The New York Time reports that the Obama administration is poised to give $900 million to Gaza to rebuild. (via memeorandum)
The Obama administration intends to provide some $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after the Israeli incursion that ended last month, administration officials said Monday.
In an early sign of how the administration plans to deal with Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, an official said that the aid would not go to Hamas but that it would be funneled through nongovernmental organizations.
By seeking to aid Gazans but not Hamas, the administration is following the lead of the Bush administration, which sent money to Gaza through nongovernmental organizations. In December, it said it would give $85 million to the United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
LGF nicely sums up the likely effect of this aid:
It will be used for humanitarian purposes, of course, so that the Hamas “government†can spend all their money on bombs, weapons, and ammunition, instead of building a decent society for their children.
JoshuaPundit raises a political question about this:
In view of this and what else is going on, it’s obvious that the Obama Administration is no longer a reliable ally of Israel. I hope the American Jews who voted for him fully understand this.
As noted yesterday, Martin Peretz one of Barack Obama’s most prominent pro-Israel supporters is starting to express doubts about the administration’s stand towards Israel. Peretz’s good feelings have been hurt again. He also points out that the accountability that the NY Times assumes doesn’t exist.
The real issue is: where will the cash go? The administration is assuring us that it will not go to Hamas, as if anyone can assure that materiel and money can be siphoned off just to the desired parties. This, frankly, is a joke…and Mrs. Clinton knows it. So should President Obama.
But the promise that putting our donation through the Palestinian Authority–which is to say, Fatah–will guarantee that it will arrive where it is addressed may be even a bigger joke. It’s hard to judge these matters in the Arab world. Who can tell which ruling group is more corrupt than another? Still, Fatah is widely held to be the most depraved and debauched among its fraternity. That’s one of the reason’s that Fatah lost the last parliamentary elections. It’s another reason that Hamas won the bloody civil war with Fatah in Gaza.
An unnamed State Department official said that other “existing, trusted mechanisms” would be used to distribute American help. This certainly means United Nations Relief and Works Agency which has done more to keep the refugee problem alive for six decades than any agency or government in the area. And that’s what U.N.R.W.A will want to do deep into eternity.
Peretz point out that this infusion of aid to Hamas still needs to be approved by Congress. Maybe it pays to contact your congresspeople and senators and ask them to oppose this terror stimulus plan.
A Washngton Post article reports that Amnesty International is urging the United States to withhold aid from Israel. At the every end the article observes:
The Amnesty statement also criticized Hamas for constant rocket fire on southern Israel.
Will Amnesty also promote withholding aid to Gaza because of that?
Just asking.
Related Elder of Ziyon, Israel Matzav, Mere Rhetoric.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
Amnesty’s attitude comes as no surprise to me. In my younger and more idealistic days, more than twenty years ago, I became a member. In return for my dues I received a t-shirt with Amnesty’s slogan in various languages, including Arabic. I turned the shirt over and over, looking for the Hebrew translation, and never found it. I did not remain a member.
I guess Amnesty has become a tad more sophisticated since then, but evidently its fundamental belief — or, perhaps more accurately, its bias — has never changed.
I would give anything to have the Big Guy upstairs put a qualifier on any aid to Gaza. For every penny diverted from providing for proper care and feeding of the Gazans, Palestinian and Hamas testicles and other various body parts, would swell, turn plaid and fall off.
Outside of that…no money
p.s. Need to AI to the list