Amidst ongoing controversy over possibly ending the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after the Trump administration cut off 90% of its foreign aid contracts, a multi-year study from an American think tank found that the agency might have provided millions of dollars of funding to extremist organizations connected to terrorist entities and their allies.
The conservative US think tank Middle East Forum said in its report, titled “Terror Finance at the State Department and USAID,“ that the USAID, as well as the US State Department, provided hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations involved with designated terrorist groups. The report specifically focused on funds from USAID and the State Department that allegedly wound up in the hands of extremist groups and other entities tied to terrorism.
"The Middle East Forum’s multi-year study of USAID and State Department spending has uncovered $164 million of approved grants to radical organizations, with at least $122 million going to groups aligned with designated terrorists and their supporters," the think tank wrote in its report, which was published on February 4th.
“Billions more of federal monies has 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 think tank added.
The think tank reported that, among its top findings, the USAID provided more than $900,000 of funding to the Bayader Association for Environment and Development, which the Middle East Forum described as a "Gaza-based terror charity.” Bayader describes itself as a non-governmental organization (NGO) working "to build a civil society" in the Gaza Strip, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007.
"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 MEF’s report also stated.
While the USAID funds were secured through other NGOs, such as the Catholic Relief Services, the report said that USAID “coordinates directly with Bayader as well,“ with USAID officials praising “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."
MEF’s report also found that USAID approved a $12.5 million grant to the American Near East Refugee Agency in 2024, also a "long-standing partner" of Bayader. The report also found that staffers with the NGO, founded in 1968 to assist refugees displaced by the Arab-Israeli war, have repeatedly posted "violent ideas, without apparent censure from top charity officials” in public.
Some of the comments made by employees of the American Near East Refugee Agency include calling on God to "erase the Jews," expressing support for the "brave prisoners" in Israeli prisons during the Israel-Hamas war, and describing the horrifying attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, as a "beautiful morning."
Other findings from the report include the State Department providing funding to domestic groups tied to extremism, such as the Tides Foundation, which some members of Congress accused of funding pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish violence in college campuses across the country.
USAID recently came under fire from the Trump administration after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the leadership of Elon Musk, investigated the agency’s spending practices, with the possibility of the agency being reorganized or even shut down.
On its website on February 4th, the agency announced that nearly all personnel would be put on leave, except for those in roles related to "mission-critical functions, core leadership, and specially designated programs." Its overseas missions have also been reportedly told to shut down.
