‘Gift to Hamas’: Top GOP Primary Contenders Slam Biden over $100 Million Palestinian Aid Package

The frontrunners in the 2024 Republican presidential primary teed off on the Biden administration Wednesday over the $100 million aid package to Gaza and the West Bank announced by the president Wednesday morning, casting the aid as a naive giveaway to Hamas terrorists.

Addressing reporters along side Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel Wednesday morning, Biden announced that he would provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, but did not specify how his administration would prevent the funds and supplies from falling into the hands of Hamas terrorists who massacred Israeli civilians in a surprise attack less than two weeks ago.

In a follow up statement, the White House said that the aid would be distributed through the U.N. and unspecified non-governmental organizations. But Hamas has a long history of seizing humanitarian aid provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. In fact, just two days before Biden’s announcement, the group announced in a since-deleted social-media post that humanitarian aid had been stolen by unidentified gunmen in the Gaza strip.

The top contenders in the Republican race — former president Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, and Senator Tim Scott — immediately seized on the announcement, calling out Biden for providing backdoor assistance to terrorists who are actively engaged in a war against Israel.

DeSantis led the charge, calling the aid a “gift to Hamas” in a video posted to social media and challenging the rest of the GOP field to join him in objecting to the decision.

“They say it’s humanitarian assistance. We know Hamas is going to commandeer that money and Hamas is going to use it to advance terrorism,” DeSantis said. “We still have hostages being held by Hamas. There are American hostages being held by Hamas. How are you funding them when they’re holding Americans as well as others hostage? I challenge everyone running: step up to the plate, join me in opposing Biden’s $100 million gift to Hamas.”

A spokeswoman for Nikki Haley’s campaign said the former South Carolina governor objects to the provision of aid, given how easily it could fall into the hands of Hamas.

“Nikki opposes taxpayer dollars for Gaza just like she did when she helped eliminate it at the UN. The money is too easily diverted to Hamas and is not a good use of tax dollars. Arab countries should step up if they want to help Palestinians as much as they claim,” the spokeswoman said in a statement provided to National Review.

During her time as ambassador to the U.N., Haley cut off U.S. aid to the UNRWA, citing the agency’s long history of corruption and its misuse of funds. But the aid was restored under the Biden administration, which has since provided $731 million to Gaza and the West Bank through the UNRWA.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina concurred, telling National Review: “No, there should not be a single U.S. dollar that risks ending up in the hands of Hamas. The terrorist organization brutally murdered innocent Israelis and dozens of Americans. I’ll take steps this week to ensure no future taxpayer dollars make their way into the hands of Hamas.”

Trump, meanwhile, called Biden’s aid announcement “totally inappropriate” in comments to a reporter outside a Manhattan courthouse Wednesday afternoon.

The 2024 Republican presidential candidates also seem to agree that the U.S. should not take in Palestinian refugees fleeing the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

But that apparent agreement didn’t stop them from trading blows over how the U.S. should respond to Hamas’s horrific terror attack and the resulting war.

The issue sparked a fight between DeSantis and Haley this week after the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. noted that there are many Palestinians who want to be free from terrorist rule, which led DeSantis to claim she wanted to “import people.”

“I would not import,” DeSantis said during an interview on Sunday at the Tampa airport, where he greeted the 270 Americans he airlifted out of Israel. DeSantis went on to accuse Haley of “trying to be politically correct” and said that her position was driven by a desire “to please the media and people on the left.”

His comments came in response to remarks Haley made earlier that day during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper in which she advocated for U.S. policy-makers to draw a distinction between Hamas terrorists and Gazan civilians.

“Half of them, at the time that I was there, didn’t want to be under Hamas’s rule. They didn’t want to have terrorists overseeing them. They knew that they were living a terrible life under Hamas. You have the other half that supported Hamas and wanted to be a part of that,” Haley said.

“We see that with Iran, too. The Iranian people don’t want to be under that Iranian regime,” she continued. “They don’t — we saw what happened to Mahsa Amini. We saw how they treat them. There are so many of these people who want to be free from this terrorist rule. They want to be free from all of that. And America’s always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists. And that’s what we have to do.”

The pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC seized on the quote and claimed, “Nikki Haley argues in support of bringing Gaza refugees to America.” But the Haley campaign refuted that assertion in a statement to NR’s Zach Kessel.

The campaign said Haley never called for such a thing and “opposes the U.S. taking in Gazans. She thinks Hamas-supporting countries like Iran, Qatar, and Turkey should take any refugees.”

DeSantis has advocated for a similar approach, saying at a campaign event over the weekend that “the Arabs should be taking them. If you have refugees, you don’t fly people in and take them to the United States of America.”

“In Gaza, they teach the kids to hate Jews,” DeSantis told NBC. “If you look at the textbooks, Israel is not on the map of the Middle East. And so, this is embedded in the culture.” He suggested the antisemitic nature of Palestinian culture in Gaza is a reason not to allow its refugees into the U.S.

“I don’t think that you’re gonna find a lot of polling suggesting that they believe Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state,” he said. “And I don’t think you would find a lot of pro-Jewish sentiment amongst the population.”

Haley’s campaign continued the feud Wednesday, emailing around links to several fact checks of DeSantis’s claim under the subject line “Desperate DeSantis Caught With His Pants on Fire.”

Senator Tim Scott agreed that the U.S. should not take in Palestinian refugees but declined to agree that the culture is completely antisemitic.

“Well, I don’t know that they’re all antisemitic without any question,” Scott said during a national-security conversation hosted by Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service when asked to address DeSantis’s comments.

“They are Semites. But I don’t think that they’re all antisemitic. I just can’t tell you who’s who,” he said. “And part of the challenge that we have from a refugee perspective is coming to a conclusion: Who’s safe to bring in, who’s not safe to bring in? If you cannot make that decision, and I cannot make that decision as commander in chief, I would not be able to in the midst of this conflict.”

“So I would say we’re not bringing anyone,” he added. “No refugees in from Gaza, period. I think that’s the right decision, not because I think they’re all antisemitic, but I can’t tell the difference. And I do know that the majority of the Palestinians support Hamas based on all the latest polling that I’ve seen since 2021. So the truth is, if I can’t figure out who you are, you can’t come in the country.”

Scott went on to suggest that Haley has “come to a different decision” and “believes that it’s permissible, it appears, to allow folks in,” before calling her “a moderate part of the Republican Party.”

The senator ultimately said other countries in the Middle East can handle “the challenges that we’re seeing.”

Trump said at a campaign event in Clive, Iowa, this week that the U.S. should not accept refugees from Gaza.

“We aren’t bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security,” Trump said.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would not allow refugees from Gaza into the U.S., campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told NR.

“We would look at helping facilitate their emigration to other countries, but this is not an issue where we should risk U.S. security or trade off the well-being of Americans here in the homeland,” she said.

Conservative radio host Larry Elder told NR that while his “heart goes out to any civilians that have been put in danger by the actions of Hamas,” the U.S. should not take in any Palestinian refugees.

“The border crisis under President Biden has already brought in over 5 million ‘refugees’ whose names, identities and criminal records we don’t fully know,” Elder said. “ There is no guarantee the Biden administration would do any better in the intake of Palestinians.”

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum told Brian Kilmeade that he “100 percent” agrees with DeSantis on the issue.

“I mean because when Hamas was created back decades ago coming out of the Muslim Brotherhood their whole thing was death to Israel, they weren’t looking for a two-state solution. They’re looking for a one-state solution, which is Israel is wiped off the map,” he said.

“And so we can’t have it,” he said, adding that the U.S. is already facing problems with terrorists entering the country at the southern border.

While the spotlight in the 2024 race has largely shifted from domestic issues to foreign ones amid wars in Ukraine and Israel, little has changed in the way of polling among the Republican candidates. Trump remains the solid front-runner, with a 45-point lead over DeSantis, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average. Trump notches an average 58.1 percent support, followed by DeSantis (13.1 percent), Haley (7.7 percent), Ramaswamy (6 percent), Pence (3.8 percent), Christie (2.8 percent), and Scott (2 percent), with Burgum and Hutchinson coming in under 1 percent each.

With Scott thus far failing to meaningfully break through, the pro-Scott Trust in the Mission PAC, or “TIM PAC,” has announced it will cancel most of its remaining TV spending after having reserved $40 million in Scott ads ahead of the Iowa caucuses, according to a memo obtained by Politico. 

“We are doing what would be obvious in the business world but will mystify politicos — we aren’t going to waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready for a Trump alternative,” wrote Rob Collins, co-chair of the super PAC.

Collins said the “Never-Trump field” is going to be “wasting money this fall” trying to eat into Trump’s lead. “This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting,” Collins added.

The super PAC instead plans to “fully fund” its grassroots and door-knocking program.

“The field remains splintered, so we will be patient,” he said.

The Scott campaign responded to the news in a statement to NR: “From Day One, Tim’s campaign was built for the long haul — powered by the most primary cash on hand and the highest candidate favorability of anyone in the field. On issues ranging from foreign policy to abortion, he has been the clearest and strongest voice, leading while others have followed. We’re ready, as ever, to take our message into the early states and beyond.”

Jim Geraghty writes: “Is Scott still running for president? Yes, but a move like this is somewhat ominous. It also raises the question of just what good the past television advertising has done. A decision like this is a de facto admission that the previous TV ads didn’t have much of an effect at all.”

Around NR

• John McCormack tries to get to the heart of Vivek Ramaswamy’s comments on Israel, Armenia, and “financial and corrupting influences” in the U.S. foreign policy.

Ramaswamy’s current view appears to be that foreign-policy positions of almost all Republicans and Democrats are dictated by money on almost every issue — except Israel. That spin is baffling. The topic of his Tucker Carlson interview was mainly Israel at first, before Ramaswamy focused on the lack of moral outrage about the Azerbaijan–Armenian conflict. And then Ramaswamy said American politicians speak “exactly the way they do” — meaning what they talk about and what they don’t talk about — because of corrupting financial influences. There was no special carveout for Israel from this accusation in his Carlson interview, but there apparently is now.

• Luther Ray Abel does not mince words in assessing Mike Pence’s campaign, which he describes as “cash-starved” and “going nowhere” despite Pence seeming “utterly unaware of the fact.”

Like the dying horse that screams while trampling its entrails in the mud in the fourth chapter of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, Mike Pence’s primary campaign is certifiably dead but too uncharitable to his peers to disappear quietly into those cornfields Hoosiers call home. The financial figures are staggering in their Lilliputian aspect: The Pence campaign reported $1.2 million in cash while taking on more than $600,000 in debt, according to FEC filings.

For reference, Pence’s competitors — Trump ($37.5 million on hand), DeSantis ($12.3 million), and Haley ($11.6 million) — beggar Pence’s campaign. Even spoiler candidate Chris Christie has managed to accumulate some $3.9 million. While Pence may think of himself as David before Goliath, that shepherd-turned–king of Israel had to kill only one giant. It was the Israelites chasing down the fleeing Philistines who secured total victory — and Pence lacks a solitary Saul, Jesse, or sheep, let alone an army.

• “Ron DeSantis Is a Man of Action, Not Just Words,” Jeffrey Blehar observed after the Florida governor signed an executive order allowing Florida to help as many Floridians as possible fly home safely from Israel, leading to the safe return of 270 Americans.

Most politicians blather and bloviate; that style tends to work electorally. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is notably — and problematically for his national prospects — not one of them. He doesn’t do stand-up-comedian-style rallies or engage with ease in light banter… Instead, Ron DeSantis thinks and acts, and in his actions proves why people longing for executive competence in the White House continue to look to him as a better leader for the Republican Party than Donald Trump.

• Trump now hates all the people who worked for him and were responsible for his administration’s conservative successes, Noah Rothman writes.

There is a profound incongruity between the pride the former president takes in his record and his loathing of the public servants who built it.

• Noah also reports that the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll offers some “substantiating evidence” that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might draw more from Trump’s pool of voters than from Biden’s.

In a head-to-head matchup, that poll found that Biden edges out Trump by just three points at 49 to 46 percent. But in a three-way contest, RFK Jr. wins the support of 16 percent of the registered voters surveyed. Biden loses five points in that hypothetical situation, but his 44 percent of the vote dramatically surpasses Donald Trump’s meager 37 percent.

Zach Kessel contributed reporting.