Evidence that U.S. aid has found its way to terrorists in Lebanon emerged almost as a footnote in a video of a Hezbollah weapons cache posted to X on Oct. 13. A box marked “USAID” (United States Agency for International Development) appears in the background.

The box, also featuring the logo of the World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations organization, is not even remarked upon by an Israel Defense Forces officer as he details the weaponry his men found in Southern Lebanon.

Those arms included anti-tank guided missiles, heavy and light machine guns, ammunition and other military gear.

Yona Schiffmiller, director of research at NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based watchdog group which has long warned about the dangers of U.S. aid being diverted to terrorists, told JNS that he can’t recall seeing another more concrete example illustrating the danger of sending aid without proper oversight.

“We’ve certainly seen, over the years, a number of instances where USAID and the State Department gave support to organizations that glorified terrorists and promoted violence,” he said. “But there’s obviously a substantive difference between that and actual aid materials winding up in the hands of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.”

In this instance, Schiffmiller said it appears that the aid first went to a U.N. agency and then was redirected to Hezbollah further downstream.

It points to the need for “very strong U.S. oversight” to ensure the ultimate beneficiaries aren’t affiliated with terrorist organizations, he said.

“It’s not sufficient to just say we’re signing off on a U.N. project,” he added. “The United States needs to know who the ultimate beneficiaries are.”

The video comes in the wake of growing concerns among lawmakers that U.S.-taxpayer funded assistance meant for distressed civilian populations is finding its way to the world’s worst actors.

In an Oct. 9 letter, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), questioned Samantha Power, the administrator of USAID, about more than $1 billion in U.S. humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip that has likely been misused.

He urged her to suspend the funding based on “credible reporting” that Hamas took the aid for itself.

Prompting Cotton’s letter was USAID’s Sept. 30 announcement that it would provide $336 million in additional humanitarian aid for “the people of Gaza and the West Bank affected by the ongoing conflict.”

The problem of humanitarian aid ending up helping anti-humanitarian actors crops up in Gaza, Lebanon and Judea and Samaria, Schiffmiller said.

He’s seen it with U.S. policy in Yemen as well, where regulations make aid susceptible to falling into the hands of terror groups.

“All sorts of waivers have been given that would allow payments to be made to Houthi-controlled institutions by humanitarian actors,” he said.

The WFP received $80 million in U.S. funds since Dec. 2023 for its Lebanon operations.

As NGO Monitor calls for more U.S. anti-terror oversight, WFP and groups like it call for less. WFP asserts that it infringes on “humanitarian principles,” said Schiffmiller.

Schiffmiller has warned the U.S. Congress about taxpayer funds going to Palestinian Arab NGOs that celebrate violence, most recently in written testimony on May 14 to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

In 2021, NGO Monitor produced a report, “USAID-funded Palestinian NGOs: Introducing Children to Convicted Terrorists,” that included many examples of U.S.-funded groups who lauded convicted terrorists as “role models,” praised “specific acts of terrorism” and encouraged children to support violence and the taking of hostages.

That report supplied examples from 2015 to 2019, according to Schiffmiller.

It came in tandem with a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on an audit of USAID to Judea, Samaria and Gaza for the same period, which found that “in a number of instances, USAID did not properly implement anti-terror vetting regulations,” he said.

USAID declined to comment for this report.

However, it emerges from a July 25 report by the USAID Office of Inspector General (USAID OIG), which provides independent oversight of USAID’s programs, that in Gaza, USAID relies on partners to report “alleged misconduct.”

This is largely due to U.S. Embassy travel restrictions which prevent U.S. government personnel from traveling to Gaza, preventing USAID staff from monitoring first-hand agency-funded programming.

More than $100 million of USAID assistance goes through U.N. organizations, it said.

While these organizations are required to report abuse, most only report a “small percentage” of allegations to USAID OIG.

Schiffmiller said in his testimony before Congress that U.S. vetting must include robust standards, “even when NGOs receive U.S. funds via a U.N. agency.”

U.S. taxpayer funds must be kept out of the hands of organizations that celebrate terror, glorify violence and promote antisemitism, he said.

Image - JNS/USAID