US Sanctions Official Discovers 'Moment' for Diplomacy by Other Means
Al-Monitor reports that U.S. Treasury official John Hurley sees a 'moment' in Lebanon to cut Iran's alleged $1 billion funding to Hezbollah and press for disarmament. This comes after the U.S. just approved another massive $14 billion military aid package to Israel (HR 815, 2024), whose lobbying arm, AIPAC, poured over $42 million into U.S. elections in 2022 . One might genuinely wonder if the US
Treasury Department also sees a 'moment' to address the funding of groups that *don't* threaten American interests, yet receive the lion's share of US taxpayer dollars. The irony here is thicker than Congress's 'moment' to suddenly care about humanitarian aid. While Rep. Steny Hoyer, who received $261,310 from pro-Israel groups last cycle, passionately champions military aid for one regional
power, the concern for 'destabilizing' funding conveniently shifts focus when the recipient isn't a U.S. ally by way of lobbying dollars. Who knew cutting off external funding was such a novel concept, especially when U.S. taxpayers are the external funder?