It’s been a while since I took up my pen to write about government or politics. Though I’m rarely shocked by our nation’s corrupt government, I just opt to write positive pieces about faith and family.
But isn’t that a lack of faith on my part? Am I discounting what God can do?
After all, throughout the Bible, it was often common, everyday people who took a stand for God – and made real changes.
In many of those cases, that change was triggered by something so unbelievably wrong that God’s people had to take a stand.
For me, that “something” was a statement I recently read in a news post:
“USAID funded $500 thousand to solve sectarian violence in Israel, just 10 days before the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed at least 1,200 people.”
This sentence left me speechless for a few moments.
Then, thoughts began to roll through my head 80 miles a minute, but soon, the buzzing, blurring thoughts all came back to one question – Did we, the United States of America, fund the war in Gaza?
Surely not. That is insane.
What happened to America being the greatest global ally of Israel? For that matter, what happened to America’s peacemaking role in the Middle East? And most importantly, what happened to our nation’s foundational belief in the biblical concept of blessing Israel at all costs?
Have we totally forgotten what Genesis 12:3 promises, “Those that bless Israel will be blessed and those that curse Israel will be cursed and all the world will be blessed through them?”
Or what about Numbers 24:9, “Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, and whoever curses Israel will be cursed?”
Maybe our sin is not just one of forgetfulness. Maybe we have arrogantly forsaken God altogether. I pray that is not the case because Zechariah 2:8 plainly warns us of God’s certain vengeance against nations that plunder or touch Israel, “the apple of His eye.”
History demonstrates the fact of that biblical promise over and over again.
No, the facts do not lie, and if the report I read about the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is true, then we very well may have funded the heinous Hamas attack that started this war.
But … is this news factual?
If so, it’s hard for me to believe, much less process.
For me, the only way to decipher facts from fiction is to do what I always do when I read crazy, unbelievable, or biased news – research until I locate the original source of the information in question.
In my research, I learned the basic facts about USAID and its work around the globe as our nation’s governmental entity for humanitarian development – the largest such entity of any nation.
At the time of my research, USAID employed around 10,000 people with an annual multi-billion-dollar budget funded and approved by Congress for seven decades with minimal questions or opposition.
That cache of information was an easy find, but it was much harder to track down that half a million dollars of USAID supposedly sent to Israel during the end of September 2023, money that was earmarked to help end sectarian violence mere days before the Hama terror attacks.
After hours of searching, I traced the funds back to its recipients.
The money was granted to a grassroots peace movement called Women Wage Peace. On Sept. 27, 2023, the $500,000 grant paid for a program called “Women Building Bridges,” in hopes of fostering peace between Israelis and Palestinians by providing training for various female religious leaders and climate activists.
Sadly, that noble-sounding objective was not met then or in the 17 months since. Even sadder, Vivian Silver, one of the members of Women Wage Peace, was taken hostage during the October attack and subsequently killed by Hamas.
Despite this tragic discovery, I was relieved to know that this USAID grant money to “combat sectarian violence in Israel” apparently did not help fund the October 7 attack by Hamas.
But here’s the stone-cold truth at the heart of what I did learn about our USAID tax dollars: That money did not help Silver or the other victims of the war in Gaza. Instead, we were actually complicit in her death in many regards.
How?
Well, right after the 2024 presidential election, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the U.S. government over $900 million in USAID money that wrongfully aided terrorism.
According to a press releases issued on November 19, 2024, by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Agency for International Development:
Mahmoud Al Hafyan, 53, a Syrian national, has been charged in a 12-count indictment, unsealed today in U.S. District Court, alleging major fraud against the United States for illegally diverting more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid intended for Syrian civilians to armed combatant groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front (ANF), which is a designated foreign terrorist organization affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq.
So … obviously, awareness of this corruption is not “new” news to our governmental leadership.
In fact, from just my own cursory look into USAID funding over the past several years, billions of USAID dollars (Yes, billions.) were similarly earmarked for projects that sounded noble and worthy on the surface, while the truth was horrifying.
For example, I learned from NGO Monitor reports and multiple other sources (written well before the current administration’s examination of USAID) that money slated to mentor underprivileged youth in the Middle East and South Asia actually went to introduce these teens to known (and in some cases, convicted) terrorists. The teens were even encouraged to lobby on behalf of these “heroes.”
In other instances, money earmarked to feed hungry people in the Middle East actually fed soldiers of various terror organizations, to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.
The information is out there, in plain view. Go and look for yourself.
But don’t just believe the first piece of AI-generated info you find. Dig deeper! The articles and reports started years ago, and the truth about the corruption of USAID goes on and on and on.
Also, keep in mind that nothing was ever really done to stop this wasteful, fraudulent use of tax dollars that came from everyday, hard-working Americans – until now.
And that thought brings me right back to where I started.
You and I are just regular people. Most of us will never travel to the Middle East. Very few of us have the time or inclination to follow the trail of our hard-earned money after we lawfully pay our taxes.
Our circle of influence is small, including family, friends, and coworkers. What can we possibly do to change the world?
A lot, if God is the author of that change.
So, the next time His precious Holy Spirit pricks our hearts to do something, we must do it.
We can use our pen, our phone, or whatever tool or talent God has given us and simply do what He calls us to do – even if it’s writing a seemingly useless blog about the sinful misuse of our hard-earned American tax dollars to fund a war of terror against Israel.
