructing an investigation into its behind-the-scenes efforts to inject unprecedented amounts of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and pressure Israel to end its war against Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a government watchdog group, sued the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Tuesday for failing to hand over reams of internal documents about its diplomatic campaign to pump aid into the embattled Gaza Strip—goods that have been stolen by Hamas and used to prolong its terror campaign. The agency stonewalled the probe for nearly half a year, resulting in the lawsuit.
The documents are key to understanding how USAID and its director, Samantha Power, conducted a diplomatic campaign meant to inject millions of dollars in aid into the Gaza Strip through organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which employed scores of Hamas militants, including those who participated in the Oct. 7 terror spree.
One would like to speak truth to Power, the director of USAID, who has long exhibited a deep animus toward the Jewish state. Under her direction, USAID has conducted a campaign to persuade other state actors to donate to UNRWA, despite the stunning information that at least nine UNRWA employees took part in the Hamas atrocities on October 7, at least 100 UNRWA employees are members of Hamas, and 10% of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza have close ties to Hamas. This information has had not the slightest effect on her enthusiasm as a fundraiser for UNRWA, directing hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to the group, and urging other governments to do likewise.
Power traveled to the Jewish state in February and publicly pressured Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “improve compliance with international humanitarian law,” suggesting the Jewish state was intentionally targeting civilian populations and trying to starve innocent Gazans. Those claims, amplified by outside advocacy groups critical of Israel’s war effort, anchored months of Biden-Harris administration pressure on Israel to end the conflict through a ceasefire….
Her claim — that Israel must “improve compliance with international humanitarian law” — was both unnecessary and insulting. Israel has facilitated the entry of hundreds of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza. 40,000 tons of that aid came from Israel itself. It has built nine field hospitals in Gaza. It has done everything it can to minimize civilian casualties, through its elaborate system of warning Gazans to move away from areas, and buildings, about to be targeted. Already by March, the IDF had dropped nine million leaflets, sent sixteen million text messages, and made fifteen million robocalls, all to warn Gazans to move out of harm’s way. No other army in the history of warfare has done that. No wonder that British Colonel Richard Kemp has called the IDF “the most moral army in the world,” and West Point professor of urban warfare John Spencer said that that “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history — above & beyond what international law requires.” Someone should speak the truth to Power about these judgements. And while they are at it, they should let Power know that the ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths in Gaza is approximately 1:1. That statistic needs to be understood: the UN itself has said that in all of the wars fought since 1945, the average ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths has been 9:1. In Afghanistan, the Americans brought that number down to 4:1, and in Iraq, to 3:1. But no other army has come close to the 1:1 ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths that Israel has achieved in Gaza.
What does USAID, and its unpleasant, overbearing director, Samantha Power, have to hide? Why can’t they supply the records that under the law, they must produce? Why have they not handed over even a single document? Why is the Agency, why is Ms. Power, violating the law, and why hasn’t there been any outrage expressed by Congress — or in the media — on this incredible, inexplicable, stonewalling? There are many things the Biden-Harris administration has to answer for in their inept and dangerous Middle East policy. This is not the least of them.
Why are we supporting Muslim Terrorists with U.S. taxpayer dollars?
Equality?
reason.com reported the Biden State Department announced this week
<><>over $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel,
<><>including fighter jets, armored vehicles, and ammunition.
<><>Just days before, Biden removed several major barriers to arming the Israeli military
<><>releasing $3.5 billion in U.S. taxpayer money for the Israeli military,
<><>unfroze a $262 million munition shipment that had been held up since May,
<><>and will not restrict US aid to an Israeli army unit accused of beating an American to death.
Biden came into office promising to end “forever wars” in the Middle East. He pulled U.S. forces out of Afghanistan and oversaw a truce in the Yemeni civil war. Over the past year, however, Biden has reopened the war in Yemen and overseen the deadliest explosion of Israeli-Palestinian violence in history. His legacy may be ensuring that American weapons continue to fuel these conflicts after he leaves office.
For years, the United States supported the Saudi military in Yemen with aerial refueling, intelligence sharing, and a steady supply of ammunition—everything but dropping the bombs themselves. The war killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, spread famine and disease, and failed to dislodge the Houthi movement from power.
In February 2021, Biden announced that he was “ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arm sales,” although he would continue to provide “defensive” support. In April 2022, the United Nations successfully brokered a ceasefire between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis that has held up so far.
But after a series of Houthi attacks on Israeli and foreign shipping in the Red Sea, the Biden administration launched the first direct U.S. strikes on Houthi forces—and the first airstrikes by anyone on Yemen in more than a year—in January this year.
The Saudi government has not stopped pushing for U.S. military support. This week, they got their wish, with Biden approving a sale of 3,000 Small Diameter Bombs and 7,500 Paveway IV bombs over the next few months. Biden administration officials have said that shipments would not affect the Saudi-Houthi truce and hinted that they were meant to signal tighter U.S.-Saudi military cooperation in the future, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Biden has been a much more consistent supporter of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza following the October 7 attacks on Israel. Although he has verbally called for a ceasefire and held up a single shipment of bombs to the Israeli military, Biden has also worked to remove legal roadblocks and conceal the full amount of U.S. military support to Israel, including sending dozens of small shipments just below the threshold that would require congressional approval.
Most of the Israeli military spending bonanza announced over the past few days is not intended for use in Gaza. The largest portion of this expenditure is an $18.82 billion deal for F-15 fighter jets and related accessories, with deliveries scheduled for 2029.
The $262 million munition shipment, however, is immediately useful for the Israeli military. It includes
<><>6,500 joint direct attack munition (JDAM) kits
<><>and a GPS guidance system for aerial bombs.
Biden had held up the JDAM sale after the Israeli army invaded Rafah, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
On Saturday, the Israeli military bombed a school and mosque with at least one American-made guided bomb, killing 93 people at dawn prayers. Israel claims that the attack killed 31 militants; the nonprofit Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and Al Jazeera report that several of the “militants” on Israel’s list were either people who had died several days before or had no Hamas ties.
Last month, Israeli forces dropped eight 2,000-pound bombs with JDAM kits on a tent city, killing Hamas commander Mohammad Deif along with 90 bystanders.
In addition to freeing up more money and munitions, the Biden administration moved to lift restrictions on how Israel can use this aid. A rule known as the Leahy Law forbids U.S. military aid from going to human rights abusers. In April 2024, the U.S. State Department announced a Leahy investigation into Israel’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion.
Netzah Yehuda had been accused of abusing Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including Palestinian-American retiree Omar Assad, who died in their custody in January 2022. No soldiers were charged in connection with Assad’s death. In October 2021, Israeli police arrested four Netzah Yehuda troops for sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee; one soldier pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months in prison.
The Israeli government opposed any kind of “sanctions” on soldiers who are “fighting terrorist monsters.” So did Republicans in Congress. Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) called the investigation “an effort by President Biden to appease Israel’s enemies, including the antisemitic mobs terrorizing college campuses across America.”
On Friday, the State Department said that Israel had “effectively remediated” the problems with Netzah Yehuda by giving the troops a “two-week educational seminar.” The unit is now free to continue receiving weapons paid for by the American taxpayer.
All foreign aid has the potential for another description...
Money laundering.
With the Biden administration, it is a near certainty.
Reminds one of an old saying.....”As empty as a politician’s promise”.
The reconstruction and rehabilitation of the West bBank is already planned and in the files. waiting for Hamas to be totally dead.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have been tasked by the Abraham Accords with the task of administering the reconstruction of the new protectorate replacing Palestine.
The two will pledge lots of money and will go elsewhere to find all the money that is needed.
The American efforts noted in this thread are trial balloons by the failed Obama Legacy saviors. If the Abraham Accord coalition prevails, the Obama, ie Black, presidential legacy is shot to hell, over, fini.
Whoever was receiving food from USAID and other groups, it wasn’t the Jewish hostages held by Hamas and murdered to prevent their rescue by the IDF.
One of the dead hostages, a young woman, weighed only 79 pounds when her body was recovered during the failed rescue.
Her??? Why isn’t she in jail for all the illegitimate unmasking done by use of her account?
This means that any american citizen (including an AMerican Presidential Administration) giving Gaza material aid or comfort items (i.e. food) that they know will more likely than not end up in the hands of Hamas (foregone conclusion, because Hamas is the actual govt. of Gaza) is eligible for charges of TREASON.
A Pier Too Far
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