Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
News Editor October 8, 2023
Since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, a multitude of social media posts — including from former President Donald Trump — have falsely claimed that President Joe Biden helped fund the bloody operation, to the tune of $6 billion.
The posts have wrongly suggested that the president — who has a decades-long record of support for Israel — allowed the money to reach Hamas via Iran so that the militant group could pay for the attack, which has so far led to the deaths of more than 700 Israelis, and more than 400 Palestinians.
In a statement Saturday, for example, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee tried to connect the hostage deal and the Hamas attack, writing: “Just weeks ago, the Biden administration handed over $6 billion to Iran, and today, innocent Israelis were murdered by Iran-backed terrorists.”
A senior Biden official called the accusations “total lies.”
The claims refer to a Biden administration deal last month that freed five American hostages held in Iran, in exchange for the conditional release of $6 billion of Iranian oil revenue, then held in South Korean banks.
Biden at the time said in a statement that releasing wrongfully detained Americans was “a priority of my Administration.” And he thanked Qatar for helping to broker the deal, which he promised would be carefully monitored so that Iran could only use the unfrozen funds, now in the national bank...
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