Israel’s Iron Dome defense system attempts to intercept a rocket, fired from the Gaza Strip, over the city of Netivot in southern Israel on Saturday. Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images

By Lauren Markoe 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” and said Iran doesn’t have any of the $6 billion yet. On Thursday, administration officials said the U.S. and Qatar, where the money is being held, will block Iran from accessing it.

The Iran hostage deal

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 of Qatar, for humanitarian aid.

It’s reasonable to accept “at face value” the Biden administration’s assurance that none of the $6 billion went to fund Hamas’ attack on Israel, said Jonathan Schanzer, who researches funding of terrorist groups at the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Still, he critiqued the hostage deal from the start — well before Israel came under fire — as did many critics of the administration.

Some argued that it might encourage Iran, a major sponsor of terrorism, to take hostages to use as bargaining chips. (Hamas claims to have taken more than 100 hostages in the attack, most of them civilians.)

Others worried that while the U.S. stipulated the $6 billion could not be spent on anything but humanitarian projects, by easing Iran’s finances in one area, the deal made it easier for the country to use other funds to finance terrorism and its nuclear program.

Republican blasts

Iran is closely allied with Hamas, and directly supported Saturday’s attack. The Biden critics who suggested his administration’s hostage-release deal helped fund the onslaught include Republicans in Congress, like Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, and GOP presidential candidates, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Halie Soifer, who heads the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said those who have made these accusations have acted in bad faith. She noted that reports show that Hamas had plotted its attacks on Israel for months, while the hostage deal was sealed only three weeks ago. “Republicans should not be spreading this disinformation and playing cynical political games, while at the same time claiming to be supporters of Israel.”

‘Not a single dollar’

The Biden administration has forcefully rebutted the idea that the deal had anything to do with the attacks on Israel.

“As of now, not a single dollar has been spent from that account,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN on Sunday, referring to the unfrozen Iranian funds. 

Although the money was made available to Iran after the hostage release, it remains closely regulated by the U.S. Treasury Department, and can only be used for food, medicine and similar projects, Blinken said. He added that the Trump administration had employed similar tactics with Iran.

Schanzer, noting that the unfrozen Iranian funds are now in Qatar, said no one should be so sure that the Biden administration can control the ultimate dispensation of the $6 billion. Qatar has ties to Hamas and “has no business being the interlocutor here,” said Schanzer. “The optics here are horrific.” 

Though Qatar has been criticized for human rights abuses, it supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and the U.S. has relied on the Gulf state to mediate between it and hostile regimes.

In the wake of Hamas’ incursion into Israel, Qatari officials placed the blame squarely on Israel. 

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