FOX NEWS -- USAID has doled out millions to groups tied to terrorism and extremism, recent report finds

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.  

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

"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.