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"The Middle East Forum’s multi-year study of USAID and State Department spending has uncovered $164,000,000 of approved grants to radical organizations, with at least $122,000,000 million going to groups aligned with designated terrorists and their supporters," the conservative think tank wrote in its report published Feb. 4.
"Billions more of federal dollars have been given to leading American aid charities which have consistently failed to vet their terror-tied local partners, and show little interest in improving their practices, to the apparent indifference of the federal government."
The report specifically looks at funds from USAID and the State Department that ended up supporting radical groups and organizations connected to terrorism.
The think tank reported that USAID provided more than $900,000 to a "Gaza-based terror charity" called Bayader Association for Environment and Development. The funding started in 2016, with the latest allocation just days before the Hamassholes attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Bayader describes itself as an NGO working "to build a civil society" in the Gaza Strip.
"Founded in 2007, shortly after Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, Bayader operates in close cooperation with the Hamas regime. Its 2021 annual report notes ‘coordination’ and ‘meetings’ with Hamas’s Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture," the report found.
The funds were channeled through other NGOs like Catholic Relief Services and medical groups.
"But USAID coordinates directly with Bayader as well," according to the report. "USAID officials have praised Bayader’s work on social media, and even visited Bayader’s offices, where one senior USAID official, Jonathan Kamin, received an award from the terror-linked charity."
The report also discovered that USAID approved a $12.5 million grant in 2024 to the American Near East Refugee Agency, a "long-standing partner" of Bayader. This agency was established in 1968 to aid refugees after the Arab-Israeli War.
It was found that employees of this NGO have publicly shared "violent ideas" like calling on God to "erase the Jews," supporting "brave prisoners" in Israeli jails during the Hamas-Israel conflict, and describing Oct. 7, 2023, as a "beautiful morning" without apparent reprimand from higher-ups.
Sam Westrop, the director of the Middle East Forum's Islamist Watch, highlighted these findings on X, calling them "horrifying."
"USAID won't even tell us how much they gave the Unlimited Friends Association, a Gaza terror charity which operates with help from Hamas. The head of the charity promises to ‘cleanse’ their land of ‘impure Jews,’" Westrop posted.
"USAID gave millions to Islamic Relief, whose Gaza branch openly works with senior terrorist officials in Gaza, including Hamas politburo member Ghazi Hamad. who promised that Hamas would repeat Oct 7 attacks ‘time and again until Israel is annihilated,’" he posted in another example from the report.
USAID funds amounting to $125,000 were traced to the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) in 2015, despite the U.S. Treasury designating it a global terrorist organization in 2004 due to links with Osama bin Laden.
The report states that USAID "undoubtedly knew of ISRA’s terrorism activities. In 2010, the executive director of ISRA’s U.S. branch (IARA-USA) and a board member pleaded guilty to money-laundering, theft of public funds, conspiracy, and several other charges. The plea was listed on USAID’s own website," the report found.
The funds were funneled to ISRA through an evangelical charity called World Vision, which works on providing clean water in Sudan, according to the report.
A World Vision official told Fox News Digital that they earned approval to work in Sudan "to help build a better world for the most vulnerable children and their families" and take "compliance obligations seriously."
"As soon as we became aware that a local partner, Islamic Relief Agency, might be on the list of organizations banned from transactions by the United States, we suspended the grant and asked the US Government to confirm its status," the official said. "We would never knowingly put those we serve or our staff at risk by working with a partner on the list of banned organizations. We exist to help build a better world for children and their families, serving in the name of Jesus Christ. We have no evidence that any of our funds have been used for anything other than urgent humanitarian work."
"As a Christian humanitarian organization, we do not compromise our beliefs nor commitment to integrity as we work with governments throughout the world," the official added. "It is not easy to operate in fragile contexts, yet this is where the Lord is calling us. We remain committed to our vision of bringing life in all its fullness to vulnerable children around the world."
Fox News Digital reached out to Bayader, the American Near East Refugee Agency, and Catholic Relief Services but received no responses.
USAID faces scrutiny from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, investigates its spending and considers restructuring or closing the agency. USAID is currently under the interim leadership of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On Feb. 4, USAID announced on its website that nearly all staff would be placed on leave by Friday, exempting those in "mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs." Its overseas missions have also been instructed to close.
Amid this potential dismantling, past USAID spending has come under review, revealing funds going to questionable initiatives like creating a version of "Sesame Street" in Iraq or funding pottery classes in Morocco,
USAID was set up in 1961 during the Kennedy administration to manage civilian foreign aid in close cooperation with the State Department. Rubio has suggested in a letter to Congress on Feb. 3 that USAID might be integrated into the State Department or abolished entirely.
Elon Musk has publicly stated on X that USAID is a "criminal organization" and that it's "time for it to die."
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