Stefanik: Doctors Without Borders should be probed for mirroring Hamas propaganda
The New York Republican is asking the U.S. attorney general to investigate an alleged campaign by the medical relief group to attack a U.S.-backed aid agency.
A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) building in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yuni, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 21, 2024. Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images.
by Mike Wagenheim
(JNS) — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) wrote to Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, on Sept. 18 asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Doctors Without Borders for alleged violations of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Stefanik cited recent media reports suggesting that the group, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières, has “orchestrated an ongoing media blitz and paid for advertisements accusing the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of ‘orchestrated killing’ and spreading other inflammatory falsehoods.”
The accusations in those advertisements “mirror propaganda continuously pushed by Hamas,” threatening the foundation’s efforts to provide aid in Gaza while circumventing looting and profiteering by Hamas, Stefanik said.
The foundation was established as an alternative or complementary distribution mechanism to the United Nations, whose convoys have been looted extensively, according to U.N. data.
Stefanik wrote to Bondi that by “using its platform and resources to amplify Hamas-aligned disinformation,” Doctors Without Borders “may cross well into unlawful activity.”
The Anti-Terrorism Act “makes clear that no individual or organization may provide material support to a designated terrorist group, including through propaganda,” Stefanik noted.
The congresswoman also wrote that Doctors Without Borders has not included the plight of the hostages in Gaza in any of its promotional materials and has not “campaigned for them to receive medical treatment.”
She also pointed to questionable actions by Doctors Without Borders staff, including one staffer whom Israeli officials accuse of being a rocket expert for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. Another publicly urged Palestinians to “fight and die as martyrs.”
Doctors Without Borders is a registered U.S. nonprofit, which comes with prohibitions on political activity. Stefanik asked Bondi to investigate potential violations of the latter as well.
The congresswoman called the issue “a matter of national security, the protection of U.S. taxpayers and donors and the defense of legitimate humanitarian organizations in one of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world.”