Obama resettling Hamas members in America? That’s crazy.
A baseless rumor email smear accuses the President of providing $20 million dollars to cover the tickets, housing, and food for “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States.”
Totally false.
In early 2009, President Obama did sign an executive order releasing $20.3 million in funds to provide “urgent relief efforts in the Gaza Strip” following Israel’s military operation there in December and early January. None of these funds were directed towards any resettlement of Palestinian refugees in the United States.
But that didn’t stop Republican Florida State Rep. Adam Hasner from writing about it in an article for the American Thinker, or U.S. Senator Jon Kyl from proposing an amendment on the floor of the U.S. Senate opposing the President’s so-called resettling of Palestinian refugees in the United States. Both legislators later admitted they had been taken in by a false rumor email.
Don’t let your friends and family be taken in by this nasty rumor. Tell them the truth today.
More links on this smear:
“GOP lawmakers fall for debunked anti-Obama rumor,” by Eric Fingerhut. JTA, March 19, 2009.
“Presidential Determination No. 2009.15: Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to Gaza.” Presidential Documents, January 27, 2009.
“Palestinian Resettlement.” Snopes.com, May 19, 2009.
“Money for humanitarian aid, not emigration assistance.” PolitiFact.com, May 2, 2009.