OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A non-governmental organization monitor released a stunning finding this week in the wake of the terrorist group Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel.
NGO Monitor reported that President Joe Biden’s State Department provided more than $90,000 in funds in the form of “two grants to the Phoenix Center for Research and Field Studies, established in 2021 under Gaza University, valued at $30,088 for an August 2023-July 2024 project and $60,000 for a September 2023-August 2024 project,” The Daily Caller noted.
According to NGO Monitor, the website of the Phoenix Center reveals that senior officials of Palestinian-aligned terrorist groups have taken part in several conferences and panels that were hosted by the facility, all of whom support “armed resistance” against Israel.
The Daily Caller notes further:
The recipient of the grant is listed as the “Finiq Center for Field Studies and Researches.” NGO Monitor attributes the different spelling to a phonetic error, since its address matches the Phoenix Center’s address.
At a Dec. 13, 2022 discussion hosted by the center on “the approaches of open conflict with the occupation authorities in Jerusalem and the West Bank,” participants concluded “the priorities of future agendas must include the need to reintegrate armed resistance and popular resistance,” according to document produced by the Phoenix Center and translated from Arabic by NGO Monitor.
The center identifies itself as “an independent, non-profit Palestinian institution established within the framework of its responsibility towards Palestinian communities to meet their political, economic and social needs,” its website states.
3/ The Phoenix Center’s website lists several conferences and panels it hosted promoting terrorism, including a workshop held in a room decorated with terrorist paraphernalia.
Multiple conferences listed on its website were attended by senior members of the PIJ and PFLP. > pic.twitter.com/QFsMQCweeJ
— NGO Monitor (@NGOmonitor) September 27, 2023
The center hosted an event on Sept. 19, 2022, that featured senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad member Khader Habib, who also attended a July 2022 discussion that included other senior PIJ members Ahmed Al-Mudallal and Khaled Al-Batsh, as well as senior Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Mohammed Al-Ghoul, NGO Monitor noted.
The Phoenix Center’s Director of Programs, Salah Abdalati, has expressed open support for “armed resistance” by terrorist organizations in multiple statements.
“Symbolic and popular resistance, in all its forms, whether its … going on strike, mutiny, marches, confronting occupation forces…or escalating armed resistance, or other forms and methods of ingenuitive combat, must strengthen in various Palestinian communities so that resistance becomes a way of life,” he noted in a Feb. 24, 2023, Facebook post that the NGO Monitor translated.
In an Aug. 7, 2022 post, he described Israel as “the state which most of its citizens have become as the ISIS of this generation,” according to the monitoring organization.
“There is no choice but steadfastness and resistance against the occupation, and it is a right and a duty of a nation under occupation,” he wrote.
Last weekend, Hamas launched thousands of rockets into Israel and invaded a kibbutz that bordered Gaza, killing more than 1,000 people, mostly civilian men, women, and children. Reports of dozens of babies being slaughtered and beheaded caused outrage around the world and especially in the United States.
The Biden administration was lambasted following the attack, and an agency of the State Department was forced to delete a tweet on the X platform.
The deleted tweet from the U.S. Office Of Palestinian Affairs said: “We unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has occurred. We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing.”
🚨🚨🚨Joe Biden DEMANDS Israel NOT Defend Itself From Terrorist Attacks
In a now deleted tweet, the Biden Regime demanded Israel stop fighting after a brutal surprise attack on Israel by terrorist group Hamas overnight.
Hundreds of Israeli civilians have been killed/captured pic.twitter.com/rG0Mqk3F4R
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 7, 2023
The clearly well-organized attack was the largest against Israel in decades. Besides thousands of missiles, Hamas forces also invaded several towns and settlements near Gaza.
Republicans ripped the Biden administration over the tweet.
“This is disgraceful and every single person involved in drafting and approving this tweet should be immediately expelled from the U.S. government,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote in response.
Later in the day, the State Dept. also criticized the tweet.
“The United States condemns the terrorist attack against Israel and unequivocally supports Israel’s right to defend itself, as the President and Secretary have both made clear,” a department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon.
