Hamas terror tunnels were built with your money
I have a great money-saving idea.
Americans want to reign in their government’s spending.
So I have a proposal.
Stop sending money to terrorists.
Earlier this week I was back inside Gaza with the Israeli Defense Forces. This time I went in on foot through the Eretz crossing where Hamas forces attacked on the morning of October 7th, killing several soldiers and abducting others. The scenes of the intensive fighting are visible everywhere.
But our destination was inside the strip. Specifically, a vast tunnel entrance the Israelis had just uncovered only 400 meters from the Israeli border. It is part of the huge underground network built by Hamas in the last 16 years.
And this one is a real spectacle. The project to build it was led by Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who planned the October 7th massacres. Indeed there is footage of Yahya Sinwar riding through this exact tunnel.
It is an incredibly sophisticated system, as I saw when I went deep down into the tunnel. It is more like a subway system than a rat run. Although plenty of rats came this way.
So why do I say that American taxpayers can save money here?
Because our tax dollars helped build this system. It is American, European, and other taxpayer dollars that went into building this terrorist infrastructure.
In 2006, Hamas won the elections that were foolishly held in Gaza. They then carried out a bloody coup against their opponents.
Specifically, they targeted members of rival Palestinian groups like Fatah — throwing them off buildings and shooting them in the back, before dragging their corpses through the streets. That ensured that Hamas never had another election but has continued in power in Gaza up to this day.
Of course, billions of dollars have been given to them since that time. From a bewildering array of countries. All of whom seem to have thought that they were somehow helping the Palestinians in Gaza. Well, we weren’t.
All of this money was used by Hamas leaders to buy themselves luxury condos in Qatar and other foreign climes. Inside Gaza, almost none of this money went to help Palestinians in Gaza. Rather Hamas used the funds they didn’t pilfer to build this underground terror network which comes out in hospitals, mosques, and other places that the international community regards as sacred, but which Hamas does not.
And why do I say “we”? Because American taxpayers are among the people who were fooled into sending money to these terrorists.
Since 2007, the US has sent over $400 million in taxpayers’ money to Gaza. That is all after the coup where Hamas seized power. These are the official figures released by USAID (United States Agency for International Development. USAID also says that it has paid more than $500 million between 2021 and the end of this year.
That money may also have gone to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. And I can tell you from traveling there many times that I know where our taxpayer dollars went too. They went to the equally corrupt officials of Fatah who built themselves mansions that would cause envy to many homeowners in the Hamptons.
And even that isn’t the end of it. Because the US is also foolish enough to continue to fund the UN agency UNRWA. This is one of the most corrupt entities even at the UN. Which is saying something. And in 2021 alone the US was UNRWA’s largest single donor, shoveling an astonishing $338 million.
Other countries have also been taken for mugs.
The EU is spending more than $100 million in Gaza this year. But even the EU countries don’t give as much money to UNRWA as America does. The US is far and away the biggest donor. The next biggest is Germany with a mere $176 million going annually to the organization. In total, US agencies have funneled billions of dollars to Gaza in recent years. And all of this money has gone not to improving the lives of Palestinians, but to building palaces for Hamas and tunnels for their weaponry and terrorists.
Hamas officials have even said that they regard the tunnels as being for their terrorists. The rest of the world is meant to look after the actual civilians themselves.
I beg to differ. And I also beg American officials to wise up. Our taxpayer dollars have gone to a terrorist group every year since 2007. And now we know what we have got for it. An attack on our allies in Israel.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/21/opinion/hamas-terror-tunnels-were-built-with-your-money/
