The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Inspector General has initiated a discreet investigation into funds transferred by the agency to a Michigan-based charity organization known for its ties to Hamas financiers and other global Islamist terrorist groups.
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Helping Hand for Relief and Development is a Muslim-American nonprofit emergency aid organization founded in 2005 and operating from the suburbs of Detroit. It defines itself as "a global humanitarian assistance and development organization that responds to human suffering in emergency and disaster situations worldwide."
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A box containing sanitation kits and soap provided by USAID being stored at a UN school in Gaza City
(Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
The organization's vision states that "in addition to our emergency relief efforts in natural disasters or man-made crises, we also work on long-term assistance and development programs." The organization is considered the U.S. financial arm of a Pakistani foundation that boasted about transferring funds to Hamas and pledged support for the terrorist organization after October 7.
Last January, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Representative Michael McCaul, personally warned USAID and Powell about funding the organization. "I am writing to express my deep concern that USAID received additional information from my office eight months ago regarding credible allegations that one of its grant recipients is linked to terrorist funding, yet the agency took no action. This grant must be immediately suspended pending a full and thorough investigation into these allegations," McCaul said.
According to government documents, the Muslim-American organization received a $110,000 grant from USAID in October 2021 as part of a program to reimburse shipping costs for donated goods to developing countries, including medical equipment, construction materials, educational supplies, and agricultural equipment. Despite allegations against it regarding ties to terrorist entities, USAID provided the organization with an additional $78,000 in October of last year, just before the October 7 terror attack.
"It was evident that the agency took no action to investigate the allegations or suspend the grant, despite receiving detailed information from the congressional staff months prior," writes the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"The agency attempted to shield itself by claiming it passed on information provided by the committee to the Inspector General's office. While this may be a suitable step, it by no means absolves or excuses USAID from its clear responsibility to promptly examine the allegations and determine whether it has provided taxpayer funds to entities linked to designated terrorist organizations. USAID's gross dereliction in handling this matter, and its troubling failure to take the allegations seriously, are simply unacceptable. I urge you to suspend this grant while you conduct a thorough review of the allegations, including coordination with the intelligence community, federal law enforcement authorities, the State Department's Counterterrorism Bureau, and the Department of Homeland Security."
A senior committee member disclosed that the mere opening of the investigation, even if belatedly, indicates USAID's concern that money is indeed reaching "bad actors." "It speaks volumes that something smells very rotten," he said. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization in the United States, and American organizations and individuals are prohibited from engaging in any political or business dealings with it or its affiliates.
No response has been provided yet from USAID or Helping Hand for Relief and Development.