World Central Kitchen (WCK), the food relief organization founded by left-wing celebrity chef Jose Andres, reportedly fired 60 of its Gaza-based workers after they failed to pass Israeli background checks.
One WCK member, Fadi Hamad, said the nonprofit suspended him following "a security check that recommended that I no longer continue working," according to Bloomberg. Andres's group submitted names to Israel for the security checks after the Jewish state struck a vehicle that carried Hamas terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 terror spree, including one WCK employee. The Israel Defense Forces said that employee, Hazmi Kadih, "infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7th massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz."
In the wake of the strike, the Israeli government pressed "the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7th massacre and terrorist attacks against the State of Israel," the IDF told the Washington Free Beacon last week. The examination led to the firing of more than 10 percent of WCK's Gaza staff, according to Bloomberg.
WCK confirmed in an internal message viewed by the outlet that it recently presented a list of its Gaza-based employees to Israel for security checks. "In this process," the organization said, "some members of the team were flagged as security threats."
Israel has clashed multiple times with WCK throughout its war against Hamas, alleging that terrorists are infiltrating the nonprofit and using their humanitarian credentials to more freely move in Gaza.