In the span of just a couple of days President Biden has been confronted with the unpleasant news that two pillars of his Middle East policy were demonstrable failures.
The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that at least 12 employees (and the number is quickly growing) of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the UN agency charged with assisting with the humanitarian needs of Palestinians, had a part in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In addition, it has also been confirmed that upwards of 20% of UNWRA’s Gaza staff have ties to Islamist militant groups. Some of the employees have also been identified as Hamas operatives. In addition, nearly half of all UNRWA employees – an estimated 49% – also reportedly have official ties to the militant groups, especially Hamas.
In 2018, President Trump suspended U.S. funding for UNWRA claiming it was corrupt and was perpetuating the false notion of a destitute Palestinian refugee community that could not survive without outside help. The Biden administration renewed funding soon after taking office.
President Biden’s recent push to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza was mainly premised on the full participation of UNWRA.
However, in light of the revelations, the U.S., along with Australia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, and Iceland, have already cut UNWRA funding with the list growing.
Within a day of the UNWRA revelations, the news came that Iran proxy groups have ratcheted up their attacks on Western shipping and targets in the Middle East, which began following Oct. 7, and have now resulted in the deaths of three U.S. service members and the injuring of two dozen more.
Until now, the President had been content to order carefully calibrated responses to the approximately 150 attacks by Iranian-backed militia since October, including most notoriously, the Houthi targeting of Western ships – so as not to provoke the groups and their Iranian sponsor. In fact, he also recently released substantial Iranian assets held by the U.S. and significantly reduced economic sanctions. He appeared to be willing to essentially ignore that the attacks were largely intercepted or did little or no damage.
But there is a widespread expectation that with the American deaths and injuries, there will have to be a change. We hope it will be in the direction of more resoluteness than has heretofore been the case. It’s time the bad guys learned there will be serious consequences for their outrages.
