President Joe Biden released his proposed budget Thursday for the 2024 fiscal year requesting an additional $40 million in “critical assistance” to the Palestinian people, despite concerns raised by members of Congress regarding how the funding may be used for terrorism.
Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 requested $219 million in funding for efforts to improve the situation in the West Bank in Gaza for Palestinians. The President’s new budget is looking to increase the aid by $40 million for the upcoming year to $259 million, while Republicans have argued that recent reports have shown U.S. funding has been exploited by Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel in the past. (RELATED: Biden’s State Department Sent $38,000 To A Group Looking To Remove Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu From Office)
“As part of the Administration’s commitment to advancing security, prosperity, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians, the Budget also requests $259 million for critical assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as across the region, in support of a two-state solution with Israel,” the budget read.
Members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement, parade in Gaza City on June 7, 2021. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)
The budget claims to reaffirm its commitment to Israel by putting aside $3.3 billion for the U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding, a 14-year agreement between the two countries pledging U.S. aid to Israel for self-defense purposes. Despite this, multiple investigations have found that the State Department, USAID and U.S. funding through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have provided financial assistance to anti-Israel organizations; several with ties to terrorism.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas called out Biden and Democrats for their “special scorn” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while also introducing a bill to reinforce the “Taylor Force Act” prohibiting U.S. funding from going to the Palestinian Authority, known for its “Pay to Slay” program that rewards terrorists. Similarly, Republican Rep. Chip Roy also introduced legislation in February to pause funding to UNRWA until accountability measures could be put in place after reports discovered that tunnels for the terrorist group Hamas had been made underneath U.S.-funded Palestinian schools.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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