I have a great idea to save money.
Americans want to control their government spending.
So I have a proposal.
Stop sending money to terrorists.
Earlier this week I was back inside Gaza with the Israel Defense Forces. This time I entered on foot through the Eretz crossing, where Hamas forces attacked on the morning of October 7, killing several soldiers and kidnapping others. Scenes of intense fighting are visible everywhere.
But our destination was within the strip. Specifically, the Israelis had just discovered a huge entrance to a tunnel just 400 meters from the Israeli border. It is part of the enormous underground network built by Hamas in the last 16 years.
And this is a real spectacle. The project to build it was led by Muhammad Sinwar, brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who planned the October 7 massacres. In fact, there are images of Yahya Sinwar riding through this exact tunnel.
I say “ride” because this particular tunnel is not a little rabbit warren. It is a vast tunnel, designed to allow military-sized vehicles to travel underground, allowing Hamas to go from one end of Gaza to the other while avoiding Israeli detection. This section of the tunnel alone extends for more than four kilometers.
The fact that this opening was so close to the Israeli side of the border and was hidden suggests that this was one of the tunnels that Hamas used that morning to carry out its battalion-sized terrorist attack against Israel.
A look inside one of the tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza. AFP via Getty Images
It’s an incredibly sophisticated system, as I saw when I entered the tunnel. It’s more like a subway system than a rat corridor. Although a lot of rats passed through here.
So why do I say that American taxpayers can save money here?
Because our tax dollars helped build this system. It is US, European and other taxpayer dollars that went into the construction of this terrorist infrastructure.
In 2006, Hamas won the foolishly held elections in Gaza. They then carried out a bloody coup against their opponents.
Specifically, they targeted members of rival Palestinian groups such as Fatah, throwing them off buildings and shooting them in the back, before dragging their bodies through the streets. That ensured that Hamas never held another election, but remained in power in Gaza to this day.
Of course, billions of dollars have been given to them since then. From a bewildering variety of countries. They all seem to have thought that they were somehow helping the Palestinians in Gaza. Well, we weren’t.
All of this money was used by Hamas leaders to buy themselves luxury condominiums in Qatar and other foreign climes. Within Gaza, almost none of this money went to helping Palestinians in Gaza. Rather, Hamas used the funds they did not steal to build this underground terrorist network that springs up in hospitals, mosques and other places that the international community considers sacred, but that Hamas does not.
And why do I say “we”? Because American taxpayers are among the people who were tricked into sending money to these terrorists.
Since 2007, the United States has sent more than $400 million of taxpayer money to Gaza. All of this was after the coup d’état in which Hamas took power. These are the official figures released by USAID (United States Agency for International Development). USAID also says it has paid out more than $500 million between 2021 and the end of this year.
That money may also have gone to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. And I can tell you, having traveled there many times, that I also know where our taxpayers’ money went. They turned to equally corrupt Fatah officials, who built mansions that would cause the envy of many Hamptons homeowners.
And that’s not even the end. Because the United States is also foolish enough to continue funding the UN agency UNRWA. This is one of the most corrupt entities even in the UN. Which is saying something. And in 2021 alone, the United States was the largest single donor to UNRWA, contributing a staggering $338 million.
Other countries have also been taken by cups.
The EU is spending more than $100 million in Gaza this year. But not even EU countries give as much money to UNRWA as the United States does. The United States is by far the largest donor. The next largest country is Germany, with just $176 million allocated annually to the organization. In total, US agencies have funneled billions of dollars to Gaza in recent years. And all this money has not gone to improving the lives of Palestinians, but to building palaces for Hamas and tunnels for its weapons and its terrorists.
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Hamas officials have even said they consider the tunnels to be for their terrorists. The rest of the world is supposed to take care of its own civilians.
I beg to differ. And I also implore American officials to be cautious. Our taxpayers’ money has gone to a terrorist group every year since 2007. And now we know what we got in return. An attack on our allies in Israel.
Do you want to save money? Here’s one way to do it.
Why homosexuals survive at Harvard
Claudine Gay is holding her own at Harvard. Fair. This week, the unprincipled director had another round of plagiarism accusations leveled against her. Now it seems that Gay couldn’t even write acknowledgments in her works without taking them from other people’s work.
It appears that claims of plagiarism that would get a Harvard student expelled do not get the University president expelled.
But there is something about Gay that protects her. She is not just a woman, but black. It seems this gives her a protective force field even when she comes across as a plagiarist. Not to mention morally ignorant.
However, like her cousin, feminist activist Roxanne Gay, Claudine is a very privileged and entitled person. Like her cousin, she has simply found a way to break the stupid system of our time. Both have managed to use modern America’s DEI obsessions as a force field.
I wonder how long that force field will last. After all, there are plenty of talented black women who could fill that role. And they didn’t cover their path with fraud to get there.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn