The College Fix

University hospital treats terrorists injured in Israeli attacks

National security experts raised concerns to The College Fix about the American University of Beirut’s ties to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

“U.S. taxpayers should not be funding any institution providing aid to terrorists,” Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Fix via email. “Such actions not only undermine our allies but could also be considered material support for terrorism under U.S. law, violating our principles and national security interests.”

Yet, AUB has received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in the form of scholarship programs and government grants, including for the expansion of its medical center.

The private university has treated a rapid influx of patients at the teaching hospital after Israel caused thousands of Hezbollah members’ communication devices to explode in September. The two sides launched more strikes recently despite a ceasefire negotiated by President Joe Biden. The U.S. has spent $3 billion in the past two decades to support the Lebanese Armed Forces, according to one analysis.

The Department of Justice previously found the school gave media training to Hezbollah-linked propaganda outlets and featured another of the group’s affiliates on an official website. As a result, it settled a Justice Department lawsuit in 2017 accusing it of illegally aiding Hezbollah.

The center has historically treated civilian victims and refugees of several conflicts, including the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The university should have handed over the terrorists after treating them, according to another national security expert.

He noted that the former president of AUB, Malcolm Kerr, was killed by Hezbollah-linked terrorists.

#ICYMI: Hizbullah Media: Operatives Injured in the Pager Attacks Return to the Battlefield pic.twitter.com/8S3nV9D00b

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 1, 2024

“That Hezbollah thoroughly penetrated Lebanon is no secret,” American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Michael Rubin told The Fix.

“The scandal is not that Hezbollah received medical treatment at AUB, but rather that AUB did not then hand them over to the Lebanese government or others to prosecute for illegally wielding arms in contravention of Lebanon’s 2006 commitment to disarm all armed groups,” according to Rubin, a former Pentagon official who focused on Middle East issues.

“This is especially true for AUB whose president [,] Malcolm Kerr [,] Hezbollah shot and killed,” Rubin said, referencing the 1984 assassination of the academic and father of basketball coach Steve Kerr.

The College Fix emailed Simon Kachar, a spokesperson for AUB and its medical center, to ask why it treats Hezbollah fighters while receiving U.S. funding and if it gives preference to civilians injured in the conflict. Kachar did not respond to two inquiries sent early last month.

The Fix also called and emailed the communications team of AUB’s office in New York, where the university is chartered.

The Fix asked spokesperson Amanda Fox to address criticism of AUB’s hospital and for details on oversight of the university, but she did not respond in the past weeks.

The funding issue extends beyond hospital policies, according to Alberto Fernandez, vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“I do believe there is still value in supporting Western type academic institutions in the Middle East, including AUB,” Fernandez told The Fix via email. “I am troubled less about AUB treating wounded people – whoever they may have been at the moment – than I am about AUB getting entangled with any Hezbollah-connected entities or front organizations.”

“Hezbollah corrupts all institutions with which it comes in contact,” Fernandez, a former diplomat and counterterrorism official, told The Fix. “Americans shouldn’t be funding organizations contaminated by Hezbollah.”

“There are perhaps other Lebanese institutions we can always support, or we could just save our scarce tax dollars for ourselves,” he said.

Rubin also said AUB has “no entitlement to funding nor to recognition of its degrees.”

The military scholar said graduates of the school should be disqualified from working with the U.S. government or its contractors “at minimum” if the school does not halt all “dalliance with Hezbollah.”

The Fix asked the United States Agency for International Development, the main agency funding AUB, if the medical treatment raises concerns about continued support. The agency did not respond to two emails in the past several weeks.

University President Fadlo Khuri told Newsweek in October that “every aspect of [Lebanon’s] educational, health, and municipal systems are under siege right now” due to war with Israel, putting them “under duress.”

Israel treats ‘terrorists all the time’

But a member of Israel’s military reserves also showed sympathy for the Lebanese university’s situation.

“All medical personnel are under the obligation to treat anyone and everyone that needs their help,” said Avraham Levine, a spokesperson for the Alma Research and Education Center, an Israel-based think tank.

He is also a reserve major in the Israel Defense Forces.

“Israeli doctors and medical facilities take care of terrorists all the time,” Levine noted.

He said further:

It is not legal to do business or support Hezbollah in the USA. On the other hand, Hezbollah is a legal political party in Lebanon and part of the current coalition. Yet, US supports the LAF (Lebanese army)…every year. This is done under some false premise/hope that the LAF will stop Hezbollah or restrain it, how is that working out? And can you see the inconsistency there?

I would like to add that 50% of LAF are Shiite, including 40% of the combative soldiers.

Doctors also treated Hezbollah fighters at the Lebanese American University Hospital in September, National Public Radio reported.

MORE: UW-Madison to probe anti-Israel group after protest disrupts meeting

IMAGE: American University of Beirut/YouTube

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