Tel Aviv, Oct. 10 (Breitbart) – A claim in a news report that American weapons seized in Afghanistan have ended up in the hands of Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip has taken on renewed significance after Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, launched an attack on Israel on Saturday.
According to a Newsweek report published in June, an Israeli commander said some of the US. small arms seized in Afghanistan have already been observed in the hands of Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip.
The report began recirculating on social media, amid accusations that the Biden administration funded Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel by releasing $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran, the main backer of Hamas.
The Biden administration pushed back against those accusations that the $6 billion unfrozen for Iran went to Sunday’s attack, saying it has not yet been released, is controlled by a Qatari bank, and only will be used for humanitarian purposes.
However, critics of the Biden administration argued that since money is fungible, it is still adding to Iran’s coffers and frees up the government to spend on other things, such as supporting terrorist groups like Hamas.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Saturday:
The $6 billion has not been accessed completely by Iran yet, but the fact of the matter is if you have a credit on your account for $6 billion, typically, people count that as access available today, tomorrow, whenever, so you start reworking your spending budget.
And by doing so, you put yourself in a position to use that money even though you have not had access to it yet. So the $6 billion that they know they’re getting, they’re using already.
He also noted that Iran has already expressed it would use the money however it desired.
That is clear. The way they want to is in funding terrorism against American allies,” he said.
The Israeli commander interviewed by Newsweek also said he was “very worried” that U.S. and Western-provided weapons to Ukraine could also end up in Hamas’ hands.
Photo from AFP
