U.S. denies scholarship-terrorism link

The U.S. State Department rejected a report that U.S. scholarship funds went to terrorists. Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, suggested the article in the conservative Washington Times reporting that scholarships had gone to students studying at Hamas institutions had misrepresented some of the principals in the program. “Both the universities mentioned in the article, the Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Quds University, my understanding is that these are independent universities and it would be incorrect to characterize them as Hamas-controlled,” he said Monday. “They both have passed U.S. government vetting anti-terrorism procedures.” McCormack added that scholarship funds are used only for educational purposes.