EXCLUSIVE: How U.S. taxpayer funds can ‘flow freely’ to Hamas and Hezbollah because of the UN’s failure to label them terrorist organizations
US taxpayer dollars can flow ‘freely’ to Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah because the United Nations Security Council has failed to designate them as ‘terrorists’, top security experts have warned.
Hamas and Hezbollah are not sanctioned or designated as terrorist groups by the UN Security Council. However, other known terrorist organizations Al Qaeda and ISIS have been officially designated, meaning they can no longer receive foreign aid.
Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, tells DailyMail.com that as a result, US taxpayer dollars to the UN end up directly in the hands of terrorists.
That’s especially alarming because Hamas in Gaza launched a brutal attack on Israel more than a week ago, killing more than 1,300 innocent civilians and at least 29 Americans.
But despite their horrific atrocities, including beheading babies and raping women, the Iran-backed terror group is considered “legitimate” by the UN – which has paved the way for the organization to receive global aid, Goldberg says.
Hamas and Hezbollah are not sanctioned or designated as terrorist groups by the UN Security Council
Richard Goldberg is currently a senior advisor at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
“The UN considers Hamas a legitimate political movement, not a brutal terrorist organization. The same goes for Hezbollah. That means that American taxpayer dollars transferred to the UN can flow freely into the hands of Hamas in Gaza, and that happens every day through the UN’s so-called Palestinian refugee agency,” Goldberg told DailyMail.com.
The UN has a ‘Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East’ (UNRWA) which is committed to supporting the ‘relief and human development’ of Palestinian refugees.
The agency received more than $15 million from UN partner countries in 2021 and lists the United States as a “top government donor” on its website.
Goldberg said the Biden administration has given about $1 billion to UNRWA, which spends about 38 percent of its budget on Gaza.
That’s why the US has subsidized Hamas to the tune of $380 million since Biden took office and resumed funding to UNRWA, he said.
“If the UN Security Council does not want to add Hamas and Hezbollah to its formal list of terrorist groups, we must demand an end to all UN bodies that enrich and encourage them,” he continued.
Goldberg formally served in the Trump administration as director of the National Security Council for Countering Iran’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley – who is also running for president in 2024 – repeatedly urged the organization to formally designate Hamas as a terrorist group when she took office.
Haley blasted the UN in an exclusive statement to DailyMail.com on Monday, saying the decision to formally designate the terrorist group should be an easy one.
‘It should be easy to condemn a bloodthirsty organization that kills babies, rapes women and burns entire families. Yet the UN still refuses to call Hamas what they are: terrorists.”
“We must always choose a side when it comes to good versus evil, and we will never stop calling out the shameful anti-Israel bias at the UN,” Haley continued.
In June 2018, Haley introduced a resolution that would designate Hamas as a terrorist organization, but the US was the only country to support the motion.
Not to be deterred, Haley successfully pressured the General Assembly to hold a vote to designate Hamas as a terrorist group.
The amendment narrowly passed, but due to a last-minute procedural change that required two-thirds of a majority to support the measure, it ultimately failed.
Biden’s current UN Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield has also commented on anti-Israel bias at the organization.
She condemned Hamas for the “horrors” committed by the “terrorist group” whose “stated goal is to kill Jews,” speaking last week at a solidarity event for Israel at the American Jewish Committee headquarters in New York.
Hamas’s “path of terror” does nothing to improve the lives of civilians, she continued.
Thomas-Greenfield also acknowledged that Israel has been “unfairly targeted in the UN system” for too long.
“Now is the time to stand in solidarity with Israel,” she continued.
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley – who is also running for president in 2024 – repeatedly urged the organization to formally designate Hamas as a terrorist group when she took office.
An apartment was hit by Hamas rockets in the city of Ashkelon, Israel, near Gaza
Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade in front of an Israeli military site
“We must tell the stories of those who were executed and raped,” she said.
DailyMail.com contacted a spokesperson for Thomas-Greenfield about whether she will pressure the UN to extend terrorist designations to Hezbollah and Hamas in light of the horrific attacks in Israel.
Hamas terrorists based in Gaza launched a surprise multi-front attack on Israel last Saturday, October 7, and the conflict between the Palestinian enclaves and Israel continued into Monday.
In addition to the at least 29 Americans killed in the attacks, 15 are still missing and believed to be being held hostage in Gaza.
The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.