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‘Designated terrorists’: Extremist groups raked in millions from USAID, multi-year study reveals

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided millions of dollars in funding to extremist groups tied to designated terrorist organizations and their allies, according to a report published by Middle East Forum, a U.S. think tank.

“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 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 Middle East Forum’s report focuses specifically on funds from USAID and the State Department that wound up in the hands of radical groups and organizations tied to terrorism.

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Elon Musk leads the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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The think tank reported that among its top findings, USAID was found to have given more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development. The funding began in 2016, and its most recent allocation was made just days before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency and its chair, Elon Musk, left, investigate the agency’s spending practices and prepare to revamp and potentially shutter the agency. (Getty Images)

Bayader describes itself as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that works “to build a civil society” on 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.

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The funds were secured through other NGOs, such as 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 found that USAID approved a $12.5 million grant in 2024 to the American Near East Refugee Agency, which is also “a long-standing partner” of Bayader. The American Near East Refugee Agency is an NGO that was established in 1968 in an effort to assist refugees following the Arab-Israeli War.

Rockets are launched from Gaza City toward Israel. (Hatem Moussa/Associated Press)

The report found staffers with the NGO have repeatedly and publicly posted “violent ideas, without apparent censure from top charity officials.” The comments on social media posted by employees include: calling on God to “erase the Jews,” expressing support for the “brave prisoners” in Israeli jails during the Hamas-Israel war, and describing Oct. 7, 2023, as a “beautiful morning.”

Sam Westrop, the director of the Middle East Forum’s counter-extremism project, Islamist Watch, posted a highlight thread on X of the report’s findings, describing the examples as “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 in the thread of an example.

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USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency and its chair, Elon Musk, investigate the agency’s spending practices. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

“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 totaling $125,000 were found in the hands of the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) in 2015, despite the U.S. Treasury designating the group a global terrorist organization in 2004 due to its ties to Osama bin Laden.

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The report continued 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. IARA-USA stands for the Islamic American Relief Agency.

The funds were directed to ISRA via an evangelical charity called World Vision that works to provide clean water to areas of Sudan, according to the report.

A World Vision official told Fox News Digital when asked about the report that the charity earned approval to work in Sudan “to help build a better world for the most vulnerable children and their families” and that it takes “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 said. “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 did not receive replies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)

USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its chair, Elon Musk, investigate the agency’s spending practices and prepare to revamp and potentially shutter the agency. USAID is currently led by interim director Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The agency announced on its website on Tuesday, Feb. 4, that nearly all personnel would be placed on leave by Friday, making a few exceptions for those in roles related to “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.” Its overseas missions reportedly also had been told to shut down.

Lawmakers, news outlets and think tanks have dug into past reports related to USAID spending amid the apparent dismantling of the agency, finding countless examples of money channeled to questionable organizations or programs, such as creating a version of “Sesame Street” in Iraq or funding pottery classes in Morocco.

USAID was established in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, operating as an independent agency that works closely with the State Department to allocate civilian foreign aid. Under Rubio, the agency could be abolished after its reorganization over the coming days, he said in a letter to bipartisan lawmakers on Feb. 3.

“In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,” Rubio wrote.

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Musk, meanwhile, has posted on X that USAID is a “criminal organization” and that it is “time for it to die.”

February 11, 2025
USAID reportedly bankrolled Al-Qaeda terrorist’s college tuition, unearthed records show

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reportedly provided “full funding” for al Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki to attend college in Colorado, unearthed documents apparently show.

Al-Awlaki was an American-born jihadist who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011, during the Obama administration. He was a central figure of al Qaeda, including having direct contact with Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan before he opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, killing 13 people, U.S. officials reported at the time.

Amid the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) investigations of federal government agencies in search of overspending, corruption and fraud, political eyes have been locked on USAID funding.

USAID is an independent government agency charged with managing foreign aid programs that has been exposed by Republican lawmakers, DOGE and think tanks for bankrolling a series of questionable programs across the years, including helping launch an Iraqi version of “Sesame Street” and promoting transgender activism in nations such as Guatemala.

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Anwar Al-Awlaki, pictured here at Dar al Hijrah Mosque on Oct. 4, 2001, in Falls Church, Virginia, was an American-born jihadist who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. (Tracy Woodward/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Social media accounts erupted this week with a copy of a document reportedly showing USAID also funded al-Awlaki’s tuition to Colorado State University. The document, which investigative reporters unearthed and posted to X over the weekend, shows that a USAID form dated June 1990 outlined al-Awlaki was reportedly granted funding to attend the college by fraudulently claiming he was a Yemeni national and qualified for an exchange visa.

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Al-Awlaki was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1971 to parents from Yemen. He was raised both in the U.S. and Yemen, U.S. media reported in 2011 following his death.

The unearthed document previously was reported by George Washington University’s research and archival institution, the National Security Archive, Fox Digital found.

Anwar Al-Awlaki was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1971 to parents from Yemen, and was raised both in the U.S. and Yemen. (Tracy Woodward/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“This form, dated 1990, confirms that Anwar al-Awlaki was qualified for an exchange visa and that USAID was providing ‘full funding’ for his studies at Colorado State University,” the National Security Archive reported in 2015 accompanied by a copy of the document. “The document lists Anwar’s birthplace incorrectly as Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, which he later said was a deliberate falsehood offered at the urging of American officials who knew his father so that he could qualify for a scholarship reserved for foreign citizens,”

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The document reports al-Awlaki fraudulently reported he was born in the Yemen capital Sana’a and was studying civil engineering at the Colorado university. When asked to list an address, the document reports that al-Awlaki was in the care of “USAID/Sana’a.”

Anwar al-Awlaki worked as a Muslim cleric in cities such as Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, before moving to Yemen in 2004. Patricia Morris and Imam al-Awlaki, right, are photographed inside Dar al Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. (Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to Colorado State University’s media team for comment on the document and al-Awlaki’s attendance but did not immediately receive a reply.

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He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University in 1994, according to previous media reports on his 2011 death.

He worked as a Muslim cleric in cities such as Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, before moving to Yemen in 2004. Al-Awlaki was preaching at a San Diego mosque in 2000 when he reportedly first met Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, two of the 9/11 hijackers.

The unearthed document reportedly connecting Anwar al-Awlaki to USAID funding comes amid the Trump administration’s apparent dismantling of the agency. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images )

He was arrested in 2006 in Yemen on suspicion of holding terrorist ties, with U.S. intelligence viewing him as a terrorist sympathizer until about 2009, NBC News previously reported. He was linked to the shooting at Fort Hood in Texas that year, as well as the attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.

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The Obama administration authorized operations to capture or kill al-Awlaki in 2010, with a drone strike on Sept. 30, 2011, killing him in Yemen.

“The death of Awlaki marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates,” President Barack Obama said of the death in 2011. “Furthermore, the success is a tribute to our intelligence community and to the efforts of Yemen and its security forces, who have worked closely with the United States over the course of several years.”

President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend the launch of a SpaceX Starship rocket in November 2024. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The unearthed document reportedly connecting al-Awlaki to USAID funding comes amid the Trump administration’s apparent dismantling of the agency. Signage for the agency was removed from its headquarters in early February, while the USAID website was shut down and previously only showed a message stating “direct-hire personnel” would be placed on leave Feb. 7, except those on “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”

A federal judge on Friday ordered a temporary block to the Trump administration’s plan to put roughly 2,200 employees of the agency on leave. The order remains in effect until at least Feb. 14.

Democrats and government employees have railed against DOGE and its chair, Elon Musk, including USAID employees calling DOGE’s investigation a “mafia-like takeover” of the agency and reporting they are “psychologically frightened” he would share their private data publicly.

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Trump said during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, which aired Sunday, that DOGE and his administration remain on a mission to cut government waste.

“We have to solve the efficiency problem,” Trump said. “We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone into the government. You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there.”

February 10, 2025
Israel, Hamas cease-fire deal could enable rearming of Gaza terrorists

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JERUSALEM—Scenes of armed and uniformed Hamas terrorists could be seen in Gaza on Sunday as the first three Israeli female hostages were released as the cease-fire deal came into effect.

Israeli news agency TPS-IL reported that groups of armed men, suspected terrorists in the central Gaza area of Deir al-Balah, celebrated after the cease-fire and quoted them as chanting, “It is continuous by God’s permission to kill the last Zionist soldier in our holy country,” as cars honked horns and music blared.

The agreement could enable Hamas to reorganize its terrorists in Gaza and repopulate the northern part of the Gaza Strip that borders Israel, according to some concerned Israeli military experts.

BITTERSWEET REJOICING AS FIRST HOSTAGES RETURN TO ISRAEL AFTER 471 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY

Hamas terrorists emerge in a show of strength escorting Red Cross vehicles carrying three Israeli hostages to be released as part of the cease-fire deal. (TPS-IL)

“Despite significant military achievements against many of the Iranian terror proxies around it, Israel has been forced to agree to a very bad deal that leaves Hamas in power. As the leaders of Hamas have repeatedly stated, including after the declaration of the cease-fire, Hamas intends to continue on its path of Jihad against Israel until Israel is completely eliminated,” former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, told Fox News Digital.

He continued, “Israel is held at gunpoint by the Hamas terror organization and has agreed to release almost 2,000 convicted Palestinian terrorists, to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and to temporarily cease-fire in order to repatriate 33 Israeli hostages.”

Following the initial announcement of last week’s deal, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, reportedly boasted that his movement plans to commit a second October 7 massacre of Israelis, according to a Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translation of his remarks.

He reportedly bragged about the first slaughter of over 1,200 Israelis, including more than 40 Americans, on October 7, 2023, and declared plans to launch new mass murders. “October 7 Will Remain A Source Of Pride To Our People And Our Resistance, And Will Be Passed Down From Generation To Generation,” declared al-Hayya.

Hamas terrorists emerging from the shadows as they surround Red Cross vehicles. (TPS-IL)

He said the jihadi organization will expel Israel from Palestine and Jerusalem and that this will happen soon, adding, “We will never forget and never forgive,” and vowing that Israel’s crimes will be punished, “even if it takes time.”

Conricus, a senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that only “Due to overwhelming international pressure applied on Israel throughout the last 15 months, which has prevented Israel from exercising the needed amount of leverage and pressure on Hamas in Gaza, this extortion deal is regrettably probably the best way of saving Israeli hostages.”

Retired IDF Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi (Res) told Fox News Digital that at this stage, the government is prioritizing bringing back the hostages. It is obviously urgent. Their situation is very bad.” He added “The government intends to go back fighting after the first stage unless there will be another cease-fire to get all the hostages. But there is no intention to give up destroying Hamas and creating a new reality in Gaza.”

BIDEN BALKS WHEN ASKED IF TRUMP DESERVES CREDIT FOR ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASE-FIRE DEAL: ‘IS THAT A JOKE?’

Hamas terrorists wave to Gazans during Sunday’s release of three Israeli hostages. (TPS-IL)

Caroline Glick, a conservative Israeli commentator, who is well versed in the Jewish state’s campaign to defeat Hamas, said on her podcast, “What we’re having now is a situation where we are being forced permanently into this position where we are not allowed to win because that is what the cease-fire effectively does to Israel.”

The cease-fire-for-hostages deal comes at a time when Israel has largely degraded Hamas’ military power. Hamas is in a feeble condition. Hezbollah, the main Hamas ally in the region, cut a cease-fire agreement with Israel and removed one of Iran-backed fronts against the Jewish state.

Iran’s regime has launched no new strikes against Israel since Jerusalem countered its October aerial attack.

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Suspected terrorists in Gaza come out of hiding as cease-fire for-hostages deal gets underway in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah area. (Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL)

The deal contains deep concessions for Israel. The Jewish state will release up to 2,000 Palestinian terrorists, including over a hundred serving life sentences.

The expectation is based on previous releases of Palestinian terrorists for Israeli hostages involved in the Palestinian murderers returning to fight Israel.

TPS-IL reported on Monday that an estimated 20,000 terrorists from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups have been killed in the war. On Sunday, it was also reported that Izz al-Din Haddad, commander of Hamas’s Northern Brigade, who oversaw Sunday’s transfer of three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, has been tapped as the Hamas leader to rebuild the terror organization.

January 23, 2025