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In an unusual press briefing in the Oval Office, billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE), admitted that U.S. President Donald Trump was wrong when he said that his department had prevented the transfer of " $50 million for condoms to the Gaza Strip," apparently due to confusion between the Strip and the Gaza province in Mozambique, where the contraceptives were transferred as part of the fight against HIV. Musk became the first official in the Trump administration to admit a mistake on the issue, noting: "We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we'll also fix the mistakes very quickly." At the same time, Musk said that "I'm not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms anywhere, frankly."
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Musk: "We were wrong with the 'condoms for Gaza' - but why do something like that anyway?"
(Video: Reuters)
The billionaire entrepreneur made the remarks at an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office at the White House, to which he was invited at the last minute by Trump. Musk, who regularly posts dozens of posts every day on his X network about his work in the government, some humorous and some serious, was asked about the credibility of his words, saying while his young son sat on his shoulders that "if the condoms went to Mozambique instead of Gaza, then fine, it's not so bad, but still, why are we doing this? I'm not sure that's something the American people would be happy about. That's an enormous number of condoms."
The embarrassment reached its peak after weeks of strong statements from White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who claimed in her first briefing that the department headed by Musk had identified a "gross waste of public funds" in transferring the $50 million for condoms to Gaza. Trump was quick to echo the words, saying that they had "turned condoms into bombs."
However, investigations conducted by media outlets in the U.S. and around the world did not support this version. The world's leading media outlets, including Reuters, CNN, the New York Times and the UK Times, found no evidence of funds being transferred to Gaza for contraceptives, and over time it became clear that the amount was actually transferred to the Gaza district of Mozambique, as part of an international effort to combat HIV. Dana Stroll, former assistant secretary of defense for Middle East affairs, noted that the April 2024 report showed that the funding included contraceptives in four regions, but the bulk of the budget was earmarked for Africa, and in particular Mozambique.
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The embarrassing error occurred after the Government Efficiency Department headed by Musk began work to effectively close the U.S. aid agency USAID, which the new administration has described as wasteful and a "bastion of radical liberals." A Ynet investigation revealed that in October 2024 about $45 million was allocated to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to fund sexual and reproductive health programs among refugees in Gaza, including the distribution of contraceptives. However, there is no evidence that the entire amount was allocated for this purpose alone, and experts in the field believe that the claim that it was only condoms is "puzzling" at best.
'A complex picture': The storm over USAID
At the same time, those who oppose Musk's move to dismantle USAID say that the agency could be run more transparently and efficiently. Since 1993, the agency has allocated more than $6 billion to aid Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Some of it was allocated to Israeli organizations for projects that benefit health, education and economic development in the region - for example, programs at Sheba, Hadassah and Shaare Zedek hospitals that promoted medical services for Jews and Arabs, or to the Hapoel Katamon soccer club in Jerusalem, for a project of joint soccer games for Jewish and Arab girls.
At Hadassah, for example, the agency funded a program of "collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian mental health professionals to better serve children and adolescents suffering from trauma."
On the other hand, there are cases in which USAID funding has been transferred to organizations with a clear anti-Israel agenda, and even indirect ties to elements involved in terrorism. Thus, more than $2 million was transferred between 2013 and 2017 to the organization Juzoor for Health and Social Development, which organized meetings between Palestinian youth and convicted terrorists. Another example is the funding of $1.1 million between 2009 and 2012 to the organization Just Vision, which produced a documentary film called "Boycott" in 2021, which criticizes American laws against the BDS movement.
Since October 7, USAID has invested more than $1.2 billion in humanitarian development programs affecting the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza – nearly 4% of its total budget. “Our commitment to the Palestinian people remains steadfast,” said Amy Tohill-Stoll, USAID’s mission director for the West Bank and Gaza. However, even Israeli organizations that have benefited from the agency’s generous funding acknowledge that the picture is complex.